Boozer a victim of success?

[RonnieBrewer (Ronnie Brewer)]

Boozer a victim of success?
Since his great start of the season, opposing defenses lately have been
focusing more on the Jazz forward
By Phil Miller
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 12/30/2006 02:21:50 AM MST

Like cigarettes and aspirin bottles, Player of the Week trophies should come
with warning labels attached.

    Danger: May cause double-teaming

    Carlos Boozer has collected two of the awards so far this season, and
here's guessing he would give them back if it meant opposing defenses would
just leave him alone.

    "We're really seeing a lot of teams attack Carlos defensively now," said
Jazz assistant coach Phil Johnson. "They help each other a lot more, send
extra guys over, try different things. There's a lot of that lately."

    And since the Jazz made a conscious effort this season to make Boozer
their first option on the offense, that attention is putting pressure on
Utah's ability to score.

    Boozer's statistics remain strong, and the Jazz aren't complaining about
his production. He is scoring 21.7 points a game, which ranks 18th in the
NBA, and collecting 11.7 rebounds, which is third.

    But because NBA teams scout each other so completely, Boozer is no longer
putting up MVP-quality numbers on a nightly basis. The Jazz forward was held
below 20 points only six times in Utah's first 22 games, but his nine-point
outing Thursday in San Antonio was his fourth under 20 in the past eight
games. And while Boozer made 57.9 percent of his shots in November, ranking
him among the NBA's top three, he has connected on just 45.1 percent in the
past two weeks, heading into tonight's meeting with Portland (7 p.m., KJZZ).

    "Teams are switching, they're being physical, they're double-teaming
Carlos at times," said teammate Derek Fisher. "They're doing a lot of things
defensively. They're being more aggressive on Deron [Williams] coming off the
screen-and-roll than they were earlier this season. We need to adjust and I
know we will."

    They're trying, Johnson said, but the ability to react instantly to
defensive adjustments takes time to develop. The coaches have emphasized that
message lately, and Johnson said he is noticing progress.

    "We're trying to teach better spacing, so players are in better position
to receive the basketball," Johnson said. "Carlos is a good passer, and we are
trying to open passing lanes for him to take advantage of when the defense
collapses on him. This is kind of a new experience for him, to be the focus
of the defense, and a lot of the young guys are learning how to react when
[defenders] go after Carlos."

    Until read-and-react becomes ingrained, the Jazz's offense will have
difficulty maintaining the efficiency that produced a 12-1 start to the season.
Utah led the league in shooting percentage through the first three weeks, and
made at least half of its shots nine times in those 13 games. It's happened
just once in the last eight games, however, and the team's .477 mark now ranks
fifth.

    The Spurs, though they inflicted a painful loss, provided a terrific
example Thursday of what the Jazz need to do, Fisher said. Tim Duncan, Tony
Parker and Manu Ginobili are veterans who have played together for five years,
so it's not fair to expect Utah to exhibit the same instincts yet.

    "Those guys, they're playing as one out there. They're not having to
think about what they want to do," Fisher said. "The ball is moving, guys
are cutting - those are things that good teams are capable of doing. For us,
after tearing out to such a good start, teams are taking note of things we
like to do, and they're starting to take a lot of those things away,
particularly against Carlos. We've been really deficient in making the
adjustments and still figuring out ways to be effective."

    Mehmet Okur's recent scoring spree - he averaged 21 points on the Jazz's
five-game road swing - has helped, but the Jazz aren't getting consistent
offense from enough places, Johnson said. And Okur's foul problems in San
Antonio doomed Utah's chances.

    "We need a balanced attack, that's what will take the defense's focus
away from Carlos," Johnson said. "As they key on him, it opens up other
opportunities elsewhere and that's what we're trying to teach. . . .
When you help others get open, you help yourself get open."

   [e-mail] 

                                           http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4924298 

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推 JerrySloan:現在重要的不是mvp 是最佳教練
→ sam369:
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→ sam369:
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推 sam369:
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推 sam369:
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推 CarlosBoozer:"Carlos is a good passer" ...?
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推 CarlosBoozer:Runaway Melo － 失控的安東尼
推 Kiri1enko:現在重要的不是mvp 是火鍋王