Basic Defense

This will be a quick aside before all the rest of the posts that I have to make today.

I was talking with my dad during game 4 of the Bulls - Celtics round one series, and we were both really enjoying the game. That said, at the end of overtime, Paul Pierce ran the exact same play three possessions in a row. He had the ball at the top of the 3-point arc, and all 4 other Celtics cleared out, spreading the Bull's D. Salmons guarded Pierce on each play, and on each play Pierce slow-dribbled to the top right of the key and nailed a semi-contested jumper.

After the first time this play worked (and remembering back to all of last season's play-offs, when he this was the exact play he used to KILL the Lakers) I was screaming at the TV for the Bulls to send another wing defender at Pierce. Ray Allen had fouled out, and there was literally no one else on the court for the Celtics who could hit a long range shot. Run the right hand wing defender at Pierce, get good rotation and you're set. Nope, Vinny-I'm-the-weakest-link-DelNegro allowed the same play to beat his team three tries in a row. On a team built with long, rangy, fast defenders, this is unacceptable. In a series they should absolutely be able to win I really hope the Bull's inability to defend an extremely basic play doesn't cost them the "upset".