NBA Playoffs 2011: How Can the L.A. Lakers Contain Dirk Nowitzki?
The Los Angeles Lakers once again find themselves down 0-1 in a playoff series after surrendering a 16-point second-half lead to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
Kobe Bryant was spectacular and Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol were ho-hum for the Lakers, but the biggest story of the night was the play of Dirk Nowitzki. The Mavs superstar poured in 28 points, 14 rebounds and three assists in the 96-94 comeback victory at the Staples Center.
Dirk was hitting shots all over the floor as he usually does, pinning defender after defender on his hip while using his seven-foot frame to line up those patented fade-away jumpers.
With a shot at a three-peat hanging in the balance, it's incumbent on the Lakers to figure out a way to slow down, if not stop, the Big German from lighting them up on a nightly basis.
There's really only so much any team can do to slow down a player of Nowitzki's caliber, a 10-time All-Star and a four-time All-NBA first teamer with a league MVP in his back pocket.
However, if there's anything that can be done, here are some suggestions for Phil Jackson and his staff to use when scheming ways to stop Nowitzki.
Get Dirk to Work on Defense
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There's an age-old adage that says: "The best defense is a good offense." That is definitely the case when it comes to putting the brakes on Dirk Nowitzki.
Nowitzki isn't known to play much defense, but when pressed into duty, he is capable of at least expending some of the effort that he would otherwise have spent running around and hitting jump shots on offense.
Which is all the more reason the Lakers need Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom—the two players most likely to garner Nowitzki's defensive attention—to make themselves legitimate threats, thereby forcing Nowitzki to actually play some D for Dallas to come away victorious.
Both Gasol and Odom had pretty good games on paper, with Gasol tallying 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists and Odom accumulating 15 points, 12 rebounds and two assists of his own.
However, Gasol in particular was too easily pushed out of position and forced into bad shots by Nowitzki, which made Nowitzki's job that much easier.
Hence, if the Lakers are to have any hope of wearing Dirk down, they'll need Gasol and Odom to take the fight right to him and do so with considerably more force than they did in Game 1.
Mix Up Defensive Assignments
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Speaking of Pau Gasol, much of Dirk's production came while he was "guarded" by Gasol, though there seemed little the slender Spaniard could do to stem Nowitzki's production.
That is not because Pau isn't long enough to contest Dirk's shots, but rather because he just doesn't seem to be strong or tough enough to dictate the terms of engagement when trying to limit Nowitzki's production.
That being the case, the Lakers would do well to throw some other players at Dirk to take some pressure off Pau, if not confuse and disrupt Nowitzki's rhythm.
Why not send Ron Artest his way to body up Dirk and knock him off-kilter? While Ron-Ron would be giving up several inches in height to Nowitzki, he would at least be able to force Dirk away from his sweet spots.
What about Matt Barnes, who would do plenty to pester and annoy Nowitzki and has the foot speed to stick on him like glue?
Or even Andrew Bynum, who may not be as fleet of foot as Dirk, but who is long and strong enough to throw off Nowitzki's high-arching shot?
If nothing else, switching up defenders would at least keep Dirk guessing as to who would be guarding him and where on the floor his defender would be coming from.
Double-Team Dirk
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Perhaps the best way to throw Dirk off, at least without causing him potentially serious physical harm, would be to consistently send a doublemteam his way, just as Lakers opponents do to Kobe Bryant.
If Nowitzki is in the post, send an extra man his way to disrupt his dribble and shot from the front while a big man impedes his progress to the basket on the other side.
If Nowitzki is out on the perimeter, throw another defender at him to trap him and force him to either pass the ball out or turn it over. Consider that, for his career, Dirk is averaging 2.7 assists and 1.9 turnovers per game, indicating that he's not exactly the most efficient steward of the ball.
As is the case with any great player, the best way to stop a guy like Nowitzki is to keep the ball out of his hands in the first place, which a consistent double-team would help to accomplish.
Use Physical Force to Rough Him Up
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If nothing else works or does the job completely, the Lakers could resort to intimidation tactics, particularly by exerting physical force to render Dirk Nowitzki's balance ineffective.
What I'm trying to say is: L.A. should knock Dirk on his rear end to send a message.
Not with the intent of actually injuring Nowitzki, as such would be highly unsportsmanlike and unbecoming of any professional basketball player or franchise.
Rather, the Lakers should push the envelope on defense and see how much physical contact they can get away without sending Dirk to the free-throw line, where he is a career 87.7-percent shooter.
If Jason Kidd can be as rough on Kobe Bryant as he was in Game 1 without getting called for it, why shouldn't Ron Artest or Pau Gasol try to get under Dirk's skin with a bump here or a shove there?
After all, turnabout is fair play, right?
Pray for Dry Weather
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Even after all those ideas have been implemented, there's still a fairly good chance that Dirk Nowitzki will remain unphased or at least will be able enough to torture the Lakers with impossible jumpers and timely buckets to cut short Phil Jackson's last ride through the NBA playoffs.
At that point, the only tactic left for L.A. would be to pray.
Pray that Dirk cools off, that he stops raining jump shots, that he's maxed out his karma credit card and can no longer wine and dine the twine from the three-point line, so to speak.
Should the situation come to that, Kobe and company might as well cozy up on their couches with some freshly-mixed Tang and flip on TNT to watch the Western Conference Finals as the Mavs take on the survivor of the series between Oklahoma City and Memphis.
Because, well, if the Lakers can't figure out a way to at least slow Dirk's roll, they may very well be the next playoff casualty.
