Penetrate, Attack, Attack, and Attack some more!

Re-watched the Bulls @ Portland from the other night. Trailing 15 at the half the Bulls finally decided to attack the rim in the third quarter, taking it right to the Blazers cutting the lead to under 10. Luol Deng, John Salmons, Joakim Noah and Derek Rose all attacked the rim in the quarter getting east shots and converting. Here's a clip of Derek Rose finishing strong over Greg Oden.



Here Noah takes it in on Oden as well.



Later in the game the Bulls settled into their jump shooting ways and quickly got blown out. This has been a consistent theme for the Bulls since Scott Skiles was their coach as they lack a true post up player to get easy baskets and open driving lanes to the basket by forcing double teams. Rather the Bulls settle for contested jump shots.

The Pro game is different from college and high school in the sheer volume of games and the travel involved so it makes it difficult for players to bring the energy to attack the rim off the bounce over 82 games. Add in the fact that the players are physical specimens the pounding that NBA players take attacking the rim takes a toll so you get the Chicago Bulls, a settle for the jump shot team.

To be successful in the pro game you need a low post presence that will take the pressure off the shooters and give you angles to attack the rim on pass outs from the post. Plus you get fouled on roughly half of all plays in the post so you earn easy points from the free throw line. Watching NBA games you see the point of emphasis of getting the ball inside early so you pick up fouls on your opponents bigs early and getting into the penalty. Take a quick scan of Sport Illustrated's power rankings and the top 10 all have a go to post up player.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/chris_mannix/11/23/rankings/index.html?eref=sihp

If you attack the rim and the post early in the game, you won't play against your opponents best players at the end of the game so penetrate, attack, and attack some more!