"We were able to get into our matchup zone and not give them too many drive-and-kicks and got them under control better," Chauncey Billups said after scoring 21 points, 10 in a third quarter fatal to the Bulls. "We had too many gaps open in the first half, and they attacked it, which they do. We got into the zone and were able to control them more."

Technically, the Bulls again were baffled by what Pistons coach Flip Saunders calls their HPTFZ, the hyperbolic, paraboloid, transitional floating zone defense. courtesy Sam Smith, Chicago Tribune.



This was the same guy that was on Sportstalk Radio in Washington D.C. last month who raved that the Bulls would go to the ECF and win.

Scott Skiles is not giving us credit for our Zone D. He actually believes that his guys just went into a bad shooting spell, "For Pete's Sake Skiles, FOR THREE STRAIGHT GAMES", come on buddy get a clue.

All that to say, our Zone Defense has been officially named.

"Its only a flesh wound!!!"

They were aggressive and like Flip is wont to say: Good offense begets good defense. Turn them into a jump shooting team and you get a repeat of games 1 & 2. They had good looks then too.

People overlook the role interior defense has played in conjunction with this zone.

It's not too easy to get your outside shot going when your inside attempts are stripped away or swatted back into your face. It messes up the rhythm of an opponents offense when their passes miraculously end up in your hands.
Highlight of the game for me was Chauncey diving for the basketball like he was diving into a swimming pool...complete disregard for anything save for getting to that basketball.
The Pistons were aggressive, they were active, and they were hungry for that win last night. It wasn't just the zone IMO.

This is old news - that's us not them mentality. How many times have we heard it before - oh it's just us playing bad, nothing to do with the opponent. The rule of thumb is - you can only play as good as the opponent allows you. I can understand maybe one or two games, but three straight, especially in the playoffs? Please... And our defense has been great. Credit to Flip for not just the system, but for getting the players to buy into it.

I think there is some truth to the Bulls having a cold shooting streak. Of course we are a great defensive team and I expected them to have trouble shooting, but this is a little excessive. The Bulls are capable of hitting tough jumpers at a > 40% rate.

The zone is probably throwing them off mentally more than it is physically. They don't seem like their coach prepared them for it.

In contrast, the Pistons were completely prepared for the Bulls full court press and easily broke it time after time until the Bulls gave up on it in game 3. The funny thing was how we broke it the exact same way every time 20 times in a row and they didn't change it up at all.

Flip Saunders is starting to make me a believer.

He was right about the zone's potential as a way to throw other teams off vs. the previous school of thought, which was that zones are a way to hide players who are defensive liabilities. If we win the Championship because of it and stymie the scoring of a Phoenix Suns... then expect Stern to outlaw the zone again.

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"Defense fuels your offense. No mystery about that." AA

Can you imagine having to play man-to-man the way the game is being called today? We'll be having a free-throw contest out there.

i like this post, esp. re. the mental aspect of it. what's clear watching the difference between the bulls vs. our man and the bulls vs. our zone, is that their ball movement and movement without the ball looks way off, panicked and disorganized and obviously ineffective against our zone. that speaks to me in part of inadequate preparation on the part of the coaching staff for chicago, but also of youth and inexperience.

either way, the zone is very obviously discombobulating (!) the bulls.

This Pistons version of the old 1-2-2 is probably the best I've ever seen it played. These Pistons do it better than Flip's old Minny teams. Sheed is doing just as well as KG in the middle, but it's the other guys who are making a difference. Prince and Rip especially. It's a devestating defense when you've got the guys to play it right. You've got to recover and close out on the shooters, and the Pistons have consistently done that very thing brilliantly and with unbelievable energy. I'm proud of our boys right now.

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"I'm still glad that we didn't shake their hands," Bill Laimbeer said Wednesday. "They were whiners and criers. Piss on them."

I agree w/ the Bulls being mentally thrown off more than anything. It's funny b/c Skiles refused to acknowledge it, and then in the next interview Deng was like "The zone is giving us trouble" or something to that effect.

Sheed's defense though has been great all series. I've haven't seen him move his feet that fast in a long time; Tay, either. When Prince stayed w/ Gordon the length of that drive, i was all impressed LOL

Exactly.

That`s why I want a Suns/Pistons Final.


Another point is, it`s not the zone defense itself, it`s the people playing the zone. It took the Pistons a year + to buy into this defense of Flip`s. The Pistons seem to have the perfect players to implement a successful zone - long veteran players who when motivated to play aggressively, (which is not always) will shut teams down.

However, the true test will be against a very good veteran team....Phoenix, San Antonio, or perhaps Utah.

Moreover, a hot shooting team will result in Flip using plan B!!!!

Whatever that is.

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"We are going to be really good offensively and definsively, we are going to be a team that can beat you 120-110, or beat you 80-70" Coach Michael Curry on the 2008-2009 Pistons.