Word: kobe
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...double, play off him a bit, and force him to hit some long shots at the start of the game (preferably with a hand in his face, of course). "Make him a jump shooter," says Los Angeles Clippers scout Evan Pickman. "And just hope he misses." Of course, Kobe is no shooting slouch. But over his last two series, against the Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs, he sank only 27% of his three-pointers, well below his 36% regular season average. If he's shooting from the outside instead of driving to the basket, he's less likely...
...course, if Kobe gets in rhythm - and he is bound to at some point - Boston can't let him hit outside shots all day. So when the time comes to body up and force him to the basket, they need to send him to the baseline. In the triangle offense, Bryant often receives the ball on the wing. There, he has two choices - drive to the middle of the floor, or towards the corner, where he can turn and dribble to the basket along the baseline...
...Luol Deng, who has matched up against Bryant in the past. "He can go back to his left, go right, pull up, take the fade-away." He has lots of room to float - and no one floats further away from his defender, and still makes the shot, better than Kobe. Plus, when he's in the middle, Kobe's superior peripheral vision allows him to see the entire floor, and spot more open shooters if he can't fire away himself...
...other hand, the baseline cuts off Kobe's passing angles. "If he's driving left on the baseline, and I'm behind him, he can only go left," says Deng. Turn his head one way, he sees the Laker Girls, and the late-arriving L.A. crowd. Turn his head the other way, a long-limbed defender like Deng is right in this face. Kobe can keep going toward the basket. But if Boston rotates the right way, Kevin Garnett, the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year, should be under the hoop, ready to help. Of course, even this often...
...Against the Spurs, Kobe faced Bruce Bowen, the best on-the-ball defender in the NBA. The Celtics don't have a perimeter stopper quite as good as Bowen, so it's best that they throw different guys at him. Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and James Posey will likely share the burden of stopping Kobe. "All players thrive off rhythm," says Anthony. "If Kobe spots one guy's weakness, he'll run with that all day. If you mix up your defenders a lot, it might make him think. And if he's not just relying on his instincts...