Episode II: attack of the zones. (Courtside Matters).

When there's talk of being in the zone these days, it's usually not about a shooter on a hot streak. It's about zone defenses. They've found their place in the NBA.

I was a little surprised that zones weren't used more last season. A lot of teams in the LA. summer league experimented with zones in 2001, then very few implemented them during the season. The opposite is happening this season. After virtually no teams ran zones in the summer league, zones now are used in almost every game. In my opinion, that has been good for those involved in the game--fans, coaches and players. It's even good for the refs.

Let's look at the impact:

The fans. Because of the rules changes, fans no longer are subjected to watching a team put the ball in an isolation situation where one guy backs his way to the basket as two or three others clear on the weak side and, while pointing at their defenders, scream at the refs, "That's illegal! That's illegal!" We all were guilty parties to that ridiculous strategy. That wasn't basketball. To help control that, teams now are allowed to distribute defenders anywhere as long as the defenders are outside the lane.

The coaches. Choosing strategies is more fun because zones allow coaches to create different avenues to disrupt teams defensively. Because teams

have more looks on defense, coaches have to find different ways to exploit them at the offensive end. It makes for a more tactical game.

The best way to attack a zone, however, is not much different than attacking a man-to-man defense. Against a zone, teams want their players to find the seams--open gaps between defenders--and to look to overload one side of the floor. You usually can disrupt a zone by getting the ball into its heart--which, against most zones, is the free-throw line area. Once a player has the ball there, the offense has penetrated the first line of defense and has created a decided advantage for itself.