I’m sure you’ve seen (or even participated in) those internet discussions where greasy nerds discuss hypothetical animal battles. Stuff like 5 gorillas vs. 50 angry wildebeests or a trillion bees vs. 1000 highly trained military personnel. No one ever gets anywhere, because obviously you can’t test that kind of stuff out, but it’s still kinda fun to think about (the military dudes end up suffocating because of all the bees, by the way).
So here’s one for you: 10 Marcelo Huertases vs. 1 Julius Randle who is driving to the basket. Who wins?
First assumption is, of course, the 10 Marcelo Huertases can just form a big clump around the rim and make the Julius Randle shoot a jumper. But, remember, the Julius Randle doesn’t want to shoot a jumper. He wants to get to rim and lay it up, maybe even dunk it. If the Marcelo Huertases were just standing there, the Julius Randle could easy plow right through them.
A different approach has to be taken. There are no referees, so hack-a-Julius Randle wouldn’t work either. It’s doubtful that the Julius Randle would even feel the 20 flimsy arms hitting his beefy figure. Their best chance for success, I figure, is to somehow link their arms and legs together and form a sort of wall/pyramid structure in front of the rim. The extra height that this would grant the Marcelo Huertases might be enough for them to block any potential shot. This is the only way I can see them stopping the Julius Randle; he is like a bull in a china shop when it comes to scoring in the paint.