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You Better Recognize: Rajon Rondo Shredded the Heat

April 2, 2012 in by with 1 Comment

Welcome back to the ongoing series here at Hardwood Paroxysm, You Better Recognize. In each edition, I take a look at a specific aspect of a specific player’s (or team’s) game and tell you just how and why they are so successful (or unsuccessful). Previously, I covered Roy Hibbert’s hook shot. Today, I’ll show how Rajon Rondo shredded the Heat’s vaunted pick-and-roll defense. 

The Miami Heat have played smothering defense all season against the pick-and-roll. Their strategy is very aggressive, as they always call upon the screener’s man to make a hard show agains the ball-handler, looking to drive him away from the middle of the lane and toward the half court line, the sideline or the baseline. The Heat are willing to take the gamble that their athletic wings and bigs can rotate in time to contest shots either at the rim or on the perimeter.And for most of the season, it has brought them great success. Here’s how it looks when it works the right way.

Above, Joel Anthony is guarding the screener, Brandon Bass. Anthony’s objective is to force Rajon Rondo toward the baseline where he and Mario Chalmers can execute a trap. To beat the trap, Rondo either has to turn the corner quickly and get directly into the lane or head toward the deep wing and draw both defenders before turning around and zipping the ball back to Bass at the top of the key.

Rondo heads to the deep wing and draws both defenders. Right now his move should be to hit Brandon Bass at the top of the key, where he can take a jumper, drive the lane or swing the ball around to Paul Pierce on the opposite wing. Anthony is still trying to force Rondo toward the baseline, and Chalmers is on his way over to complete the trap.

This is exactly what the Heat want. Rondo is trapped in the corner by Anthony, Chalmers and the baseline. Paul Pierce and Greg Stiemsma are covered by Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in the lane. Rondo can either try to hit Bass at the top of the key or Avery Bradley over the top of the defense, but look who is standing between them playing center field: LeBron James. The Heat are willing to bet he can rotate in time to contest a shot by either man or get there quick enough to pick off the pass and create a fast break basket.

Rondo tries to keep his dribble alive but winds up nearly falling out of bounds. He attempts to throw the ball off Anthony’s leg to save the play, but he misses and the pass gets intercepted by Wade. Wade immediately chucks the ball down the court to LeBron, who released on the play, for an easy dunk.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyRhNTM0JXY&feature=youtu.be w=700 h=450]

This play (which is actually from earlier in the game) has the Celtics running the same left side pick-and-roll action, this time with Kevin Garnett as the screener.

Again, Joel Anthony is guarding the screener and Mario Chalmers is guarding Rondo. Anthony’s objective is to force Rondo toward the baseline so he can be trapped, but Rondo turns the corner quickly and attacks the lane. This is one downside to the Heat’s strategy of defending the pick-and-roll; for a split second after the screen is set, the point guard has the ball on the move against one of their bigs, and if the big doesn’t force the point guard to the right spot, he can get beat to the rack.

Rondo beats Anthony off the dribble and he’s headed into the lane rather than toward the baseline, so there is no trap. The Heat have Dwyane Wade there as a last line of defense, but Rondo puts up the lay-up over Anthony, and Wade never even challenges the attempt.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f83-7hXkAE&feature=youtu.be w=700 h=450]

On the first possession of the game, after a Paul Pierce-Brandon Bass pick-and-roll yielded no open shot (and look how far out Chris Bosh forces Paul Pierce before he has to turn around and pass it in the video below), the Celtics ran a dribble-handoff pick-and-roll between Bass and Rondo.

On this play, Rondo comes up from the left baseline and is basically getting a downscreen. Bosh, still guarding Bass, is supposed to force Rondo back outside the 3-point line so his only options are to reset the play or pass the ball back across his body to Bass. Rondo again wants to get into the lane.

Instead of forcing Rondo back outside the 3-point line, Bosh basically just follows him to the middle of the lane for a couple of seconds and then leaves to go recover back onto Bass. Chalmers is still coming over to pick Rondo back up, Anthony has left Kevin Garnett alone in the corner because he’s on rim-protection duty and Wade is sagging off Avery Bradley to disrupt Rondo’s driving lane. This leaves Rondo on the move and in the teeth of the defense with the option to drive to the hoop or hit one of three wide open teammates.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL20ODgc87w&feature=youtu.be w=700 h=450]

In the second quarter the Celtics run a Rondo-Garnett pick-and-roll on the right side of the court. Bosh is guarding Garnett while Norris Cole is now on Rondo. Bosh wants to force Rondo to the sideline so he and Cole can trap him there. This time, Rondo dribbles directly into the trap.

This really just isn’t fair. Rondo takes the Heat’s bait and dribbles directly into the trap, only he fires a behind-the-back bounce pass to KG while Cole is still on the move. Bosh is all the way out toward the sideline and about 8-10 feet away from Garnett, so he doesn’t have enough time to recover before KG sinks the jumper.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD_Z1ss7f5o&feature=youtu.be w=700 h=450]

Later on in the game, the Celtics ran some 1-3 pick-and-roll action with Rondo as the ball-handler and Paul Pierce as the screener. This time, LeBron was responsible for forcing Rondo either toward the sideline or the half court line. Again, as ever, Rondo’s main objective is to get to the lane and into the teeth of the Miami defense, where he can either get to the basket or draw defenders and open up passing lanes.

LeBron doesn’t do a very good job re-directing Rondo away from the lane. That’s actually putting it lightly; LeBron just lets Rondo turn the corner and get into the lane. He practically escorts him there and then just lays back and sticks on Paul Pierce. He doesn’t really do anything the man covering the screener is supposed to do in the Heat’s system of defending the pick-and-roll. This allows Rondo to get right into the teeth of the defense.

Rondo attacks the basket with abandon as Avery Bradley cuts from the weak side corner into the open space right next to the hoop. Rondo draws the defenders close and dumps it off for a wide open lay-up.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpUfOz2mppQ&feature=youtu.be w=700 h=450]

Eventually, the Heat got tired of getting beat on the hard show and decided to go with the soft show strategy of pick-and-roll defense, a drastic change from their usual strategy. Rather than hedging hard and trying to force Rondo back outside the 3-point line, Bosh lays back in the lane and dares Rondo to take a mid-range jumper.

Rondo decides to ignore Bosh’s polite suggestion that he take a pull-up jumper and instead ventures into the middle of the lane yet again. This time he draws three defenders. Bradley again cuts from the weak side corner into the open space near the hoop, and Rondo again hits him with the dump off pass for an easy lay-up.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgm1UdBZ2v0&feature=youtu.be w=700 h=450]

The soft show works only if the entire defense is committed to making Rondo beat them. If even one guy strays from the strategy, it’s very easy to get beat.

Even later in the third quarter, the Celtics go back to the Rondo-Bass pick-and-roll, and the Heat again try the soft show and dare Rondo to take a mid-range jumper. Rondo takes the bait and pulls up just like the Heat want him to.

LeBron gets caught napping – and ball-watching – here and allows Garnett to sneak in behind him for a backdoor lay-up. Twice in a minute and a half the Celtics took advantage of LeBron loafing on the defensive end instead of filling his responsibilities in the pick-and-roll defense. One time it was as an on-the-ball defender and once it was off the ball.

Rondo and the Celtics pulled out one last trick late in the third quarter. This time they went with a double screen for the pick-and-roll. Rondo, being guarded by Cole, gets picks from both Stiemsma and Sasha Pavlovic. Ronny Turiaf and LeBron are guarding the screeners. Turiaf makes a hard show and tries to force Rondo towards the half-court line, but Rondo goes right around him.

Because Turiaf got beat on the hedge, LeBron is now responsible for guarding both roll men. Rondo is way past Turiaf and Cole is still trailing him and trying to recover, so Bradley’s man has to slide over to cut off Rondo’s driving lane. Bradley is left wide open in the corner, and when he gets the ball from Rondo, has an open driving lane against an on-the-move defender. Bradley gets right to the hoop for a lay-up, which is goaltended for a basket.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwqWIkYYHns&feature=youtu.be w=700 h=450]

The Heat are third in the NBA in defending pick-and-roll ball-handlers according to mySynergySports. They force turnovers 24.3% of the time and allow a score on only 35.3% of P&R ball-handler possessions. Yesterday, Rondo made 3 of his 5 shots as a pick-and-roll ball-handler and had 5 assists that came off pick-and-roll plays. He systematically destroyed the Heat’s pick-and-roll defense by getting into the lane with relative ease. He was so effective that the Heat eventually changed the way their defense defends the pick-and-roll, and then he torched them some more.

You Better Recognize: The Hibbert Hook

March 26, 2012 in by with 1 Comment

Roy Hibbert is an unusual player in today’s NBA, but he would have fit right in back in the olden days. As NBA bigs move farther and farther away from the basket, Hibbert has broken the mold by instead operating mostly out of the post. His back-to-the-basket-heavy game is a throwback to the more ‘traditional’ centers of yore.

According to mySynergySports, 52.9% of Hibbert’s offensive possessions are of the Post-up variety. His 0.92 Points Per Possession (PPP) ranks 26th in the NBA, placing him comfortably in the top 10 percent of all NBA players. Hibbert’s favorite weapon in the post – the hook shot – is also a bit of a throwback move. Hibbert’s full-season pace of 309 hook shots attempted  - he had taken 158 through 42 games as of last Friday, according to Basketball-Reference - would make him just the third player to attempt at least 300 hook shots since 2000 (the others are Dwight Howard and Andrew Bogut), but he likely won’t get there due to the shortened season.

There are a great many things to like about the Hibbert hook, but we’ll start with positioning. Hibbert is a battler; he’s constantly fighting his man for good position in the post, using a variety of different actions to get himself to the spot he wants. Sometimes he’ll get a cross-screen from David West, Tyler Hansbrough, Lou Amundson, Paul George or Danny Granger. Other times he’ll simply beat his man down the floor on the break and take up whatever position he wants. Still other times Hibbert simply engages in arm fighting and uses his posterior to clear out the requisite space needed to receive an entry pass. Look at Hibbert’s shot chart for hook shots; over 80% of them have come inside the lane. You don’t get to take good shots like that without first getting good post position.

Hibbert’s preference when working out of the post is to catch and hold the ball while he surveys the court, then go about backing his man down. He’ll take a couple of dribbles and then quickly spin and drop a hook shot (he has a few different varieties) before the defender can react. As you can see in the shot chart above, he usually prefers to turn into the middle of the lane to unleash his hook. This is generally a good strategy for two reasons. First, the shot is easier to make because it tends to be closer to the basket than if he were to turn baseline. Second, spinning into the lane and thus closer to the basket puts Hibbert in better offensive rebounding position. Hibbert is averaging a career-high 3.4 offensive rebounds per game this season.

Below, Hibbert fights Tyson Chandler, possibly the best defensive center in the league this season (Dwight Howard’s effort on defense has been hit or miss), for position before catching, taking a quick power dribble and putting up a baby hook in his face. Very simple, very effective.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvIyagLBVug&feature=youtu.be]

Later in the same game, he easily gets good post position on Jared Jeffries to unleash a sweeping lefty hook shot in the lane. The main reason I include this video is to show how well Hibbert receives the ball in the post. He gets a wide base and provides a big target for the passer to hit when throwing an entry pass.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOdmeTm7-VA&feature=youtu.be]

Below, watch as Hibbert attacks Nene with another very simple move. This is a common play for the Pacers. The ball is entered to Hibbert in the post, while Granger and George each make a cut around him. Granger goes baseline and George comes out to the top of the key as they criss-cross in X-like motion (Zach Lowe describes the action in bullet number 5 here). If a defender overplays, Hibbert can hand-off to either Granger or George as they go past. If neither comes open, as is the case here, Hibbert can then isolate his man in the post.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doQuUrQyt5A&feature=youtu.be]

Hibbert waits for Granger and George to finish their cuts and backs Nene down. There’s really nothing fancy going on here. He uses his large, wide body to back the defender down, and when he gets to the spot he likes on the floor, turns over his inside shoulder and drops a hook shot.

Although turning into the lane tends to be Hibbert’s preference, he does have the ability to quickly counter with a baseline hook if his defender overplays. Watch below as he goes to work on Marcin Gortat, one of the best post defenders in the NBA.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pn3YI7KIEE&feature=youtu.be]

Gortat forces Hibbert to catch the ball a little farther from the basket than he normally likes to, but he’s still just a step outside the lane. Hibbert, as is his preference, catches and holds the ball while waiting for Danny Granger to cut through the lane and clear out that side of the court for him. Gortat, knowing Hibbert prefers to turn toward the middle when working out of the post, completely shuts off that option. He is forcing, basically daring, Hibbert to go baseline. Hibbert, however, proceeds as if he will still go ahead and try his go-to move. His left shoulder is dipped and he’s acts like he is trying to back Gortat down far enough into the lane so that he can spin toward the middle and drop the hook over his head. But at the last minute, just as Gortat completely turns his body, Hibbert spins over his outside shoulder and nails a lefty baseline hook.

Hibbert’s wide frame, extremely long arms and deft touch around the basket have made his hook shot one of the deadliest shots in the league today. Out of players who have attempted at least 50 hooks, Hibbert’s 62.7 FG% on the shot ranks second behind only LaMarcus Aldridge, who has attempted 93 less of them this season. It’s a traditional, old school, throwback, plain and simple shot, and Hibbert has perfected it.

You Better Recognize: Golden State Finding Spot-up Shooters

March 12, 2012 in by with 0 Comments

Welcome back to the ongoing series here at Hardwood Paroxysm, You Better Recognize. Each week, I’ll take a look at a specific aspect of a specific player’s (or team’s) game and tell you just how and why they have been so successful (or unsuccessful). Previously, I covered Lou Williams using screens to get himself open. Today, we slide on over to the Western Conference and take a look at how Golden State finds open perimeter shooters for threes. 

The Warriors make the 4th most 3-pointers per game in the NBA and shoot the 5th highest percentage from beyond the 3-point line. Their 20.6 3-point attempts per game rank 7th in the NBA and account for over 1/4 of their total field goal attempts per game. At any given time, they can have up to three players on the court who are shooting above 45.0% from 3-point land this season. They can supplement that with last year’s league leader in 3-point field goals made and another two players who, while they don’t shoot great percentages from three, are two of the streakiest shooters in the league and can win games with one hot streak. At different points during the game, the Dubs may have four of these players on the court at the same time.

Because they have so many snipers, the Warriors are shooting 44% as a team on spot-up threes according to mySynergySports, 6.5% above their season average of 37.5%, which is again 5th in the NBA. Here are some of the things they do well to create openings for spot-up opportunities from 3-point land.

Drive-and-kicks

When you have guards that are as good at creating off the dribble as Stephen Curry, Monta Ellis, Klay Thompson and even Nate Robinson and pair them up with shooters like Curry and Thompson again, plus Dorell Wright and Brandon Rush, there are going to be a lot of seams in the defense. Shooters of that quality cause the defense to stretch to its limits, which opens driving lanes, which draws defenders, which creates spot-up threes. Let’s take a look at an example.

Here, Golden State has Nate Robinson, Klay Thompson, Brandon Rush, Dominic McGuire and Andris Biedrins in the game. This lineup has shot 57.1% from three in the time they have have spent on the court together this year according to NBA.com’s stats database. The play starts with Robinson at the top of the key, Rush and McGuire stacked on the left block and Thompson and Biedrins stacked on the right block. Rush gets a quick rub-screen from McGuire and catches the ball at the left elbow extended. He tries to dribble-drive but finds no lane, so McGuire comes out to set a screen. Robinson has come down closer to the top of the key and Thompson has floated out to the perimeter. Notice Biedrins on the right side of the screen pointing to the corner. He’s telling Thompson where to go next.

 

Rush takes the screen and drives the baseline hard, drawing Biedrins’ defender across the lane to cut off his penetration and prevent an easy layup. Meanwhile, Thompson’s man then slides down to cover Biedrins…

 

…but what he doesn’t know is that Thompson is the real target of the play. Instead of opening up and looking for a pass, Biedrins hits Thompson’s man with a screen, opening up an entire side of the court. Four out of five Wizards defenders are in the lane and the fifth, John Wall, is ball-watching. No one is even paying attention to Thompson, the 45.8% 3-point shooter, standing all alone in the corner. By the time Thompson catches the ball, it’s already over. When you leave a knockdown shooter this wide open, you’re just asking to get a three splashed on you. Not only are all five Wizards players now in the lane while the shooter stands and sets himself in the corner, but JaVale McGee makes only a token attempt to challenge the shot.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naa5LcuEq7c&feature=youtu.be]

 

This drive-and-kick happened to be a designed play, but there are also plenty of instances where Ellis, Curry or Robinson will take their man off the dribble either from the top of the key or the elbow extended, get into the middle of the lane and drop the ball off to a waiting shooter.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJwGkVxAaoE&feature=youtu.be]

 

Post-up kick outs

The Warriors also boast two excellent post-up threats, one guard and one forward, as well as a third raw but improving post-up threat, who can draw extra defenders when they get near the basket, which creates open opportunities for more spot-up threes. Monta Ellis isn’t your prototypical post player, but he’s been extraordinarily effective there this season. According to Synergy, Ellis’ 1.07 Points Per Possession (PPP) ranks 2nd in the NBA out of the post. He’s shooting 51.6% on post-ups and draws shooting fouls 10.1% of the time. All of which is to say, when Monta Ellis posts up, he commands a hard double team. And that’s exactly what happens in the play below.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rRUQmK-t1A&feature=youtu.be]

 

Ellis senses the baseline double  and dribbles out the opposite way. He starts to turn the corner, but sees Klay Thompson on the opposite side of the court with no one around him. Ellis, a much more willing passer this season than previously in his career, delivers the ball and lets the shooter do the work, making an overly aggressive defense pay.

David Lee, while not quick as effective as Ellis, is also a good post-up threat. His 0.88 PPP ranks 41st in the NBA and he shoots 46% out of the post this season. He also draws a shooting foul 8.2% of the time. Lee, too, commands a double-team.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pjG7STKWSQ&feature=youtu.be]

 

Here, the ball is entered to Lee in the post and Marc Gasol comes all the way across the lane from the weak side to cut off his driving lane, knowing that Lee likes to face up and take slower forwards off the dribble if he doesn’t pull the trigger on a mid-range jumper. Lee catches the rest of the Grizzlies sleeping and throws a skip pass to a wide open Ellis, who knows down the three.

Making the extra pass

While the Dubs are stacked full of shooters, they are not an overly selfish team. They share the ball and they share it well. Making the extra pass when you’re kind of open but there’s another guy who is even more wide open is often the difference between a make and a miss. Because the Warriors know the kind of shooters they can put on the floor, none of them is afraid or hesitant to make that extra pass because they know it can often turn into a made basket.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj995J4bXfE&feature=youtu.be]

 

Here, Monta Ellis runs a pick-and-roll with Dominic McGuire, hitting McGuire on the roll underneath the basket. The defense collapses on him, so he kicks it out to Dorell Wright in the corner. Wright, last year’s reigning 3-point champion, has an opening to shoot, but it’s a small one. He instead dishes over to Klay Thompson for the wide open trey.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6xHril5m6U&list=UUrH0cFTogF5bW0j6MdThQcA&index=1&feature=plcp]

 

In this clip, Monta Ellis takes his man off the dribble and causes Klay Thompson’s defender to collapse into the middle of the lane. Ellis hits Thompson with a pass on the side of the key. He’s open, but Nate Robinson’s man is quickly closing on his shot, so he slides a pass over to Robinson, who nails the three.

You Better Recognize: Lou Williams Using Screens

February 20, 2012 in by with 1 Comment

Welcome back to the new series here at Hardwood Paroxysm, You Better Recognize. Each week, I’ll take a look at a specific aspect of a specific player’s game and tell you just how and why a player has been so successful (or unsuccessful). Last week, I covered Tyson Chandler’s inspired defense. Today, we stay in the Atlantic Division and look at how Lou Williams uses off-ball screens to free himself for open looks.

It’s easy to overlook Lou Williams. He plays for the Philadelphia 76ers who, despite being located in one of the largest media markets in the country, don’t really feel like a big market team. After all, superstars aren’t falling all over themselves to play in Philly like they are for Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or even Brooklyn. The Sixers still sit atop the Atlantic Division standings, yet you wouldn’t know it based on the media coverage of the division. Everything is all about Linsanity, or Dwight Howard possibly going to the Nets or Boston shopping Rajon Rondo. Yes, there was that one week (one day, really) where everyone talked and wrote about the Sixers for a little while, but the stories were mostly of the, “Can they really sustain this?” variety.

When the Sixers do get attention, it’s mostly heaped on other players, and Lou is often the odd man out. Andre Iguodala is Philly’s All-Star, their best player, their leader. He does a little bit of everything out there on the court, and he’s really put it together to have a career-best year. He’s entirely deserving of all the attention and admiration he’s getting this season. Thaddeus Young has received vocal praise from head coach Doug Collins for his activity on defense and the way he defends the pick-and-roll. Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner are the young back court tandem of the future; nearly everyone has high hopes for them. Elton Brand, despite his bloated salary, is still counted on to be a steadying veteran presence. Spencer Hawes’ early season break out got a bunch of pub, but that spotlight has since faded away due to injury.

Williams, meanwhile, may just be the most important player on the team. His 16.0 points per game leads the Sixers, and if he keeps that up through the full season, he’d be the first bench player to lead his team in scoring since Dell Curry in the 1993-94 campaign. He’s a leading Sixth Man of the Year candidate for sure (ESPN’s Marc Stein handed it to him as part of his mid-season awards), even if James Harden is still the favorite (our own Matt Moore picked him at his day job). He’s averaging career highs in PER, Usage Rate, WS/48, and AST% while turning it over less than ever before. In fact, of the top 15 players in the NBA in Usage, he’s turning the ball over less than any of them.

Down the stretch of games, Lou’s Philly’s de facto go-to guy, and with good reason. The man is a legitimate crunch time killer. He’s shooting 56.4% from the field in the last three minutes of 4th quarters this season according to Basketball-Reference, and NBA.com’s Stats Cube says he is averaging 33.5 points per-36 minutes in the clutch (“clutch” being defined as the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter or OT, game within 5 points). His usage rate climbs 7% in the clutch, and he justifies it by hitting shots at a 5% higher clip and posting a TS% more than 12 points above his season average. He’s also getting to the free throw line in the clutch at nearly double the rate he does during the rest of the game, and hits at his usual 80+%, a huge asset at the tail end of games.

One reason he doesn’t get much attention is that Williams’ game has very little flash to it. You won’t often find him dunking on people’s heads or shaking them up with a crazy crossover dribble. He goes about his business much more quietly than that. He’s subtle. He uses angles, reads the defense and picks his spots. Not many people appreciate the art of reading the defender’s route and flaring into the corner after coming off a screen instead of curling around up top. It’s not often that you see guys revered for the way they use screens to get themselves open. That praise is pretty much limited to Reggie Miller, Ray Allen and – in a since bygone era – Richard Hamilton. But Lou has all that mastered.

According to mySynergySports, Williams is shooting an utterly absurd 61.8% off screens this season and his 1.34 Points Per Possession (PPP) places him 2nd in the NBA. If you throw in shooting fouls drawn, he’s scored on 63.2% of his possessions (plays that end in FGA, FTs or TO) that ended with him using a screen. Philly likes to get Williams the ball off screens in two locations: just about the elbow on the right side and in the left corner. They basically just run different variations of the same two plays to get him the ball there, and it works exceedingly well.

The first play involves Williams starting either in the corner or on the low block and the right side and running his man off a down screen to catch the ball just above the right elbow. More often than not, he gets a wide open catch-and-shoot jumper. However, if his man tries to cut that off, he’ll occasionally either flare back out into the corner to create separation or curl the screen around and come to the middle of the floor and catch the ball on the move going toward the hoop.

Here’s the first version, where he runs his man off a down screen and releases a catch-and-shoot jumper from just above the elbow. This is the most common way the Sixers get Williams a jumper off screens.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuHd52wiyQw&list=UUrH0cFTogF5bW0j6MdThQcA&index=3&feature=plcp]

The second and third versions, where he flares into the corner or comes all the way around the screen into the lane, aren’t as common, but are no less effective ways of getting open.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6KsZR_uvUQ&list=UUrH0cFTogF5bW0j6MdThQcA&index=2&feature=plcp]

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eZ7V-v-9uw&list=UUrH0cFTogF5bW0j6MdThQcA&index=1&feature=plcp]

Philly has one basic set they like to use to get Williams a corner jumper off a screen, but they’ve altered the way it’s run since the beginning of the season. At the start of the year, the play looked like this:

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAm8RQ_57tc&feature=youtu.be]

The ball starts off at the elbow extended and is swung to the top of the key. As the ball gets swung around again to the opposite side, Williams sets a back screen for the man at the top of the key, who flashes toward what is now the weak side corner. Philly then uses the “screen for the screener” concept and sends Williams off a back screen of his own toward the strong side corner for a jumper. However, because Williams comes to a complete stop in the middle of the lane when setting a screen for the man at the top of the key, it gives the Knicks’ defense time to see him coming and rotate out to contest the jumper. Amar’e Stoudemire contests, but Williams uses a pump fake to get by him and drop a shorter jumper. The play works, but only because Williams was smart enough to use the pump fake to get Amar’e to bite.

They’ve since altered the play a bit. Williams’ route is very much the same, but this time he starts the play from the elbow extended and swings the ball to the top of the key. Here’s where the new wrinkle comes in; as the ball is being swung around, Williams fakes as if he will cut to the top of the key, the spot vacated by the man that he screened for on the earlier play, while knowing that he will come off a screen of his own and flare into the corner. This time, the jumper is wide open.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaKlMhvD7MI&feature=youtu.be]

The defender doesn’t know Williams’ route, so he bites on the fake toward the top of the key, leaving him way out of position and trailing Williams. The screen puts even more space between Lou and his defender. It’s a simple adjustment made to get an excellent catch-and-shoot player a little more room with which to unleash a deadly jumper.

You Better Recognize: Tyson Chandler Is A Monster On Defense

February 17, 2012 in by with 2 Comments

Photo via Getty Images

This is the first edition of a series I started on my own site (samples here and here) and I will now be continuing here at Hardwood Paroxysm, You Better Recognize. Each week, I will take a look at one specific aspect of a specific player’s game and break down why he has been so successful (or unsuccessful) in that given area.

When I set out to write this piece, it originally had a different title: You Better Recognize: Tyson Chandler’s Post Defense. The plan was to break down exactly how the Knicks center has been smothering people defensively, especially on the low block, and I was going to provide all the reasons how and why he does what he does. But after watching the game film, I didn’t think that accurately captured the impact that he’s been having on the defensive end, so I decided to expand it and came up with a new title: You Better Recognize: Tyson Chandler’s Post and Isolation Defense. The plan was still the same; break down exactly how and why Tyson has been so successful guarding on those type of plays. But again, I didn’t feel this was sufficient. So I expanded the scope and the title of the post again: You Better Recognize: Tyson Chandler’s Post, Isolation and Help Defense. Again, I wasn’t satisfied with that. It was at this point that I came to the realization that I couldn’t focus on one specific aspect of Chandler’s defense if I wanted to capture the essence of just how important he’s been to one of the surprisingly best defensive units in the NBA. To fully appreciate Chandler’s impact on the defensive end, we have to look at the whole picture.

You can’t really grasp Chandler’s effect on the Knicks’ defense without understanding where they came from, where they are now, and how they got there. The Knicks, especially under Mike D’Antoni, have been one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA for quite some time. Since the 2002-03 season, the Knicks had ranked 22nd, 18th, 25th, 27th, 26th, 30th, 24th, 27th and 21st in defensive efficiency in the years leading up to this one. It was that fact that led to the Knicks’ decision to use the amnesty provision on Chauncey Billups and go after Chandler. With Tyson in tow, the Knicks sit comfortably in the top 10 in defensive efficiency, currently at 8th according to ESPN’s John Hollinger (HoopData also has them at 8th and Basketball-Reference has them at 6th).

If you’ve been watching or following the Knicks at all this season, you already know about their “switch on every pick unless you are absolutely 100% positive that both you and the other man involved in the action can stick with your man and you better be sure so just switch anyway” style of defense. Chandler is the key to making the whole thing work. When the opposing team gets Chandler and a guard or wing to switch, Chandler is counted on to do a bunch of different things: 1. pick up the guard or wing who has the ball, 2. help out the guard who picked up his man if the ball gets entered into the post, 3. recover in time to challenge a shot if the ball gets kicked back out to the perimeter and 4. keep an eye on everyone else on the court so he can come over for a help-side challenge or block because the Knicks usually play at least 2 or 3 below-average (at best) defenders at a time. That’s a lot to handle for one player, and Chandler is asked to do it all on a pretty routine basis. The Knicks put so much weight on his shoulders because they have confidence that he can handle it, and they’re right, at least so far.

Chandler has had to pick up a guard or wing player in isolation off a switch 30 times (or more accurately, the possession has ended with him defending a guard or wing player in isolation off a switch 30 times) and the results have been spectacular. Those players are 7-for-27 (25.9%) from the field with 1 turnover and have drawn just 2 shooting fouls. The reasons he’s been so successful defending these players on switches are simple: positioning, footwork, reach and intimidation. Quite simply, many of these players are scared that if they try to take Chandler to the basket, they’ll get their shot blocked, so they barely even try. Chandler recognizes this and generally plays off them when he gets caught guarding them on a switch. He gives them just enough room to make them think they can raise up and splash a jumper, but by the time they’ve started their shooting motion and have the ball ready to release, Chandler’s hand is right in their grill. This causes them to fade away so they don’t get blocked, which changes the trajectory of the ball and forces a miss (even most of the made baskets against Chandler in isolation are fade-away jumpers). Watch below as that exact sequence happens with Danilo Gallinari and Rajon Rondo.

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Chandler is able to bait both Gallo and Rondo into shots that he knows they likely won’t be able to make because of his ability to close out and challenge due to his extremely long reach. He’s often able to do the same thing with forwards and centers, who are themselves 7-for-20 (40%) from the field with 4 turnovers and just 1 shooting foul drawn on Chandler in isolations. Here, DeMarcus Cousins and Byron Mullens fall victim to this.

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The way to victimize Chandler on isolations is to know that he likes to give you space and then jump right into you and challenge, and thus get him to bite on a pump fake. Because he’s so aggressive in challenging jumpers in these situations, sometimes he can get caught biting. Danilo Gallinari (after he had already missed a fade-away earlier in the same game, the video shown above) and Andrea Bargnani get Chandler this way.

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While his job is much easier when he’s defending the post rather than isolations, that doesn’t make the work Chandler is doing down there any less impressive. Opponents score on Chandler out of the post just 38.1% of the time according to mySynergySports. One reason Chandler’s post defense is so effective is because he expertly avoids fouls. He’s been called for a shooting foul on just 7 of the 84 post-up opportunities against him. Conversely, he has forced a turnover on 18 of the 84 post-up possessions he’s been the defender on. That’s nearly a 2.6-to-1 turnover to foul ratio, which is ridiculously excellent.

Playing post defense with your hands, either swiping at the ball or trying too hard to block the shot, is a very easy way to get called for a foul. That’s why the other big thing to notice with Tyson’s post defense is that while many (maybe even most) post defenders play defense with their hands, Tyson defends almost entirely with his feet and his body until the very last second when he’s challenging a shot, and then he goes straight up rather than bringing his hands and arms down on the offensive player. Shuffling your feet to stay in front of your man and using your lower body to create leverage aren’t flashy skills that get you noticed by All-Star voters, but they’re vitally important to playing post defense, and Chandler has them in spades.

Watch him below against Kevin Love, one of the NBA’s best scoring big men. It’s not Chandler’s best effort challenging a shot, but he stays low, moves his feet and his body, and doesn’t let Love get good enough position to drop the hook shot right in.

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This play, against Utah’s Al Jefferson, perfectly exemplifies Chandler’s post defense. He doesn’t let Jefferson get good position directly on the block; Jefferson catches the ball three or four steps outside the lane, which already puts him at a disadvantage. He has to go pretty far to get to the hoop for a post-up opportunity. Chandler doesn’t reach, doesn’t poke. He just shuffles his feet, keeps his leverage, and blocks the shot just as it leaves Jefferson’s hand. You can’t play better post defense than this.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NV6ZxQLq_E&feature=youtu.be]

One way to beat Chandler on the block is by executing a spin move. Chandler uses his leverage extremely well to force guys one way when they post him up, but if you are able to feign a move in that direction and quickly spin around to the other, you can catch him napping. It’s very rare the big man that is able to do this, but it’s happened a few times this season. Nikola Pekovic and Al Jefferson do it below.

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In addition to being a master defending in isolation and in the post, Chandler is also one of the best help defenders in the entire league, especially when it comes to blocking shots from the weak side. The thing that jumps out at you about Chandler’s weak side help is his timing. Very rarely does he block a shot that gets floated into the air; almost all of his blocks are of the “swat it right out of the guy’s hand” variety. Because the Knicks have so many poor defenders on their team, Chandler’s ability to come help from any area of the floor is of tantamount importance. His tendency to pin his blocked shots against the glass or block them straight down also helps the Knicks keep possession of the ball and basically force a turnover, rather than just giving the ball back to the other team like many of the more flashy shot-blockers who like to swat the ball into the crowd tend to do.

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Despite Chandler’s defensive prowess not being good enough to earn him a spot in the All-Star Game, the impact he’s having on this Knicks team is palpable. He’s been their best player through the first 2 months or so of the season, Linsanity notwithstanding, and it really isn’t close. Even during this amazing run by Jeremy Lin, the Knicks’ victories have been powered by their improved defense, of which Chandler is undeniably the centerpiece. The guy is an absolute monster, so you better recognize.