Sweet and Sour Plays from Game #4/82: The Defense

1) Sweet Play:

6:55, 3rd Quarter: The Hornets work Chris Paul off the ball along the right baseline. Paul is under the hoop at the right edge of the paint as David West dribbles the ball behind the three-point line on the other side of the court. Julian Wright, defended by Pierce, sets a screen for CP3 to curl around and run out toward the three-point line. West, meanwhile, has passed off to Okafor who is dribbling at the top of the three-point line.

Rondo goes under the screen so that Wright is between CP3 and Rondo. Rajon risks losing CP3 by defending him this way, but Rondo sees what the Hornets are trying to do and decides that going under the screen is the right call.

Because what Hornets want to do is this: Have Okafor give Paul the ball on a dribble hand-off and set a screen for Paul at the same time. Okafor telegraphs the play, and Rondo as a result goes under the Wright screen instead of fighting over it. This gives him room to run parallel to CP3 in a race to the ball. Rondo wins it and knocks the ball away from Okafor on the hand off.

Perk picks up the loose ball and actually dribbles it a few times even though Rondo is a few steps ahead of him on a 2-on-0 fast break. I actually thought Perk was gong to take it all the way. Of course, he wises up and passes it forward to Rondo, who touches it back to Perk to be a good teammate/pick up a cheap assist. Perk finishes with a little reverse jam.

2) Sour play (see 35-second mark; commentary after the jump)

On ESPN’s opening night Daily Dime chat, David Thorpe talked a few times about Rasheed Wallace’s inconsistent help defense. This is what he means:

51 seconds, 1st Quarter (or also: the 35-second mark of the clip above):

Peja Stojakovic cuts down the center of the lane as James Posey dribbles on the left wing beyond the three-point line. Peja hangs out in the paint for a two count before darting back up toward the foul line around a screen from Hilton Armstrong. The screen hits Peja’s man (Marquis Daniels) hard. But not to worry—Armstrong’s man (Kendrick Perkins) sees what is happening and jumps out to the area where Peja is going to receive the ball from Posey, who is still dribbling on the left wing. Daniels chases after Peja as well.

Armstrong does what he’s supposed to do: cut toward the rim. He is now Sheed’s responsibility. Sheed is nominally defending David West, who is positioned in the right corner for a potential three. But Sheed is really just standing flat-footed halfway between West and basket. It’s his job now to rotate over and at least try and disrupt Armstrong. But Sheed doesn’t move, and Posey sees this immediately. So rather than dish to Peja—option #1—Posey skips the middle man and threads a gorgeous bounce pass to Armstrong, who finishes with a dunk.

The play is at about the 35 second mark of the video above. Watch for yourselves. Does Perk help too aggressively and leave Sheed in an untenable position? Should Daniels have opted for a full-on switch and moved to guard Armstrong?

Obviously, blaming Sheed simplifies a complicated set of movements. But NBA defense means helping your teammates, and Sheed didn’t do that here.

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