Please can someone enlighten me why we keep switching on defense even when we continously get burned because of it...seeing Beverley or Harden on a 7 footer only to get alley-ooped on or post-up resulting in probably 70-80% success rate for the opponent is just mind-boggling to me. I was sure with McHale leaving we would see the end of this horrendous strategy, but seems Bzdelik is not much of a genius either. Switching instead of going over screens has also resulted in a lot of open threes so I don't know why we don't come up with something better. I know we don't have a lot of talent, but do something else for crying out loud.
I too am not a fan of sets breaking down and Capella (who did a solid job) winding up on Steph Curry 1-on-1 near the perimeter every play.
Going over screens is tough because more guys are starting to draw fouls from the contact defenders make fighting over picks.
Analytically it is a better defensive move to switch. Even a bad match-up is better than the defense losing its position. The ballhandler stays defended rather than left open. For example. Harden PnR with capela comes at your defense. You go under the screen harden has an uncontested shot. Advantage Harden. If you go over the top, he draws a foul. If your disciplined and don't foul him going over the top your defending from behind as he starts his drive. Advantage Harden. You switch and currently you have contained him and your defensive integrity is in tact. It's not a favorable match-up but you are in good defensive position.
You try going over the Draymond Green illegal screens. Also, it's not that hard for guys like Curry and Harden to force a switch by reusing the pick, anyhow. They do it all the time. Btw: Curry surprisingly did not burn Capela. Capela even got a block on him once. I thought us having to switch on the 5-out motion was fine coverage on-ball. We had trouble containing the off-ball screens, the ones on the weak side. We lost the screener picking for klay/curry when they were off ball multiple times. I think your post is more about when we switch on other teams' PnRs. GSW doesn't run PnR, so we switch almost like a zone on the perimeter to cover their weak side motion as well as strongside. Many NBA teams use switching to cover the perimeter. It's advantage is it doesn't require as much help defense leaving the corner 3 man if/when the dribbler turns the corner or a trap lets the roller go...so, as @BigMaloe says, it "maintains defensive integrity" I'm willing to bet the increase use of switching came about with the increase use of the Corner 3.
#analyze Does anyone else find it ironic that barkley hates analytics but his job title at tnt can be referred to as a "television analyst" ? I mean he "analyzes" and provides his "analysis" of nba games all the time
This. The rocket's issue has been execution. Our interior defense sucks more often than not because the weak side help is slow to come over.
Analytically switching is better! In all seriousness it is, even not knowing the exact numbers to back it up, I've also seen the team not switch and try to go under and fight through, and it's not like the results from that are better - in fact they aren't. And the GSW are masters at offense so switch, fight through, I think it's pretty tough either way. Also, I like Harden on bigs. I don't exactly want him guarding Marc Gasol or Jokic or DMC regularly, but he can hold his own on occasion, perhaps even better than he guards ... guards. One thing I do want to see the Rockets do more is make the other team get the ball to the player they want to have the ball. Meaning, if you're playing the Warriors, I want to see Zaza Pachulia shooting more. Now, Zaza might "go off" ... meaning he'll take more than his normal 4.4 shots a game and do ok ... but I think that is more effective at disrupting the Warriors offense than letting them go with their normal flow. Again, against better offensive teams this is easier said than done. Zaza is really the only "hole" in the GSW starting 5. The Spurs don't really have any inefficient scorers in their starting 5, etc. So then you just have to have a philosophy and perfect team defense to stick with that. That philosophy should clearly be run good 3 point shooting teams (eg. GSW, Spurs, Cavs) off the line, while also doing your best to pack the paint. Which is tough when the other team gets you switching and rotating but go to do your best.
This and other simple mistakes. For example I recall a play against the Warriors where Dekker was guarding Klay, and simply got downpicked allowing Klay to take a couple steps back to the 3 point line and get a pretty much open 3 he nailed. I think this was 3rd quarter. MDA called a timeout immediately after. And when I say simply downpicked, it really was a VERY simple downpick, which Dekker could have easily fought through, or been way more aware of. Instead he was allowing himself to be taken out of the play. This is the simple type stuff. You have to make everything they do 5%-10% harder via smart bumps on cuts, via making the first or second option not work, etc. And then good rotation and rebounding from there.
I'm sure there's also something to the fact that when you go over a screen, you are exposing yourself to a more athletic ballhandler (i.e. Westbrook, Curry, Harden, LeBron) getting a clearer path to the basket which allows him for more AND-1 opportunities because the weak side defender is most likely going to rotate late. It's probably better to get stuck with a "bad" match-up, rather than giving up AND-1's. That's just my personal take, anyhow.
I actually was trying to describe the times no one was under the basket, because GSW was running 5-out motion with all offensive players around the perimeter doing all their screens and picks. This is actually their main offense....with no one in the middle. So, I was trying to describe the times when they got free right at the rim. The coverage wasn't supposed to be Capela (or Nene) in the paint, because they had been pulled out on the strong side. We lost the weakside action...often the screener for an off-ball Klay or Curry.
Switching I think is great if you have a beast inside rim protector. Switching's power comes from the ability to fight screens. If your smaller guy can be switched on a much taller guy it isn't a huge deal if you can force him to shoot over you at the mid range to 3 point distance. Yes they will have a better shot because they are taller but most of the mid+ range defense comes from distraction not shot blocking. As long as you can get a hand in their face it will lower their shot accuracy. Having said that our defenders are having a hard time keeping their man in front of them. Some of this pressure would be alleviated by a superior rim protector but we don't have that. I think switching or not our defense is going to suck because of the lack of defensive intensity. I think our defense is right in switching. We now need to work on keeping the man infront or getting a good rim protector.
We over do it . Especially with some lineups and it causes huge weaknesses that can be exploited . We don't have a lot of lineups that have the personell to employ it . I don't know if it's a audible or if it's a rule , if players are making the decision in real time then we need to do a better job of coaching out the bad switches . I'd be cool with it if we were playing a lineup of bev, James, Trevor, Dekker , and Clint . Maybe also OK if you subbed in Gordon for bev . But with 3 smalls it's not working great as it almost always results in a guy having to box out a much bigger player .... And failing
Rockets are the WORST team at defending the roll man on pick & roll. 3rd worst guarding isolations. And 8th worst defending cuts (by percentile) p-r roll man isolation cuts Rockets are actually the BEST defending pick & roll ball handler. Odd reversal p-r ball handler Seems their scheme is to harrass the ball handler. But after the ball handler works past them, Rockets dont do much to stop the roll man Rockets are actually 4th BEST defending off-screen plays, so its not like they get easily picked off. Just thought it interesting how they're really good guarding ball handler and off-screen but get killed by p & r roll men
Also we are 5th in the league at defending the 3point line with a 3pt def.fg% of 34.7%. That's before last nights results with Portland torching us
Now OKC is getting KILLED doing the same thing. It's always a terrible idea IMO. Just glad I am seeing Harden tear up Adams and Kanter instead of Capella getting torn up by Curry for once.
