[Clutchfans] Dwight: Defensive woes "starts on the perimeter"

Does Smith help? Because who knows when and if really Asik ever returns to play (for the Rockets)

 

So its okay when someone says that Beverley held Parker to 28 points on 28 shots, but its not okay to use stats to support Lin?

Because thats what many people said (rightly so) to defend Beverley for Parker "going off", you're just moving the goalposts with regards to Lin.

 

Smith is really a PF. He's forced to play C cause he's the next tallest. He gets really outmatched save for a game here or there.

 

Unfortunately we are currently ranked 17th in defensive efficiency, about the same as last year at 18th.

 

Like PB did a better job last time vs Kings

Thomas 19 pts (7-12 shooting) 8 assists. We lost badly 91 to 106.

Last night

Thomas 17 pts (6-17 soothing) 10 assist. We lost 106 to 110.

So PB is an elite defender while Lin is not a good defender?

Come on. Don't be absurd

 

I agree, but it would be nice if our coaching staff would exercise some discipline when bringing a key player back from missing games due to injury. Harden misses two games, comes back, and then averages 42 minutes a game for the first 3 games on his return. His minutes didn't go down until the blowout loss to the Thunder, and he played 39 minutes yesterday. Yes, he needs to commit to playing far better defense, but he just might be a bit more effective on that end of the court if McHale used a little common sense. Harden doesn't want to sit? The coach is supposed to make those decisions, not the player.

 

Oh okay.

Harden sure did shut down McLemore last night. 13 points on 12 shots.
He got Allen too, 8 points on 11 shots.
He got Belinelli too, 9 points on 8 shots.
He got Stephenson, 16 points on 16 shots.
Klay Thomspon, 15 points on 17 shots.

Wow, when I use 5th grade analysis, I can make Harden look like a good defender too!

It is correlation vs.l causation.

When I say Lin is not a good defender it is because I am watching what is unfolding on the basketball court and not looking at box scores.

He consistently gets blown by on PnR situations. He is consistently sinks into the lane when opposing SG's drive leaving shooters wide open. He rarely makes it difficult for the opposing PG's to get set or operate from their preferred spots, which is why McHale is always yelling at him.

This narrative the LOFs are trying mold trying to leverage stat outliers is embarrassing.

 

Lin's bad defense is not an inability to fight through the screen so much as choosing to hedge too often. The notion of going through a screen is a pipe dream. You can't go through a solid mass according to this silly thing called physics. He needs to watch some film on who he needs to stick to, and who he can sag off of. One game last season against Rondo, Lin was playing him very closely which was a terrible choice due to Rondo's brick laying ability from mid-range.

Harden's bad defense is simply effort. I really can't say if he could be good defender or not because he has never shown any interest in it. He looks at defense as a child looks at eating his veggies.

 

Good statistical point -^

Anyone trying to defend Lin as being anything but a below average defender is out of their mind. For some reason it looks like Harden and Lin both have the same philosophies when it comes to playing defense. They let whom ever they're guarding blow by them while they try to slap the ball away. It looks like neither are ever anticipating the screen/pick. Our team defense is terrible, unless we pick that up it we won't win more consistently as a team.

 

I do think it's even more difficult to get Harden to commit to defense when:

(a) Kevin "Save-my-job-James" McHale plays Harden 40 mpg (twisted ankle be damned)

(b) Harden's 5th year is only half-guaranteed until he earns an All Star spot or averages 20 ppg (and last year wasn't part of the 5 year max contract and doesn't count)

Playing save-the-team 40 mpg with (a) no structure utilizing all the players correctly (or, at least, no disciplinarian to see it happen) and (b) a jacked-up rotation thanks to injuries and, possibly, "injuries" and (c) no one to get in Harden's face....

The problem all comes back to McHale. We won't be changing Harden, so hopefully Morey will get past his Celtics loyalty and hire a coach who coaches.

 

Opposing guards do poorly vs Lin = correlation
Opposing guards do poorly vs Bev = defensive juggernaut

I guess I must have imagined Lin stuffing Parker and being on him like a blanket all game. I guess the commentators, McHale himself and the media must have all imagined it as well and just looked at box scores.

Maybe if Lin waved his arms around more you people would think his defense has improved.

If Lin is a below average defender then the likes of Parker, Curry, Lillard, Lawson, Holiday, Teague, Isaiah Thomas, and a laundry list of PGs must all be absolutely putrid.

 

Don't argue with facts against people with agendas, it's a waste of time.

 

It is and they are really ridiculous. This thread around Dwight's post-game comments aren't about the PGs.

 

It happened once. Overall in the game IT was 3-5 from the field vs. Brooks and 3-12 from the field vs. Lin. That's damn good in regards to Lin. Let's see Chris Paul defend IT that well.

 

/\ People say that IT had a "good game". By comparison in the Rockets December 15th game vs. Sacramento, the Kings scored 106 points. Isaiah Thomas (with Bev guarding him) was 7-12 from the field in that game, for 19 points. Also he had 8 assists.

 

Over a certain period in the game JLin guarded Fredette. Jimmer was 0-3 with Lin guarding him; meanwhile he was 4-5 with Brooks guarding him. WOW.

 

^^ don't drag AB into this. We've always known AB's role is not that of a great defender but to provide a spark coming off the bench score some points and give Jeremy some rest, and he's been doing a good job. At least he gave his effort on D. Although it was funny watching AB defend IT, some1 smaller than him . It's not his fault that McHale left him out there too long in the 4Q last night.

 

Go to stats.nba.com and look at the videos of Thomas' field goal attempts. He blew by Lin and Brooks all night. He got open looks as the guards went under screens. Some possessions the defenders were bailed out by a timely rotation by Jones or Parsons. Jones alone stopped Thomas from scoring on two first half occasions after Thomas blew by Lin. Jones and Howard cover up a lot of mistakes.

Box score stats don't tell the whole story. In the second half, Thomas had his way with the Rox perimeter D as the Howard/Jones rotation was either not there or late, and the blow-bys includes Lin. Now the scheme might be to let your man blow by you only in a certain direction on the court and rely on the bigs to handle it, but I doubt it.

Every perimeter player gets highlight plays at some point. But the Rockets perimeter D is pretty bad. They end up putting a lot of pressure on a Howard and Jones to stop the ball. Opposing players enter the lane from all angles. The modern rules make it tough to stay in front of many of these quick guards, though. The question to McHale may just be, how often is interior defense or a rotation necessary to cover for Beverley vs. other Rox guards. I haven't looked at any clips recently but will at some point.

That said, yes, Harden has been the biggest and obvious defender. And he is not alone. An intellectually honest discussion is there to be had. The statistical, and more importantly, the video evidence is at stats.nba.com for all to see. We can see every shot attempt made by every player. We can see who went under screens vs. shooters, who swiped at the ball, who stared blanky, or who rotated to swat away the shot.

 

Fredette scored on Lin (8:08 in the second quarter). He also missed 3 WIDE open shots when Lin was caught on a screen. But Lin gave good effort all the time. He was just out of position a few times.

One thing annoying with Harden is that sometimes he gives up on the play after he is beat. He often doesn't try to recover. He is already looking to sprint back on O. Off ball he just has lapses. If the opposition can catch him having those unfocused moments, it is an easy 2. Dunno if it is fatigue,

One thing obvious from the video is this team does not play good team D versus the pick and roll. I think Parsons and Asik do the best job helping the guards when the guards go under the pick.

 

For the sake of discussion, here are defensive ratings for the season by period. All stats taken from stats.nba.com.

League average defensive rating for individual players is 102.7. League average for teams is 102.5 with a median of 102.7.

Harden:
1P: 97.6
2P: 105
3P: 97.1
4P: 111.1

Lin
1P: 102
2P: 102.7
3P: 98.1
4P: 116.1

Beverley:
1P: 93.3
2P: 92.6
3P: 102.7
4P: 113.9

Parsons:
1P: 96.9
2P: 103.2
3P: 100
4P: 117

Garcia:
1P: 101.9
2P: 99
3P: 96.9
4P: 106.9

Jones:
1P: 96.1
2P: 106.7
3P: 102
4P: 120.5

Howard:
1P: 94.6
2P: 102.1
3P: 102.7
4P: 113.7

Asik (sample size: 17 games)
1P: 116
2P: 89.2
3P: 86.7
4P: 94.8

Team defensive rating:
1P: 97.9 (8th in NBA)
2P: 102.1 (18th in NBA)
3P: 98.5 (9th in NBA)
4P: 112.3 (28th in NBA)

Team opponent fg%:
1P: 42.9% (4th in NBA)
2P: 43.8% (10th in NBA. Thunder #1 at 39.9%!!)
3P: 43.4% (6th in NBA)
4P: 46.4% (26th in NBA)

The Rox opponent FG% is 43.9% overall (6th in the NBA). The Thunder, Pacers, and Warriors are more consistent from period to period and rank in the top 10. The Heat are also consistent but rank very low amongst contending squads. But the Heat are too 5 in Net rating in every period. As expected, the top overall net rating teams are OKC, IND, MIA, SAN, LAC, POR, GSW, and HOU.

The Rox are #1 in first period net rating but plummet in the fourth period to 21st.

Now of course these numbers are influenced by what other players are in the court, switches, defensive role, opponent... Blah. Blah. But it is a start.