Another thread talking about offense, not surprising. 0.0
It's our garbage defense that is the problem. We are ranked near the top in a lot of offensive categories from fg%, rb, paint scoring what have you. Our defense is tragic though.
Completely agree.
However, I do think Steven's defensive system is flawed. Bradley, Rondo and Smart are/were playing way too aggressive, which has lead to foul trouble and easy drives to the hoop. Without any mobile defenders behind them, there is no way these guys should play that aggressively.
On offense I think we do actually run a decent amount of Pick and Rolls but they would be more effective if we had an athletic big who could roll hard to the hoop rather than two guys who are more pick and pop guys than pick and roll guys.
What happened tonight was the Thunder threw a zone at us and suddenly we completely gave up on getting into the paint. We became a three point happy team who doesn't shoot the 3 well.
What I don't understand is why all of the guards are trying to fight over the top of a pick when one is set near where Red Auerbach is etched on the court. Near the 3 point line I understand the strategy, depending on who you're defending, of course, but when the pick is set halfway between the top of the 3 point arc and half court, GO UNDER THE PICK. Even if you're guarding Reggie Miller lol. You can always adjust, or at least that's what Stevens is supposed to be able to do. Ugh.
Well if they didn't, certain people would say Rondo "doesn't fight over picks" and is "giving away points like water."
Joking aside though, I did notice that. One play in particular that stuck out to me was when OKC was running a basic 4-low "Flex" set (with screens out and cutters coming over the middle continually) and Rondo, guarding a guy that had just set the intiating pin-down screen,
went over a down screen. He then got beat baseline by the backdoor cutter, his guy.
I'm wondering if Stevens is initiating an "always go over" approach and the players are trying to prove a point. If they're not, then it's most likely the bigs' fault, as the aggressive fight-over can only be effective if the big aggressively hedges to slow down the ball handler. (It's also on the help to absorb the roll man, but that's besides the point.)
Topic: I know Stevens has a system but..... (Read 2974 times)