Do not push the pace. Play boring bball

[pearljammer10]

Hate this philosophy. Basketball is a 48 minute game, not a 40 minute game then cross you fingers hope you keep the lead for the last 8 minutes.

Slowing the ball down loses your momentum and puts the other team in attack mode, gives them an edge real quickly. You always want to be the aggressor in attack mode, otherwise your offense becomes stale and you find the other team right back in the game. Like others have said, when we slow the ball down (not even just this year, years passed as well) we usually end up losing the game.

[greece66]

There are two different issues:
-a/ should we push the pace? and overwhelmingly the answer is yes
-b/ what we do when forced to play half court offense? my last question was whether in the last game there were any signs on improvement on that front.

[Donoghus]

There are two different issues:
-a/ should we push the pace? and overwhelmingly the answer is yes
-b/ what we do when forced to play half court offense? my last question was whether in the last game there were any signs on improvement on that front.

a)  For this team? Yes.  Absolutely push the pace.
b)  It's not ideal but, for the time being, probably get the ball into the hands of your best shot creator.  In this case, it's probably Jeff Green.  Let him try & drive to the basket, hit a jumper, or draw a foul and get to the line. 

[greece66]

There are two different issues:
-a/ should we push the pace? and overwhelmingly the answer is yes
-b/ what we do when forced to play half court offense? my last question was whether in the last game there were any signs on improvement on that front.

a)  For this team? Yes.  Absolutely push the pace.
b)  It's not ideal but, for the time being, probably get the ball into the hands of your best shot creator.  In this case, it's probably Jeff Green.  Let him try & drive to the basket, hit a jumper, or draw a foul and get to the line.

what's the deal with his first step? many ppl commented on that when he charged on PP.

[Donoghus]

There are two different issues:
-a/ should we push the pace? and overwhelmingly the answer is yes
-b/ what we do when forced to play half court offense? my last question was whether in the last game there were any signs on improvement on that front.

a)  For this team? Yes.  Absolutely push the pace.
b)  It's not ideal but, for the time being, probably get the ball into the hands of your best shot creator.  In this case, it's probably Jeff Green.  Let him try & drive to the basket, hit a jumper, or draw a foul and get to the line.

what's the deal with his first step? many ppl commented on that when he charged on PP.

What is there to really know?  Pierce in an incredibly savvy veteran who knows how to draw calls like that.   Green probably has to be a little more alert to that aspect of his defender and also play more in control. 

[PickNRoll]

There are two different issues:
-a/ should we push the pace? and overwhelmingly the answer is yes
-b/ what we do when forced to play half court offense? my last question was whether in the last game there were any signs on improvement on that front.

a)  For this team? Yes.  Absolutely push the pace.
b)  It's not ideal but, for the time being, probably get the ball into the hands of your best shot creator.  In this case, it's probably Jeff Green.  Let him try & drive to the basket, hit a jumper, or draw a foul and get to the line.

what's the deal with his first step? many ppl commented on that when he charged on PP.

I was one of them.  Green doesn't have a good first step.  He's not an efficient ISO player.  He's at his best when he has a head of steam.  From a standstill/"triple threat" position, he just isn't good.  It's not something you can exploit.

[greece66]

There are two different issues:
-a/ should we push the pace? and overwhelmingly the answer is yes
-b/ what we do when forced to play half court offense? my last question was whether in the last game there were any signs on improvement on that front.

a)  For this team? Yes.  Absolutely push the pace.
b)  It's not ideal but, for the time being, probably get the ball into the hands of your best shot creator.  In this case, it's probably Jeff Green.  Let him try & drive to the basket, hit a jumper, or draw a foul and get to the line.

what's the deal with his first step? many ppl commented on that when he charged on PP.

I was one of them.  Green doesn't have a good first step.  He's not an efficient ISO player.  He's at his best when he has a head of steam.  From a standstill/"triple threat" position, he just isn't good.  It's not something you can exploit.

Thanks for the answer. Who do you think is our best ISO player (if we have any at all)?

[PickNRoll]

Hate this philosophy. Basketball is a 48 minute game, not a 40 minute game then cross you fingers hope you keep the lead for the last 8 minutes.

Slowing the ball down loses your momentum and puts the other team in attack mode, gives them an edge real quickly. You always want to be the aggressor in attack mode, otherwise your offense becomes stale and you find the other team right back in the game. Like others have said, when we slow the ball down (not even just this year, years passed as well) we usually end up losing the game.

Completely agree.  Like prevent defense in football --it just gives up yardage.  The only thing I'd add is that sometimes when the defense gets really tough, say in a 4th quarter playoff game, you shorten your play rotation and favor the simpler ones.

[PickNRoll]

There are two different issues:
-a/ should we push the pace? and overwhelmingly the answer is yes
-b/ what we do when forced to play half court offense? my last question was whether in the last game there were any signs on improvement on that front.

a)  For this team? Yes.  Absolutely push the pace.
b)  It's not ideal but, for the time being, probably get the ball into the hands of your best shot creator.  In this case, it's probably Jeff Green.  Let him try & drive to the basket, hit a jumper, or draw a foul and get to the line.

what's the deal with his first step? many ppl commented on that when he charged on PP.

I was one of them.  Green doesn't have a good first step.  He's not an efficient ISO player.  He's at his best when he has a head of steam.  From a standstill/"triple threat" position, he just isn't good.  It's not something you can exploit.

Thanks for the answer. Who do you think is our best ISO player (if we have any at all)?

Evan Turner, by far.  And he's something like a B- option.  Then Sully, then Rondo.

[PickNRoll]

Back to the original issue.
This is really interesting for me, as it is the aspect of American bball I understand the least- I can tell you most Greeks complain they can't watch NBA bcs these guys keep running up and down pointlessly.
I've got two questions:
-If we make quick attacks, does it not mean that on average we also give more opportunities to the other side to attack? (ie a faster pace for us translates into a faster pace for the other team too)
-What is the deal with the half court attacks? I remember Stevens talking at length about our new offensive philosophy before the season started, and I think we have some legit options: i. Bradley, Thornton take picks to shoot 3s, Sully posting (this is sthg I've been expecting for some time) iii. Rondo penetrating and splitting out for a corner 3. Again, I am not a bball specialist, I am a historian by profession, so by all means do correct if I am talking BS.
Why not go with these instead of constantly pushing the pace? My worry is that we are really predictable (and thus easy to defend) and the 4th quarter meltdown has by now become a near certainty in our games.

Typically you push the pace because you don't have any confidence in your defense to consistently get stops, so the best way to win basketball games becomes putting up as many shots as possible in the hope that you can net more points than you're allowing. Furthermore, a made basket will allow you to set the defense a little bit -- particularly for the C's, where all of their best defenders are guards.

So: Because our bigs are so atrocious on the defensive end, and because we can't reliably execute much of a half court offense (the caveat here, of course, is that I've got only a few games to go on this season, someone can correct me if I'm wrong), pushing the pace makes a lot of sense.

One thing I'd add, sometimes if your guards and wings get up quick and get shots early in the shot clock your defense isn't as vulnerable because guys haven't all made it up the court.  The worst you can do is to make your bigs run all the way up the court, set up down low, and THEN jack up a 20 footer a la Josh Smith with 19 seconds on the shot clock.  Your bigs will not be your friends for long.  There's nothing as demoralizing as a chucker taking a bad shot when the offense is just setting up.