Opponents: PPG 99.2 4th in the league FG% .435 4th 3FG% .331 4th FTA 22.6 18th Steals per game 6.7 27th(tied) Point differential +4.0 5th Nice improvement.
It's pretty much Nurk, Ed and Vonleh. Those are three high quality defensive bigs to throw out there. I think it also helps that Nurk and Vonleh set such brutal screens on the offensive end--it just wears opponents down over the course of a game.
Imo last year the Screens from Nurkic were much harder/better then this year. Maybe because he lost some weights
CJ/Dame are also fighting THROUGH screens instead of going around, that is making a huge difference when opponents are trying to set up plays in a half court type setting. Our Achilles heel seems to be when teams want to push the ball.
I wouldn't underestimate Vonleh. I've really come around on him this year. Just take random plays and focus on what he does--it's pretty hard to find fault in what he does on any given possession. Mistake-free defense coupled with his strength and athleticism is a great thing. And Ed Davis--there are probably a few big men coming off the bench in the NBA who are better defenders than him, but I can't think of any offhand. He's rebounding at 15 boards per 36 minutes, with a Drtg of 97. Dude has been really good.
I think that may be a little of it, but he's just running more post plays this year as well. If he's under the rim, he's not setting high screens. It really frustrates me, because Nurk is basically the least effective big with more than 4 postups/game in the entire NBA. Well, not counting Dwight Howard. But that he's arguably as bad as Dwight tells you what a bad idea it is to have him post up.
But to be honest, when he is setting screens I think they're as good as ever. He never did crush guys every single time. We just remember the great ones--especially after all the shitty screens we lived with before he arrived. By the way, anybody else notice Vonleh is setting decent screens now too? At least at times. I think Portland is starting to build that as part of their culture.
