That was probably the first time in three years a team coached by Terry Stotts hedged the screens on purpose. It took three years of getting killed by players who can shoot off the pick and roll, but finally we did it.
I pretty sure we hedged in the Hickson days. We switched to ICE when rolo came here because of his inability to hedge.
What??!?! I miss one game and all kinds of hell break loose: Aminu finishing drives, Stotts changing the pick and roll defense, Damian returning to his 2014 4th quarter form.....maybe my post got to stotts!
Quick on talking ball: he said CJ said the team had not practiced trapping off a screen since the pre-season. But Quick likes it that they tried this and said it was a key part of the game. You've got agile big men who can come out and play that way, it's like Stotts is stuck trying to play like Rolo. CJ says it was the best adjustment Stotts made all year. Something this forum has been calling for, for ages!!! So congrats to Stotts for doing it...but also, it's a bit sad how long it took him to do it. And who knows when he'll pull that out again.
Yep, that's why I said three years. I remember the first season here they had the bigs hedge everything. Mason Plumlee was made to hedge. Same with Ed Davis. Having those two sag into the paint on every pnr is stupid since they aren't the greatest rim protectors in the first place. Hedging plays to their strengths, which is their quickness and ability to recover on rotations. I'm glad we're finally hedging some picks based on the opponent. Hopefully we keep it up. You aren't going to beat guys like Harden and Durant by sagging into the paint all game.
@B-Roy Watch this: http://www.nba.com/blazers/mccollum/011016 CJ talks about different P&R coverage to finish the game. Says they worked on it in preseason. Good eye. I was just blinded by the Dame explosion, couldn't really pay attention to anything else
CJ is right, I do remember seeing it a bit in preseason. Don't know why Stotts got away from it completely.
Been saying it all season. We need to hedge more. Against the Clips DeAnfre kept getting alley oops because the guy guarding him was busy "containing" CP3, which involved giving CP3 space and not rotating back to cover Jorden. If we hedged in that game like we did this one, I think we would've won.
I hope we get good enough where we can switch pick n roll coverage depending on the ball handler. For example: (Based off of player strengths and weaknesses, CAPS is name of coverage) Rubio/Rondo: GREEN Guard goes under, big sags. - They're bad shooters, so if they wanna pullup for a 3 let them do that instead of turn downhill Curry/CP3/Kyrie: RED Guard goes over, big hedges Because they're threats from anywhere, you can't allow them any open looks. You can also trap (call it MOUSE) out of this at random, (Big just stays with the ball handler, while our guard recovers to form trap) Udrih/Dragic/Burke: YELLOW Guard goes under, Big Hedges They're not big threats for pullup 3s, do you can make it easier on the guard by letting him go under (Going under can also slow the roll man giving time for or big to recover). However, they're all big threats in the midrange so you hedge the big so that they can't turn downhill into that pullup So a gameplan might be: YELLOW Westbrook GREEN Roberson RED Durant Certain possessions Stotts could yell out the color only, which sets the defense for all pick n rolls, or even say it right before the screen happens. He changes it up by saying "(Color)" then "(Opposing players name, Initials, or #) Im trying to think of guys where sagging the big and going over the top would be best against, but I honestly can't think of any. Just shows how crummy and basic it is. If you ready wanted to run it you could call it BLUE. This array of pick n roll schemes would keep offenses guessing and not knowing what to expect. It'd take away from the opponents strengths while playing to ours, resulting in less switches, fouls, while being way more effective, especially at creating turnovers when aggressive, which in turn creates fastbresk offense.
I disagree with the Paul coverage. The big should hedge but the guard should go underneath the pick. This gives the big and the guard the opportunity to get back to their men. Also playing CP3 similar to Nash is smart. Turn him into a scorer and you have a better chance off winning.
Hell, Aminu even made some nice passes last night, and once he was dribbling hard up the court on a 1 on 3 fast break, and he pulled up just past the three point line and gave up the ball!! What an amazing night!!!
good post BJ but the reference to the red guard won't fly with the conservative crowd around here...that's Chairman Mao's baby
