Defending Tyreke Evans
With the Lakers in Sacramento last night to play the Kings, Tyreke Evans put up 25 points, 9 assists, and 11 rebounds. Despite the near triple-double, I think the Lakers did a very good job defending Evans (most of the time). The Lakers used Ron Artest (and Kobe a little) on Tyreke Evans, and he seemed to struggle a bit with them covering him. Here is the breakdown:
- With Ron Artest (and Kobe) Covering Evans – 17 points (on 5-12 shooting – 6 of 9 from the FT line), 6 assists, and 8 rebounds in 38:14.
- With others (Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown) Covering Evans – 8 points (on 2-3 shooting – 4 of 5 from the FT line), 3 assists, and 3 rebounds in 4:08.
The numbers show the difference (17 points on 12 shots vs. 8 points on 3), but I think what really shows the difference is looking at the highlights.
With Ron Artest On Him
With Ron Artest covering Evans, you had a big body that wasn’t going to let Evans bully him into the paint. The result was a lot of dribbling on the outside:
Once Evans crosses half court, he takes 7 dribbles without going inside the three point line and then passes it to Spencer Hawes. Now Hawes hits the three, but I think the Lakers would rather have Hawes shooting threes than Evans getting inside and creating havoc. In fact, this was how the Lakers played Evans all night as they were determined to let the other players beat him:
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And when he did attack, Artest’s size really gave Evans problems:
On this play, Evans goes away from the screen and the tries to hit Jason Thompson who is spotting up on the high post. The pass is deflected by Ron Artest though, and Thompson is forced to scramble to make the catch.
Without Ron Artest Covering Him
For a four minute stretch in the second quarter, Ron Artest was on the bench while Tyreke Evans was still on the court (he ended up playing 42:22). This is where Tyreke Evans the bully came out, as the players who (Jordan Farmar & Shannon Brown) were defending him just couldn’t be physical with him like Ron Artest could:
These three plays were in the half court set, and you can just see the difference in how he attacked against these guys versus how he attacked Ron Artest. There wasn’t a ton of stationary dribbles, there was just a lot of attacking. He especially used his size well to get into the paint and get himself to the line. The last clip, he basically runs through Jordan Farmar, getting the and one.
The Kings Counter
Evans did have 17 points when Artest was covering him, so the Kings had to have done some things right. The Kings set up screens for Evans, allowing for Evans to get Ron Artest on his hip. This negated his size and strength and allowed for Evans to use his speed:
Artest is too busy fighting through the multiple screens to stay in front of Evans, and this is what allows him to get to the basket.
Here, the screen gives Evans a sliver of space, and he uses his ability to take it and get to the lane.
The second way Evans was able to score and create on Ron Artest was in transition. Artest doesn’t have the speed that he used to, and running the court makes him somewhat ineffective on the defensive end.
When Evans gets a running start on Artest, Evans has a huge advantage.
Again, Evans (in transition) just blows by Artest forcing the help to come. Evans misses the lay-up, but he forces help to come, and that allows for an offensive rebound and a basket.
