The Nets Switch To Zone, Confuse The Grizzlies | NBA Playbook

The Nets Switch To Zone, Confuse The Grizzlies

The zone defense is most effective in the NBA when defenses surprise opposing offenses with it (versus running it for long stretches), and against the Grizzlies, the Nets gave us another reason why.  With about 9 minutes left and the Nets trailing by 5 points, the Grizzlies had the ball on the side after a foul (and not a timeout).  After the Grizzlies subbed in three new players, Nets’ coach Avery Johnson decided it would be the perfect time to run the zone, and he was right:

In addition to the three new Grizzlies in the game, there was only 14 seconds left on the shot clock (because of the foul that preceded this play).  Coach Johnson was hoping that it would take the Grizzlies a little while to recognize the zone, putting them into a situation with the shot clock running down.

That is exactly what happens.  Greivis Vasquez gets the basketball and it takes a few seconds to recognize what is going on, when he does, he gets it to Marc Gasol in the middle of the zone (Gasol also recognized the zone).  However, it seemed that Gasol was the only one who realized what was going on.  After he makes the catch in the middle, he pivots and looks for an open man to pass it to, but the rest of the Grizzlies look like they are running a man to man set, with Tony Allen setting a screen that doesn’t work against the zone on the block.   Because of this, Gasol can’t find anyone open, and he ends up turning the basketball.  This play seemed to be the turning point as the Nets went on to win the 4th quarter by 11 points, winning the game by 5.

Great decision by Avery Johnson to not only save the zone until the 4th quarter, but to sprinkle in the zone in a situation where he knew that the Grizzlies were going to be confused by it.

27
Jan 2011
POSTED BY Sebastian Pruiti
POSTED IN 4th Quarters Memphis Grizzlies New Jersey Nets Zone Defense
DISCUSSION 3 Comments
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  • CaneInCali

    Great stuff, as always. Had the Miami Heat waited for a week or two longer a 2 years ago, they could've hired Avery Johnson instead of hiring Spoelstra from within the organization. At the time, the Heat were criticized. The Spoelstra coached bad, no talent teams into respectable records and the playoffs.

    But now, is it fair to say that he gets outcoached on a regular basis? You've done a dozen posts on protecting the rim from a lob at the end of games. Friday, against a terrible Pistons team, the Heat should have lost at the end of the game on a lob from Prince to Austin Daye. Also, the Heat's half court offense seems vanilla. Wade and Lebron are ball stoppers, the offense struggles to get easy baskets, and the role players don't get enough shots to be effective because the big 3 take 80% of the shots.

    Is this more a coaching shortcoming or is this failure to execute on the part of Wade and Lebron?

  • CaneInCali

    Great stuff, as always. Had the Miami Heat waited for a week or two longer a 2 years ago, they could’ve hired Avery Johnson instead of hiring Spoelstra from within the organization. At the time, the Heat were criticized. The Spoelstra coached bad, no talent teams into respectable records and the playoffs.

    But now, is it fair to say that he gets outcoached on a regular basis? You’ve done a dozen posts on protecting the rim from a lob at the end of games. Friday, against a terrible Pistons team, the Heat should have lost at the end of the game on a lob from Prince to Austin Daye. Also, the Heat’s half court offense seems vanilla. Wade and Lebron are ball stoppers, the offense struggles to get easy baskets, and the role players don’t get enough shots to be effective because the big 3 take 80% of the shots.

    Is this more a coaching shortcoming or is this failure to execute on the part of Wade and Lebron?

  • CaneInCali

    Great stuff, as always. Had the Miami Heat waited for a week or two longer a 2 years ago, they could've hired Avery Johnson instead of hiring Spoelstra from within the organization. At the time, the Heat were criticized. The Spoelstra coached bad, no talent teams into respectable records and the playoffs.

    But now, is it fair to say that he gets outcoached on a regular basis? You've done a dozen posts on protecting the rim from a lob at the end of games. Friday, against a terrible Pistons team, the Heat should have lost at the end of the game on a lob from Prince to Austin Daye. Also, the Heat's half court offense seems vanilla. Wade and Lebron are ball stoppers, the offense struggles to get easy baskets, and the role players don't get enough shots to be effective because the big 3 take 80% of the shots.

    Is this more a coaching shortcoming or is this failure to execute on the part of Wade and Lebron?