Why Ray Allen Is So Tough To Guard | NBA Playbook

Why Ray Allen Is So Tough To Guard

Ray Allen is a fantastic shooter, that is a given, but that isn’t the only reason why Ray Allen is one of the toughest covers in the NBA.  What makes Ray Allen so tough to guard is that he is an incredibly smart basketball player.  Allen can read how you are playing him, and counter it, just about every single time.  We saw some terrific examples of that yesterday against the Lakers:

Shoot Gap

The first way the Lakers tried to defend Allen coming off of a pindown was by “shooting the gap” where Shannon Brown tried to go underneath the screen, and beat Allen to the spot, thus taking away the passing lane.  Allen reads what Brown is trying to do, and instead of curling to the ball (which is what the play was designed for him to do), he fades slightly creating distance between himself and Brown, and giving his point guard a better passing lane.  Here is the play in real time:

You don’t really see defenses shot the gap against Allen, and the reason is because he almost always recognizes it and fades for an open jumper.  This is just the latest example of that.

Trail

On Allen’s next basket, Shannon Brown and the Lakers tried another way of defending Allen.  This time, Brown stayed attached to Allen’s hips, trailing him around the screen.  Allen feels Brown on his hip, and instead of spotting up behind the three point line, Allen curls off of the screen.  Here is the play in real time:

This is how teams usually defend Allen.  The logic is that if a defender stays attached to Allen, it is going to be harder for him to get a clean look.  However, when you stay attached and trail Allen, you need the rest of the team to help on defense. This is because Allen is at an advantage with his defender on his back, so when he curls, somebody else needs to step up.  That doesn’t happen here, and Allen was able to hit the jumper in the paint.

The other way teams can defend Ray Allen is by using the big covering the screener to hedge off of the pindown screen.  This is something that the Lakers didn’t do because they were afraid of Allen’s passing ability out of the pindown:

When you use the big to hedge, it takes away the jump shot, but it also leaves a small window for a quick dump pass.  Since this has to do with reading the defense and working off of screens, it is no surprise that Ray Allen is probably the best at making this little pass coming off of the pindown.

When the Celtics use Ray Allen coming off of a pindown screen, it is almost unfair.  There are a number of different ways to defend Allen coming off the pindown, but each way has their own weakness.  Ray Allen is such a smart player that he is able to take advantage of each weakness, leading to his high success rate when working off of pindowns.

31
Jan 2011
POSTED BY Sebastian Pruiti
POSTED IN Boston Celtics Off Ball Movement
DISCUSSION 7 Comments
TAGS

  • http://twitter.com/NBAtipoff NBAtipoff

    Great post Sebastian. One minor correction in the second sentence: What makes Ray Allen so tough to guard is that he is an incredibly smart basketball. Think you meant to add player at the end there. Excellent read!

  • http://twitter.com/NBAtipoff NBAtipoff

    Great post Sebastian. One minor correction in the second sentence: What makes Ray Allen so tough to guard is that he is an incredibly smart basketball. Think you meant to add player at the end there. Excellent read!

  • Boh

    yes. and on the first example, there was an espn breakdown, that it took 0.733 seconds between catch and release. tough to close out.

  • Boh

    yes. and on the first example, there was an espn breakdown, that it took 0.733 seconds between catch and release. tough to close out.

  • Paul

    It seems that if a player is a threat on every option, as Allen is, the best way to defend is to stay on his hip approaching the screen and then, when the screen is used, get on the back of the screener and read what the player does from there. You don't have as far to close out as when you go under and you're not at a disadvantage as when you stay attached. You have to make sure you don't do it too early, though, or Allen will simply backcut to the hoop. Tough cover.

  • Paul

    It seems that if a player is a threat on every option, as Allen is, the best way to defend is to stay on his hip approaching the screen and then, when the screen is used, get on the back of the screener and read what the player does from there. You don’t have as far to close out as when you go under and you’re not at a disadvantage as when you stay attached. You have to make sure you don’t do it too early, though, or Allen will simply backcut to the hoop. Tough cover.

  • Paul

    It seems that if a player is a threat on every option, as Allen is, the best way to defend is to stay on his hip approaching the screen and then, when the screen is used, get on the back of the screener and read what the player does from there. You don't have as far to close out as when you go under and you're not at a disadvantage as when you stay attached. You have to make sure you don't do it too early, though, or Allen will simply backcut to the hoop. Tough cover.