New Celtics Still Struggling With Defense | NBA Playbook

New Celtics Still Struggling With Defense

Over at Basketball Prospectus, the great Kevin Pelton took a look at the pieces the Boston Celtics got in return for the Kendrick Perkins trade.  In the post, Pelton talks about how despite success on the offensive end, the new Celtics acquired are still struggling on the defensive end.  The post is definitely worth a read, and as I was reading it, one play I saw last night in the Celtics’ loss to the Clippers kept playing over and over in my mind.  It involved Nenad Krstic, and it was a perfect example of what Pelton was talking about:

1

With a nine point lead, the Clippers were content letting Mo Williams dribble down the clock at the top of the key.  Once there are 10 seconds left on the shot clock, the Clippers get into their offense.  After showing a ballscreen, Blake Griffin flashes to the wing, getting the pass.

2

Once Griffin makes the catch, he quickly swings the ball to the wing.  After making the pass, Griffin follows the basketball and sets a ballscreen.

3

Griffin sets the screen and the ball handler comes off of it.  As it gets used, Blake Griffin rolls to the rim.  Nenad Krstic on the weakside block is the man responsible for the help on the roll man.

4

As we discussed in the past, the Celtics strategy when defending the pick and roll is trust.  Trusting your teammates means leaving your man and rotating towards the basketball, knowing that your teammates have your back.  In this case Krstic needs to be further in the paint, instead he stays within an arms length of his man.

5

Krstic reacts, but it is too late as Blake Griffin already has the basketball in the paint.  He needed to be in the paint before Griffin makes the catch.

6

Because Krstic is late, Griffin is able to react, adjust, and work around Krstic for the dunk.  Here is the play in real time:

This play shows us the importace of proper help position and timely reactions.  Krstic reacts too late, and the result is a game-clinching dunk for Blake Griffin.

10
Mar 2011
POSTED BY Sebastian Pruiti
POSTED IN 4th Quarters Boston Celtics Defense LA Clippers
DISCUSSION 10 Comments
TAGS

  • Twelve

    If that was big baby, instead of nenad, that would have been an offensive foul and celtics ball! and you know it!

  • Twelve

    If that was big baby, instead of nenad, that would have been an offensive foul and celtics ball! and you know it!

  • http://twitter.com/statcenter statcenter

    What makes Krstic's decision especially bad is that he doesn't seem to realize the shot clock is down to 4 when Blake gets the ball. Late in the shot clock, an interior defender in his position should never stay home – attack the guy with the ball. If he makes the pass to the open guy, the shot clock probably expires anyway.

  • http://twitter.com/Zenrei02 C.J. Myles

    It's okay. There's going to be some more time to look at some tape and fix the problems. Because this resulted in a loss, it's more likely that they'll look at this stuff. Celtics play amazing defense so things like this won't get swept under the rug. Can't wait to see the evolution of their defense.

  • http://twitter.com/statcenter statcenter

    What makes Krstic’s decision especially bad is that he doesn’t seem to realize the shot clock is down to 4 when Blake gets the ball. Late in the shot clock, an interior defender in his position should never stay home – attack the guy with the ball. If he makes the pass to the open guy, the shot clock probably expires anyway.

  • http://twitter.com/Zenrei02 C.J. Myles

    It’s okay. There’s going to be some more time to look at some tape and fix the problems. Because this resulted in a loss, it’s more likely that they’ll look at this stuff. Celtics play amazing defense so things like this won’t get swept under the rug. Can’t wait to see the evolution of their defense.

  • http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2011/03/10/court-vision-the-latest-around-the-league-59/ The Point Forward » Posts Court Vision: The latest around the league «

    [...] here’s Krstic, not as quick on a rotation as perhaps Glen Davis might have been during Boston’s home clunker against the Clippers on [...]

  • JW

    I caught this last night and it kills me as a Celtics fan. Kristic will stretch the floor a bit with his 15-18 foot jumper at the elbows, but he has always been a poor defender. Kristic's lack of help defense is unacceptable. He needs to know the score, time and situation. On the other side, I like how more and more NBA teams are having their bigs, in this case Griffin, sprint the ball handler as if they are going to set a high ball screen and then re-route/slip as the defender guarding the screener shows. This action allows the roll man to catch the ball on the move with a full head of steam and causes the defense to scramble. I love the regular slip, but this action and others such as big to big down screen into high p/r with a slip is great stuff. I was impressed with how quickly Griffin was able to get seperation off that side p/r. If I'm Boston, I wouldn't have KG show that hard on the pick when Griffin is setting the screen on the sideline. Instead, I would have Allen go over/under and have KG just follow into the paint in line of the ball until it is controlled. Allen usually gets hung up on sideline p/r so the Celtics would have to shrink the floor with good weak side help, but hopefully they would force a contested elbow jumper as opposed to allowing Griffin to catch the ball on the move and attack the rim.

  • JW

    I caught this last night and it kills me as a Celtics fan. Kristic will stretch the floor a bit with his 15-18 foot jumper at the elbows, but he has always been a poor defender. Kristic’s lack of help defense is unacceptable. He needs to know the score, time and situation. On the other side, I like how more and more NBA teams are having their bigs, in this case Griffin, sprint the ball handler as if they are going to set a high ball screen and then re-route/slip as the defender guarding the screener shows. This action allows the roll man to catch the ball on the move with a full head of steam and causes the defense to scramble. I love the regular slip, but this action and others such as big to big down screen into high p/r with a slip is great stuff. I was impressed with how quickly Griffin was able to get seperation off that side p/r. If I’m Boston, I wouldn’t have KG show that hard on the pick when Griffin is setting the screen on the sideline. Instead, I would have Allen go over/under and have KG just follow into the paint in line of the ball until it is controlled. Allen usually gets hung up on sideline p/r so the Celtics would have to shrink the floor with good weak side help, but hopefully they would force a contested elbow jumper as opposed to allowing Griffin to catch the ball on the move and attack the rim.

  • JW

    I caught this last night and it kills me as a Celtics fan. Kristic will stretch the floor a bit with his 15-18 foot jumper at the elbows, but he has always been a poor defender. Kristic's lack of help defense is unacceptable. He needs to know the score, time and situation. On the other side, I like how more and more NBA teams are having their bigs, in this case Griffin, sprint the ball handler as if they are going to set a high ball screen and then re-route/slip as the defender guarding the screener shows. This action allows the roll man to catch the ball on the move with a full head of steam and causes the defense to scramble. I love the regular slip, but this action and others such as big to big down screen into high p/r with a slip is great stuff. I was impressed with how quickly Griffin was able to get seperation off that side p/r. If I'm Boston, I wouldn't have KG show that hard on the pick when Griffin is setting the screen on the sideline. Instead, I would have Allen go over/under and have KG just follow into the paint in line of the ball until it is controlled. Allen usually gets hung up on sideline p/r so the Celtics would have to shrink the floor with good weak side help, but hopefully they would force a contested elbow jumper as opposed to allowing Griffin to catch the ball on the move and attack the rim.