Dallas Mavericks – The Numbers*

• Pace: 93.1 (20th)
• Offensive Efficiency: 107.6 (8th)
• True Shooting Percentage: 56.5% (4th)
• Assist Rate: 23.20 (2nd)
• Turnover Rate: 13.60 (21st)
• Offensive Rebound Rate: 24.08 (26th)
• Free Throw Rate: 28.6 (21st)
• Three Point Rate: 27.4 (3rd)

Dallas Mavericks - Strengths

Zone Offense

With the Portland Trailblazers playing zone defense the second most in the NBA (behind the Mavericks), zone offense is going to be an important aspect in this series.  Over the course of the season, the Dallas Mavericks have shown that they can beat the zone just as well as they can play it.  The Mavericks have scored 135 points in 123 zone possessions for a PPP of 1.098, ranking them second in the NBA.  The key to the Mavericks’ zone is sharp ball and player movement around the perimeter (with a big at the high post) until eventually they are able to get an open look.  The beauty of this offense is the fact there is no set “rules.”  Everyone has a responsibility, but they can do a few different things.

What you have here is four players on the outside with a big at the high post.  The player at the high post looks for a soft spot in the zone to sit and get the pass, but he can also screen the top of the zone (either with a ball or off ball screen).  The four perimeter players basically wheel around as if they are on a string.  Once a pass gets made, the passer cuts through, and the rest of the offense rotates off of that.  This movement and spacing combined with quick ball movement makes it tough for the defense, and in this case Jason Terry is able to get the open jumper on the baseline.

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San Antonio Spurs – The Numbers*

• Pace: 94.3 (16th)
• Offensive Efficiency: 109.4 (2nd)
• True Shooting Percentage: 56.7% (3rd)
• Assist Rate: 21.34 (8th)
• Turnover Rate: 12.80 (7th)
• Offensive Rebound Rate: 24.95 (21st)
• Free Throw Rate: 29.9 (14th)
• Three Point Rate: 26.1 (6th)

San Antonio Spurs - Strengths

Spot Up Shooting

When it comes to shooting in Spot-Up situations the Spurs are third best team in the league posting a PPP of 1.08 on 42.9% shooting (the 2nd highest FG% in the league).  The Spurs have predicated their offense this season on spot-up shooting, particularly in the corners, and it is interesting to see who gets the most spot up possessions on their team.  Richard Jefferson, Gary Neal, Matt Bonner, and George Hill make up 56.6% of the Spurs’ spot-up possessions (the only other player in the top 5 is Manu Ginobili).  All four of these guys are in the top 20% of the league in terms of PPP and three of them (Jefferson, Neal, and Bonner) are in the top 9%.  Even more interesting is that all of these guys seem to be most effective (and get most of their possessions) spotting up off of pick and roll action.  Richard Jefferson gets 40.7% of his spot up opportunities out of the pick and roll, and he is shooting 43.6% off of it:

As you probably know, Richard Jefferson gets most of his shot attempts from the corner and this is designed.  With the pick and roll drawing the defenses attention, Jefferson is able to spot up and get open look after open look in the corner.  Here, Tim Duncan sets a screen for Tony Parker, and Parker is able to get in the lane.  This forces the defense to sink in and Jefferson is open for the kick out.

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At the end of each day, I am just going to put a recap thread up where you can find all of the day’s posts to make it a bit easier.

Here is what we looked at for the upcoming Thunder-Nuggets series:

• Offensive Breakdown
• Defensive Breakdown

Check back later today when I look at both the Spurs-Grizzlies and Mavericks-Blazers series in depth.

Oklahoma City Thunder – The Numbers*

• Defensive Efficiency: 104.0 (14th)
• Opp. TS%: 53.5% (11th)
• Opp. Assist Rate: 19.24 (8th)
• Opp. Turnover Rate: 12.95 (19th)
• Defensive Rebound Rate: 73.64 (17th)
• Block Rate: 6.1 (4th)
• Opp. Free Throw Rate: 30.7 (20th)
• Opp. Three Point Rate: 19.6 (3rd)

Oklahoma City Thunder - Strengths

Defending The Roll Man

The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the best teams in the NBA when it comes to stopping the roll man on the pick and roll.  They rank 2nd (only behind the Boston Celtics) in terms of PPP allowed, giving up just 0.906 points per possession on 43.5% shooting.  On the pick and roll the Thunder are determined to get the ball out of the ball handlers hand and keeping the roll man out of the lane.  To do this, you have to be willing to give up something.  What the Thunder are willing to give up is the pick and pop.  The Thunder are willing to live with opposing bigs taking long twos at the top of the key, and this season they have proven this is an effective strategy to force misses:

Here, Brandon Jennings comes off of the ball screen and Kendrick Perkins (the man covering the screener) basically switches onto Jennings.  As this happens Russell Westbrook comes over the top of the screen.  With Serge Ibaka protecting the paint, they are giving the screener a free pass to pop out for an open jumper.  He does this and misses.

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At the end of each day, I am just going to put a recap thread up where you can find all of the day’s posts to make it a bit easier.

Here is what we looked at for the upcoming Lakers-Hornets series:

• Offensive Breakdown
• Defensive Breakdown

Check in tomorrow when I finish looking at the Thunder-Nuggets series (the defensive breakdown) and the final two Western Conference series (Spurs-Grizzlies/Blazers-Mavs).  Playoffs only 1 day away.

Los Angeles – The Numbers*

• Defensive Efficiency: 101.3 (6th)
• Opp. TS%: 51.4% (2nd)
• Opp. Assist Rate: 20.95 (20th)
• Opp. Turnover Rate: 12.80 (23rd)
• Defensive Rebound Rate: 72.31 (22nd)
• Block Rate: 5.5 (10th)
• Opp. Free Throw Rate: 23.6 (1st)
• Opp. Three Point Rate: 24.2 (7th)

Los Angeles – Strengths

Pick And Roll Defense

A while ago, Kevin Ding of the Orange County register published an article about the Lakers and how they are developing their new pick and roll defense:

Jackson noted how Miami was trying Sunday to have its big men come all the way out to show on pick-and-rolls by Chicago’s Derrick Rose–to no avail in stopping the ball. Rose could not be checked and thus was easily able to create offense for the Bulls–something that often happened to the Lakers with Bynum and Pau Gasol: “Now when that guard gets around that screen, you’ve got 5-on-3,” Jackson said.

“As a consequence, we’re starting to try and funnel them in to a place where we have Andrew in position,” Jackson said. “He’s a plug. He’s in there stopping penetration.”

…

[Lakers assistant coach Chuck] Person said “the only true mid-range shooters left in the game” are Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce anyway. New York’s Carmelo Anthony jumps to mind, but he gets a lot of his work done with physicality and isn’t necessarily a pure shooter.

So what the Lakers are doing here is keeping Bynum in the paint when a pick and roll takes place, funneling the action to him and stopping penetration.  This is the Lakers’ new pick and roll defense, and it what has them at the top of the PPP leaderboard for pick and roll defense.  When it comes to defending the ball handler, the Lakers have the 6th best pick and roll defense, allowing just .775 points per possession.  They are even better when it comes to containing the roll man, as they are 5th in terms of PPP.

With this defensive strategy, the Lakers find themselves susceptible to midrange jumpers.  However, as Person mentioned in Ding’s article, they are willing to live with it, because they are confident in their belief that there are only a few guys who can knock down those shots consistently:

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