Chicago’s Reverse Box And One – Did It Work?
In the first half of game three, LeBron James picked apart the Bulls’ defense, accumulating six assists in the first two quarters of play. With James looking to pass rather than looking to score and playing a cerebral game, coach Tom Thibodeau went into the half, looking to make an adjustment. That adjustment came while Joel Anthony was on the court. Starting in the third quarter, whoever was covering Joel Anthony (Carlos Boozer except for one or two possessions) basically just left him, effectively playing a zone (In fact, after the first possession, the announce crew couldn’t figure out what to call the defense). I started calling this a reverse box and one, because instead of four guys playing zone with one playing man, the Bulls had four players playing man and one playing zone.
It was an interesting strategy and one that makes sense, considering that Joel Anthony struggles to catch and score in the paint, even without a lot of defensive pressure. So did it work? It is hard to say, mainly because the on the fly nature of this adjustment lead to some confusion and negated whatever effectiveness the defense could have. Looking at the numbers, Joel Anthony was a +2 when he was on the court during the third (he was also a +2 in the first half/+4 for the game), with a lot of baskets coming from failed rotations:
This is the first offensive set of the half for the Miami Heat, and the first time they are using their new defense. You can see that there is a little confusion, as Carlos Boozer leaves Joel Anthony and forces LeBron James to make the catch farther out on the block. As Boozer leaves Anthony open, Noah rotates over to Anthony, leaving Chris Bosh open. James does a great job of spotting Bosh and hitting him for the open jumper. You can say that Noah is protecting the rim, but the whole strategy is to leave Anthony open, so Noah’s rotation shouldn’t have happened.
