Two games cannot provide a definitive answer on a player but like a good mystery novel, two games can offer clues. These clues can be used to paint a clearer picture of what a player is or is not capable of. Jeremy Lin’s case is no exception. Well it can be easy to rush to judgment on Lin before having an ample amount of data, let’s first see what information can be gleaned from his incredibly productive two game stretch.

The first thing that stood out about Lin’s two games actually didn’t have anything to do with him. The most noticeable thing was that the two defenses (Utah and New Jersey) he carved up were bad (Utah 21st in defensive efficiency) and atrocious (NJ dead last in same category), respectively. When looking at the tape you can see that Lin was definitely the beneficiary of some poor effort and execution by his opponents.

The first video contains three clips of Lin attacking these porous D’s. Against Utah, a simple dribble flip from Iman Shumpert and oncoming ball screen from Tyson Chandler somehow open a huge driving gap for Lin. His wide open layup is mainly a result from poor communication between Devin Harris (Lin’s defender) and Al Jefferson (Chandler’s defender). Then on the backside of the play, Gordon Hayward finds himself slow to rotate over and stop the drive.

The next clip in the sequence is particularly embarrassing for the Nets. Lin and Jared Jeffries engage in a pick and roll in the middle of the floor while Amar’e Stoudamire, located behind the action, is looking to fill behind. This play is typically designed for Stoudamire to get open near the weakside (in this case, left) elbow/pinch post for a jumper or isolation attack as his defender sinks in on the roll. However, for reasons unknown, his defender Shawne Williams, completely ignores his help responsibilities and faceguards Stoudamire. This results in a wide open dive to the rim for Jeffries and an easy pocket pass for Lin to tally one of his seven assists that night.

The final play against the woeful Nets defense shows Lin finding another easy scoring opportunity for himself. While going under screens will be a typical coverage he sees going forward, in certain areas of the floor, it simply can’t happen. In this third clip, Jordan Farmer goes under a screen set at the elbow allowing Lin to rhythm dribble into a wide open jumper a step inside the foul line. While Lin has historically had some shooting issues, a vast majority of NBA guards will hurt teams if given easy looks from this spot consistently.

It should be noted that bad defense isn’t a knock against Lin. In fact, if Lin hadn’t taken advantage of these situations (and others like them) I wouldn’t be writing this. It is simply worth noting that a fair amount of points and assists were opportunistic endeavors that he simply won’t see that often, especially against elite defensive teams.

Bad defense or not, though, Lin was still able to do a great job of getting to the rim. However, one noticeable thing was that he failed to utilize his left (weak) hand effectively during his forrays to the hoop. Looking back at old scouting reports, it seems as though this has been a consistent issue for Lin. In the following edit, we’ll see a rim attack that ends poorly due to a forced, right-hand finish as well as an awkward left-hand attempt that Lin fails to convert.

Being dominant with only one hand isn’t a total death sentence. in fact, players like Corey Maggette and Jason Terry have forged long careers as scorers despite showing a complete inability to do much with their off-hand. Lin, though, doesn’t possess physical advantages like Maggette’s strength and Terry’s quickness to compensate for it. One thing Lin can use to offset this malady is develop a nice two-foot floater or one-foot runner (preferably with both hands).

The next video showcases two clips. In the first, Lin attacks middle and is forced into an awkward runner that barely draws iron. Notice on that attempt how Lin pushes too deep instead reading what the defense is giving him. This a result of two things; his comfort level in his runner as a weapon for him to use and Lin being a typical young player who attacks without a plan. In the second clip, we see a tough missed jumper in the paint that could have easily been a great opportunity for a left-handed runner.

Despite some of these shortcomings, Lin definitely has some real positives to his game. The first is his ability to change speeds. For a guard without top end burst, being able to shift gears with the dribble (while changing body position or “status”) is an absolute must. Here is a great example of Lin doing exactly that:

The final thing, as Coach Thorpe also pointed out in his TrueHoopTV segment, is that Lin takes tremendous, attacking angles when coming off a ball screen. Pick and roll play is perhaps the trickiest thing for a player to get a feel for doing. A vast majority of young players really struggle with it so the fact that Lin has this nuance down bodes well for his future. Here is a look at such an example of taking a great, downhill, attacking angle coming off a screen:

While the evaluation of Lin will be an on-going for the next few weeks, these two games have given us some answers. He has certainly given a struggling Knicks team a spark, but there are enough concerns with his game to wonder if he can continue to do so going forward, especially against better teams. However, another big game or two this week could provide more clues that only deepen the mystery.

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Early in the season, the Celtics were dreadful. Their age had seemed to finally become a liability to their defensive identity and it was time to for the euthanasia debates to begin. Then right about the time Paul Pierce’s name began to bandied about in trade rumors, Boston started to right the ship. Now, after an 8-2 stretch, the C’s are back in the thick of the playoff hunt once again due to stifling defense. The game against Memphis yesterday highlighted all those defensive nuances that the Celtics have re-emphasized during their torrid stretch.

Early in the first quarter, the Grizzlies run a pick and roll with (essentially) roll-replace action in the middle of the floor. Rudy Gay, handling the ball, comes off a Mareese Speights screen driving right. Marc Gasol stays high on the weakside wing in a position that theoretically should force his defender, Kevin Garnett, to either stay with him and leave the roll man open or jam the roll man and leave Gasol open.

Gay’s read is based off either of those two options. Garnett, being crafty as ever on that end of the floor, does a great job of stunting help the roll man before jumping back into Gasol’s passing lane. He times it so well that Gay gets confused in his read and throws the ball away.

The next clip will make all those high school coaches that blast the NBA for a lack of fundamentals happy. The Grizzlies run a simple isolation post up for Gasol near the left elbow. Due to Gasol’s skills as a passer and Memphis’ inability to stretch the floor with shooters, the Grizzlies run a lot of cutting action off Gasol’s post ups.

As Mike Conley enters the ball in, he immediately basket cuts low well Sam Young, located in the weakside corner, cuts hard toward the middle of the paint. Ray Allen shows off his commitment to Celtics defense by fighting through a screen to bump Young’s cut through the paint. Allen’s effort to not let Young cut across his face for an easy basket leads to a much more suitable result for the C’s defense. Instead of a possible lay-up, Speights cuts toward the foul line and fires a tough, fading jumper that is contested by both Pierce and Garnett.

In the middle of the third quarter, the Celtics have yet another great defensive possession fueled by smart, effort plays. It all starts with Paul Pierce working hard to jam Rudy Gay curling off a Conley screen. Gay’s cut is what is called false action, a basketball maneuver executed to free up a teammate for the real action in the set.

In this case, Gay is meant to tight curl toward the rim to force Rajon Rondo, Conley’s defender, to help off on him. If Rondo is forced to help off deep, Conley will be able to come off a ball screen with Gasol with much more freedom. However, thanks to Pierce working hard to get tight to Gay, Rondo doesn’t barley has to commit to help and can effectively recover to the next action.
Pierce, however, isn’t the only one working hard on this part of the play. The freeze frame shows Jermaine O’Neal with hounding ball pressure on Gasol. This ball pressure not only eliminates Gasol hitting Gay late on the curl, but also increases the Rondo’s recovery time due to the difficulty of what should be a simple pass to Conley on the wing (pay attention to bad defensive teams, things like this pass and follow will be totally uncontested).

Rondo does a great job of throwing his hands in the air after getting through the Gasol screen. His length likely disrupts any ideas of Conley quickly threading a pass to Gasol before O’Neal recovers. The end result of this possession is a long contested two by Speights in the short corner.

The final video is more of the same effort and execution from the C’s. Early in the possession, Gasol slips out of a potential ball screen and dives hard toward the rim. This time, Boston rookie JuJuan Johnson has to jam his dive toward the basket. Conley notices this and hits trail big, Dante Cunningham with a pass near the midline. Nearly 40 feet from the rim, Cunningham is obviously a non-shooting threat, so the fact that his defender (Johnson) is stuck near the paint shouldn’t matter.

However, Cunningham smartly passes to Gay on the wing to tries to execute a ball screen in which Johnson, sucked deep toward the foul line, would be unable to get a good hedge. Johnson, indoctrinated in this defense-first system, makes sure to sprint up to the screen and still hedge hard, forcing Gay toward half-court. Any movement away from the basket like this, in the shot-clock era of basketball especially, is a win for the defense.

Gay changes direction after coming off the screen and attacks the rim going left. Johnson smartly gets back in front to force Gay into a tough runner. Johnson’s help leaves Cunningham alone near the rim with great rebounding position. Avery Bradley, however, quickly moves from his help position on the wing to slam into Cunningham near the rim in effort to keep him off the glass as Gay’s shot goes up. His box out allows Garnett to have an angle to grab the board and end the possession.

By climbing all the way up to the second spot in Hollinger’s defensive efficiency rankings, the C’s have appeared to have turned their season around. But given that this run has come against a string of teams currently residing in the bottom half of the league’s offensive rankings, it’s fair to ponder if Celtics are still a legitimate threat come playoff time. Will this defense built on discipline, effort and execution allow the Boston to compete when facing Miami, Chicago or even Philadelphia in a seven game series? We’ll have to wait and see.

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To open the second half of their game against the Grizzlies, the Thunder used their star Kevin Durant to chip away at a six point half-time deficit en route to a 101-94 win. OKC did it in a rather unconventional fashion; by running the same action over and over again. With the bevy of play calls at their disposal, sometimes coaches outsmart themselves (even at the NBA level). Scott Brooks, however, ran a simple pin down action for Durant on seven of the first eight possessions with extremely successful, and diverse, results.

In the first clip, the Thunder come out of a sideline out-of-bounds looking to run Durant off a screen from Kendrick Perkins on the left side of the floor. KD comes off and immediately kicks to Russell Westbrook sliding on along the 3-point arc after delivering the pass. Westbrook attacks hard rip off the pass back and draws a foul in the middle of the paint.

What makes this opening possible is Memphis’ Tony Allen stunting ever so slightly on his catch to ward off a middle drive by Durant as his defender, Rudy Gay, recovers through the screen.

This movement and quick pass back to Westbrook creates a small closeout situation that the explosive Westbrook easily exploits.
The next possession is something most fans are used to seeing, Durant curling off a screen and draining a mid-range jumper.

What allows this to happen is Marc Gasol failing to offer curl protection on a trailing Gay. If Durant has a trailing defender and doesn’t see a hard show, it makes his read very simple; catch and shoot.

Perhaps overcompensating from Durant’s open jumper the previous trip down the floor, the Grizzlies Mareese Speights shows out a little too early on the next screen in the following possession. Durant and Ibaka combine to read the play and the result is an uncontested dunk by Serge Ibaka.

We’re starting to see how complicated this seemingly simple action can be. In the following picture, we’ll realize that if Speights hedges hard to contest a Durant jumper. With Durant making such an efficient read coming off the screen, the only saving grace is an extremely quick rotation from Gasol over to Ibaka.

Gasol’s rotation, as the video showed, doesn’t get there and it’s two more Thunder points.

With all this attention centered around the screening action itself, it’s easy to forget about the weakside of the floor. Durant takes care of that by coming off another screen from Ibaka, taking one dribble toward the middle of the paint, then kicking out to a wide open Daequan Cook for 3.

In the following freeze, you’ll see that literally all five Grizzlies defenders are in the paint, focused on the Durant. Cook is left with more than enough space to knock down the shot.

After making great reads to find teammates, Durant’s read the next possession allows him to find his offense. Durant comes off an Ibaka screen that Speights is now hesitant to show on. Durant is then able to hangs in the air and nail a right-hand runner.

Taking a closer look, we see that Speights failure to show forces Tony Allen to attempt to disrupt Durant’s move toward the middle of the paint. Allen, unable to get his body in front of KD and force and non-penetrating pass out, can only swipe at the ball.

As this crazy saga continues, we see that Durant’s last attempt causes the newly inserted Dante Cunningham to focus too much on him. This time, Westbrook finds a slipping Ibaka for a two shot foul.

The final result of this series is similar to how it began. This time, the defense is so focused on defending the pin down action, they forget all other help responsibilities. Westbrook, taking advantage of Tony Allen perhaps shading toward Durant’s side of the floor, blows by him toward the rim en route to another foul.

Cunningham, focused entirely too much on the possible screen coming away from the ball, doesn’t realize Westbrook is barreling toward the rim until it’s too late.

This entire sequence of playcalling allowed the Thunder to be incredibly efficient and stay in the game until Durant took over late in the fourth. Scott Brooks, sometimes maligned for his offensive acumen, does a great job during this stretch of simply pounding Memphis with an action they were unable to contain. If the Thunder and Brooks can continue to exploit defense like this, OKC won’t be falling back to the pack anytime soon.

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Yes. Blake Griffin’s dunk was pure, unadulterated awesomeness. Twitter and highlights from every corner of the internet have shown us that. What hasn’t been mentioned nearly as much is another truly spectacular display from last night; Chris Paul’s first quarter.

With 11 points and 5 assists in the period, Paul put himself on pace for is an incredibly rare (and possibly never accomplished before) feat of a 40-20 game. That’s right. 40 points and 20 assists. A game of that magnitude is almost as mind-blowing as Blake Griffin leaping over the Kendrick Perkins, six fans and a minivan en route to the rim last night. Alas, Paul ‘cooled off’ and finished with a mere 26 points and 14 assists. Given his first period was an absolute clinic on point guard play, it’s still worth reviewing, especially considering that’s kind of what we do here at Playbook.

The first thing to look at is how incredibly well Paul uses his body and dribble to keep defenders out of a play and/or create space. The next video contains two clips. In the first, Paul has the ball passed out to him near the top of the key with only seven seconds left on the shot clock. Reggie Evans sprints out for a ball screen in order to create some quick offense.

Evans, however, slips the screen leaving Paul to battle both Russell Westbrook and Nick Collison on his own. Paul reacts by driving hard at Collison’s hip, turning the corner on him and keeping Westbrook behind the play. As Collison recovers to Evans, Paul, in a brilliant maneuver, curls behind him and in front of Westbrook, dribbling in an “S” curve that frees him for an elbow jumper with just over a second left on the shot clock.

The second clip in the video contains similar movement. Paul gets into a pick and roll with Griffin at the left elbow. Immediately coming off screen, Paul has nothing. The help defense has sagged into the paint and Westbrook is still in a position to contest any shot or pocket pass. Paul, being the Houdini that he is, uses a low hesitation dribble to get the stunting help defender (Harden) out of the way and put Westbrook on his back. After a quick hop-step deep into the paint, Paul finds himself free for a two foot floater.

In the next edit, the Clippers find themselves with Paul and Griffin engaging in another bailout, shot clock-induced, ball screen. This is perhaps the most technically perfect ball screen attack one could find. Paul comes off the screen with great pace and his defender on his back. Paul uses an in-out dribble on the big zoning up the paint (Ibaka) changing speeds with aplomb before exploding to the rim for an inside hand finish.

The next stop on the Chris-Paul-Is-Really-Good tour is a pick and roll between him and Evans. Due to some prior action, Evans’defender (Collison) is unable to get up to hedge on the screen. Paul wraps right around Evans’ hip unimpeded with a full head of steam toward the rim. He in-outs Collison on the dribble but the crafty Collison stays right with him. While Paul gets an opportunity to get off a runner deep in the paint, he sees Collison staying with him looking to contest. In the air, Paul finds Evans, who powers his way to a rim for a finish.

This play showcases two great Paul traits. The first is his ability to read the second line of defense. With no hedge, Paul looks to come off the screener shoulder to hip in an effort to keep his defender out of the play. The second is Paul’s great feel for manipulating space. By using an in-out dribble and getting to the middle of the paint, Paul creates the space for Evans to be open near the rim. After that, it’s just Paul’s unselfishness to pass up a mediocre look for a potential great one.

The final two videos simply show off Paul’s intelligence. The first is a rather non-descript. Following a rebound, Paul receives an outlet near the Thunder’s 3-point line. But before taking a second dribble, Paul sees an opportunity to snap a crisp two-hand pass over half the court to Griffin posting near the left block. Griffin misses the hook, but Paul’s ability to not only see the opportunity, but execute the pass is extremely rare.

The last second clip perhaps illustrates Paul’s film study habits. After inbounding from a made OKC free throw, Paul pushes ahead and finds DeAndre Jordan for an easy lob. This type of play should clearly never happen, but perhaps seeing a lax approach to transition in a few clips of the Thunder, Paul pushes with pace and gets an easy shot at the rim against a defense that should be set and ready to make L.A. work.

The amazing thing about all these clips is that this only part of the brilliance Paul showcased in that first period. It was about as technically perfect as a coach could ask his primary ball handler to play. So despite major holes in their roster, when the Clippers have a point guard playing as well as this, dunks shouldn’t be the only thing the league is talking about.

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Despite missing a key cog last night, Chicago put up quite the fight against Miami. Barring injury, these are the two teams many expect to battle it out in the Eastern Conference Finals once again. With the two teams meeting three more before the playoffs, every regular season tilt, even minus a player like Deng, still helps each team experiment with new ways to slow down an opponent they are becoming more and more familiar with.

In yesterday’s match up, the latest twist in strategy came with Tom Thibodeau deployed a zone for a handful of possession starting in the middle of the first quarter. While this move was most likely meant to help Derrick Rose avoid picking up a debilitating third foul, it could be tool the Bulls use again come playoff time. The question of whether or not they use it is something that remains to be seen, but both teams now have the tape to assess whether not it will be effective and to what degree.

Before diving into the film, it’s important to review what exactly a zone does to opponent’s game preparation. Depending on its effectiveness, a scheme change like a zone can take anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes of a given practice, walk-through and/or film session to countering it. That doesn’t seem like much. But remember, in a lockout-afflicted season teams (like the Heat) have precious little practice time to perfect their own schemes, let alone react to another team’s.

If a team consistently struggles against a certain scheme then that 10-40 minutes can blow up to over 3-5 hours of practice/film/walk-throughs over the duration of a playoff series (assuming that coach wants his team to be prepared). That is time a team could spend refining their own concepts, adding new wrinkles or simply use to let their players rest their worn-down bodies. With that logic, it seems like the perfect idea for the Bulls to trot out even a marginally effective zone against the Heat, right?

When looking at the numbers, it would appear to be a no-brainer. By unofficial count, the Bulls limited Miami to 5 points over 6 possessions (0.83 PPP). Obviously, six possessions is a ridiculously small sample size. That is where the film comes into play and when looking at that, the answer becomes much less clear.

The first time we see the zone is off a sideline out-of-bounds with 3:03 left in the first quarter. LeBron James enters the ball into Mario Chalmers who quickly swings the ball to Shane Battier on the left wing. Battier reverses the ball back to Chalmers then (perhaps unintentionally) cuts along the baseline with Udonis Haslem back to the strongside of the floor.

As James’ catches on the right wing, Ronnie Brewer drops to defend both cutters, giving up a gap in the zone. LeBron, employing a basic tenant of attacking zones, punches that gap with his dribble, flattening out the defense and forcing two defenders to the ball. On the collapse, James executes a brilliant hook pass to Chalmers spotting up on the weakside wing. The result is a semi-contested 3-pointer (Chalmers could have easily used a shot-fake, one-dribble pull up attack for a cleaner look, however).

Here is the video:

On the surface, it looks as if the Bulls forced a tough shot, but in all reality Chalmers just didn’t exploit a long closeout by Hamilton efficiently enough. The next clip is a bit of a mirage as well.

Norris Cole ends up setting a screen inside the top on ball defender (Rose). James uses the ball screen to pull Hamilton high toward him. Seeing Haslem flashing middle, James threads a pass through the gap. However, Haslem doesn’t hold his position long enough and looks to change space, leaving James’ pass to find only Joakim Noah.

Even though this lead to a run out and layup for Chicago, Miami was in a great position had Haslem just used a bit more patience. In the following picture, you’ll see that if Haslem catches the ball in that spot, the Bulls defense is extremely vulnerable. Not only does he have the space to immediately shoot a foul line jumper, but Haslem can look to go high-low with Eddy Curry (if Noah rotates up) or find Shane Battier (if Boozer rotates) hunting space either behind the defense or cutting up to the opposite wing.

Upon further inspection, this turnover is an easily correctable mistake. Perhaps this concept and alignment will be something that Spolestra uses should the Bulls zone them again.

The other things zones are notorious for giving up our offensive rebounds. In one possession, the Bulls actually gave up two offensive rebounds and only escaped due to a botched putback attempt by Haslem. In the following clip, a freeze-frame highlights a blockout dilemma for Kyle Korver.

With Noah and Carlos Boozer moving to contest a shot from the corner, Korver is left to try to fend off two Heat players (Battier and Mike Miller) coming in from the weakside for the rebound. Korver chooses to throw his body in front of the hard-charging Miller, which opens up a gap for Haslem (left unimpeded by Rose) to sneak in for the third shot attempt. Haslem misses a great chance, but this possession highlights the rebounding problems zones bring.

With two more match-ups on the docket in the regular season, it will be interesting to see how much (if any) zone is used by Chicago. Perhaps last night was a one-time thing centered around a need to protect Rose given his foul trouble. Or perhaps it was a chance for Thibodeau to see if a zone has a chance to slow down the Heat come playoff time. Either way, this chess match will be fun to watch.

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Ricky Rubio has stolen most of the attention for this rookie class (including here at Playbook), but there is another young point guard in Cleveland showing off his immense potential as well. Kyrie Irving has taken a downtrodden Cavs franchise and surprisingly moved them into the hunt for a low playoff seed. Rubio and Irving have surely touched off a few “who would you rather have” debates among fans, so it’s probably safe to say they are the 1 and 1A of this rookie crop.

While Rubio’s style of play is a hybrid of Jason Kidd and Steve Nash, Kyrie’s game has a lot of Chris Paul in it. It was even apparent in last night’s (ugly) win over the Knicks. Irving finished with a mere seven points, he was still able to control the game and dish out seven assists. His playmaking, pace and precocious understanding of game management were all very much on display.

The first clip we’ll look at occurs very early in the game during a transition push by the Cavs off a missed shot. Anthony Parker finds Irving in the middle of court. Notice that as the ball is just getting to Irving’s hands, his eyes are already up court “taking pictures” (a David Thorpe term) of the action ahead.

Irving continues to scan the floor as he pushes the ball ahead. Upon reaching half-court, Irving notices that Amare Stoudamire is dropping deep to protect the rim (a habit of a post in transition) instead of paying attention to Antwan Jamison’s run along the right lane. Irving sees both this drop and Jamison slowing his run to station himself near the three point line for a jumper. Irving promptly delivers the ball at the exact time Stoudamire is reaching the deepest part of his transition retreat. This combination of vision and timing by Irving allows for an unhurried attempt by Jamison.

In the next video, Irving makes an incredible poised play for such a young player. After some initial action away from him, Irving is denied ball reversal by everyone’s favorite Knick, Toney Douglas. Irving makes the correct read and makes a hard backdoor cut. His cut toward the rim, however, is met by a quick-reacting Tyson Chandler.

Here is where we see some special qualities from Kyrie. Instead of forcing a tough drop off pass through Chandler’s hands (which a high percentage of players would do) to Varejao (who also has Stoudamire right on his back), Irving slows himself down, takes one dribble into the paint and hits a wide open Omri Casspi on the opposite side for the floor.

Seeing Casspi, given the pace/nature of the action leading up to the delivery of the ball is a rare enough feat for most young players. Kyrie takes it a step further by not only adroitly reading the second line of defenders, but purposefully and calmly navigating to a window to make an accurate pass. In short, this rather non-descript play shows why Irving could be rather special.

In a pick and roll later in the second quarter, Kyrie makes very Paul-like read off a pick and roll in the middle of the floor. Paul is very adept at “creasing” (changing sides underneath the screening when the big zones up) ball screens and wrecking all sorts of havoc from there.

After a high ball screen from Varejao, Irving creases and puts immediate pressure on the Knicks help-side defense. Varejao delays his roll to time up Kyrie’s shifty movement toward the rim. As Varajeo starst to dive Irving delivers a brilliantly executed ‘pocket’ pass that leads to a wide open dunk for the Brazilian big man.

In the final clip, Irving showcases another quality that makes Paul so special; the ability to move at a controlled pace during a transition push. In high school and college, most players are instructed to play as fast and as hard as they can, this often leads to players moving at a speed where it’s impossible to make good reads. Playing a notch below full speed (and speeding up only when necessary), even in transition, is a nuance that sometimes takes years to fully master.

Like Paul, Irving shows the ability to play with an excellent understanding of pace. In the third quarter versus the Knicks, the Cavs run out off a miss. Kyrie pushes ahead quickly at first, probing New York’s defense then slows when starting to reach an operating area. As he slows, his head is immediately on a swivel looking to see where the rest of the players on the floor are.

Since Tyson Chandler is the last to arrive, Landry Fields is cut protecting the basket and hasn’t yet been ‘kicked out’ to a perimeter player. Irving notices this and realizes that Parker will be lost in the shuffle. Kyrie delivers the ball in rhythm and the result is a wide open 3-pointer.

More than anyone to enter the league recently, Irving, like Paul, has the ability to manage a game through both scoring and distribution. Rubio will always be labeled as the better playmaker due to his flashy and clever passing skills. But don’t let Kyrie’s impressive scoring numbers mislead you, he can more than hold his own in that other category.

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Of the numerous attributes attached to Ricky Rubio so far in his young career, flair is undoubtedly near the top of that list. From his passion to his wrong-foot finishes, Rubio’s style is meant for entertainment. Or is it?

Lost in clever passing arsenal he displays on a nightly basis is that everything Rubio does serves a distinct purpose. Every one-hand lob or behind the back pass, while certainly aesthetically pleasing, is facilitated by a necessity to find the appropriate time-space window to deliver the ball. Rubio’s usage of the no-look pass lies in that same vain and was evident again in the Houston game.

Late in the second quarter, the Wolves reset after Anthony Randolph rebounds his own missed jumper. He passes back out to Rubio and the two immediately engage in a step-up screen toward the baseline. It is here where Rubio’s no-look savvy strikes.

As we break it down, we see Love moving up toward the slot position just as Randolph is getting set to screen. Love’s defender, Sam Dalembert, is forced to move away from the basket with him. Dalembert is typically used to being stationed near the basket, doing things like jamming any dive off a ball screen that comes his way. This a responsibility he refuses to relinquish despite the Wolves off-ball alignment in this instance.

In the next picture, we see Dalembert intently focused on watching Rubio’s eyes coming off the pick and roll, as he anticipates possibly having to help off onto Randolph should his defender (Scola) have trouble recovering. Seeing that Rubio is locked in on Randolph, Dalembert pays no attention to his man (Love) settling in beyond the arc.

As Rubio delivers his no-look pass, we see his head completely turned away from Love with both eyes focused on Randolph. Dalembert, even after the ball is out of Rubio’s hand, is still staring at where the young Spaniard is looking.

The end result of the play is that wide open 3-point shot for Love. Here is a look again at the play slowed down.

Just like a quarterback looking off a safety downfield, Rubio uses his eyes to move a defender and create an opportunity for a score. So while it’s easy to attribute Rubio’s no-look passes to his flair, it’s forgetting that there is, in fact, a practical application of his flamboyance that has nothing to do with entertainment. Rubio is seemingly the place where substance and style meet.

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A broken nose threatened to derail a match-up inside the Lakers-Pacers tilt that pitted two of the league’s better young post players against each other. Roy Hibbert was not only able to shake off an errant elbow and win his individual battle against Andrew Bynum, he also helped propel his team to a big road victory. He did so by putting an emphasis on one of the most basic things for a big man: post positioning.

One of fundamental aspects missing in today’s game is the ability for players (of any position) to work hard to get good spots on the floor (For post-up opportunities, that usually means getting at least one foot in the paint on a post catch). Contrary to popular opinion, this isn’t always derived from laziness. In fact, most times it’s because players are so used to be so much taller/stronger/more athletic than their competition, that they haven’t yet realized the value of getting prime real estate. Hibbert (and Bynum) are both exceptions that rule.In last night’s contest, Hibbert had a nice contrast of showing the good things that happen with great positioning versus the mistakes that can be made without it.

His first basket of the night was fundamentally perfect from an effort, execution and technique standpoint. About halfway through the second quarter, the Pacers run a quick set seemingly designed to get Paul George and David West engaged in a pick and pop in the middle of the floor. Hibbert starts off on the weakside of the floor as George begins to drive left off the screen.

Knowing that West is popping toward the foul line, Hibbert realize he has an opportunity to duck-in for a quick post up as George clears the hedge. His timing is perfect as he circles around Bynum (whose defensive effort is less than ideal), sits on his legs with both hands high inside the restricted arc. Hibbert receives the ball from George and finishes with a nice no-dribble, right hand jump hook (the ability to shoot so deep without having to use a dribble shows what great work he did to get positioning).
Here is the clip:

The following video has three possessions in which Hibbert again gets great position deep on the block or in the paint. Each catch has at least one foot in (or right near) the lane. Not coincidentally, all three attempts are makes.

As I mentioned before, Hibbert wasn’t flawless on the night. His two turnovers could both be attributed to poor location upon receiving the ball. On each catch that precedes a turnover, Hibbert is pushed more toward the 12-15 foot range than the 7-10 foot range we saw before. The first play you’ll see results in a travel, due to the awkward nature of Hibbert trying to get to one of his counters from so far out. The second is an errant pass possibly caused by Hibbert anticipating an angle out of his post up he wasn’t used to. Check it out:

With Danny Granger struggling to start the year (and not really being a go-to option to begin with), the Pacers could use Hibbert’s post presence to carry them through any offensive lulls. As long as he continues to work for deep post positioning, Hibbert will continue to factor heavily into Indiana’s offensive success.

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The Hawks offense dragged them down in a defeat to the 76ers, but Jeff Teague still contributed quite the stat line. In the first half, he notched five steals that helped Atlanta build a 47-39 halftime lead. With 31 steals on the season (which put him in second place behind rookie sensation Ricky Rubio), he is making the league take note of his presence on the defensive end of the floor.

Any good thief has either quick hands or great instincts. The special ones, like Jason Kidd, have a combination of both. Against Philadelphia, Teague showed he may be in that elite category.

On the first possession of the game, the Sixers look to post Jrue Holiday against the smaller Teague. Holiday gets solid position in the post and frees himself for what seems to be short range turnaround. However, Teague flashes his great hands and reaction time by swiping the ball away as Holiday rises up. Here is the play:

That wouldn’t be the last time Teague terrorized the normally steady Holiday. Two other times in the half, Holiday finds himself relieved of the ball thanks to Hawk’s point guard. In the first play of the following video, Teague actually finds himself switched onto Elton Brand early in the possession. After thwarting Brand’s attempt to score against him in an iso, Teague to switches back to Holiday after a ball screen. As Holiday drives toward the middle, Teague nabs the ball to starts a break the opposite way for Atlanta.

In the second clip, Holiday comes off a down-screen looking to enter the ball down low to Brand. Being loose with the ball probably isn’t good idea around Teague and Holiday finds himself turned over one more time. Here is the video:

Those first three steals showcased Teague’s quick hands and his ability to aggressively hound the ball handler on defense. The following video shows that Teague also has great instincts off the ball as well. In the first clip, he spots Nikola Vucevic moving out of control toward the baseline and times his jump in front of Holiday. Notice the timing he has on this first play. Too soon on that play and Vucevic may try to save the ball in a different direction. Too late and perhaps Holiday as a lay-up. In the second clip, Teague just make a fantastic read from the weakside and breaks on the ball for a breakaway the other way. Check it out.

With regular playing time, Teague is proving to be quite a force on the ball and in the passing lanes. While this brief stretch isn’t enough to knight him a top tier pickpocket, it certainly is putting Teague in the conversation. Even still, opposing offenses better take notice.

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Torrid. Unconscious. Hot. All words that could be used to describe the Heat’s shooting performance in against the Spurs last night. Miami rained down hellfire from everywhere on the court to the tune of a 71-35 second half throttling that left San Antonio shell-shocked. However, lost in that offensive eruption was another sterling effort by the Heat defense.

Perhaps embarrassed by allowing 63 points in the first half, Miami put on a defensive display in the third quarter that, in combination with their torrid shooting, engineered a 27 point swing. In a period very similar to one we wrote on a few weeks back, they allowed a mere 12 points and forced a gaggle of turnovers. As we’ll soon see, the Heat had stretches where they made it difficult for the Spurs to even get a shot off, much less make one.

In perhaps an ominous start, the very first possession of the quarter ends in a turnover. Tony Parker runs off a double stagger set by DeJuan Blair and Richard Jefferson. As Parker curls, Chris Bosh is forced to show high to contest a quick mid-range shot, this leaves Blair open momentarily. Before Parker can deliver the pass, not one, but two Heat defenders rotate onto Blair and end up tipping the ball back to Bosh for a steal.

Just a few trips later, a poor pass from LeBron leads to a quick run-out by San Antonio. Parker pushes hard but is cut off and forced to dribble back outside the arc in a great effort by Bosh. However, due to the quick transition push, Bosh is forced to stay matched up with Parker. The first thing you’ll notice is the subtle positioning of Mario Chalmers on the play.

Chalmers basically switches assignments with Bosh and covers one of the bigs (Blair first, then Tim Duncan). Due to Blair/Duncan’s inability to stretch the floor from 3, Chalmers slides across the paint and sits in help on the strongside block, discouraging Parker from attacking Bosh on the isolated side of the floor. Parker is forced to try and reverse the ball only to receive it back and try to take on Bosh near the end of the shot clock. The result is a contested long-two that draws only back iron.

The next play is an absolutely perfect rotation by Miami on a dangerous screening action involving Gary Neal. Neal receives screens from both Duncan and Blair along the baseline as he heads toward the ballside corner. Whether due to great scouting or great focus (or a combination of both), the Heat shut this play down without a hitch.

Anthony, guarding Duncan, kicks out to the corner to contest Neal’s shot attempt while his defender, James Jones, fights through the screens. Bosh, guarding Blair on the opposite block, rushes over to defend Duncan and take away a quick dump-in and finish. James then crashes down hard on Blair while Chalmers fills the middle of the paint as the shot goes up. Due to a bad miss, the ball bounces long and the Spurs get the offensive rebound, but it doesn’t take away from a perfectly executed defensive rotation.

With Miami fully engaged on the defensive end of the floor, the beginning turning up the heat on the Spurs (bad pun intended). At this point, San Antonio is still clinging to a four point lead as Duncan hits Parker with a pass on the right wing. He chases his pass with a ball screen that Anthony and Chalmers string out. Chalmers does a great job of getting his hands on an attempted throw back pass.
That deflection leaves rookie Kawhi Leonard with the ball 35 feet from the basket with only seven seconds left on the shot clock. Leonard passes to Blair who forces up a wild shot that doesn’t draw iron (thus being a shot-clock violation), but due to an error on the reset, the Spurs get the ball back after an ensuing scramble with the shot clock at 2.7 seconds. The result ends up being same the same as Miami forces Neal into a wild floater that hits nothing but backboard. Here is the play:

A few possessions after that excellent defensive stand, James nails a 3 that put Miami ahead 69-68, a lead they would never relinquish. In the next video, you’ll see that three out of the next five San Antonio possessions ended in turnovers. An Anthony steal, a Jones steal and finally, a flustered Duncan simply throws the ball away on a simple reversal pass. The Spurs body language walking back toward the bench at the timeout says it all.

The Heat’s offensive fireworks will get all the headlines today, but it is important to note that it was the defensive effort that got things started. Unlike last night’s shooting bonanza, Miami’s defensive performance is repeatable. After all, this isn’t the only time this season they have thoroughly dismantled a team on that end of the floor. So while Miami currently sits at seventh in Hollinger’s defensive efficiency rankings, it is quarters like the third last night that frighten rival GMs and coaches around the league most. Wade or no Wade, if Miami can bring this type of sustained effort on the defensive end on a consistent basis, the Larry O’Brien trophy will be taking its talents to South Beach this June.

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