When the Bulls hired Boston Celtic assistant coach Tom Thibodeau, they knew that they are getting one of the best defensive minds in the NBA today.  In fact Thibodeau is the man credited for Boston’s top rated defense (according to Synergy, who used Points Per Possession to rank them).  However, just because Thibodeau is coming in doesn’t mean that the Bulls defense was terrible last year (they were in fact ranked 8th), and when you think of their roster, it makes sense.  You have a big physical and athletic point guard in Derrick Rose, long-athletic wings, and a mobile yet physical big man in Joakim Noah.  It’s scary to think about what Thibodeau can do with this roster, and that is without adding LeBron James.  What I wanted to do is take a look at some changes the Bulls defense might make with Thibodeau in charge.  Specifically the pick and roll.

Surprisingly enough, the Bulls were better/equal to the Celtics when defending the pick and roll (both in terms of defending the ball handler and defending the roll man), according to Synergy (Celtics’ stats in the white and Bulls’ stats in the gray):

Despite the Bulls holding their opponents to a lower points per possession number, the Boston Celtics were able to force more turnovers.  Turnovers are important because they allow the team forcing them opportunities to run and get baskets in transition.  With the way the Bulls’ roster is currently set up, the more they can get in transition, the better.  So what do the Celtics do differently to force all these turnovers?

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With the Bulls trying fight of the Cavaliers, who were making a run late, Joakim Noah really made his presence felt on the defensive end.  Two times in the final 4 minutes, Noah made a smart play on the defensive end getting a stop and helping the Bulls get out in transition.

On this first play, the Cavs try to run a double screen to free up the lane for LeBron James.  The Bulls counter by having James’ defender, Luol Deng, go under the screen.  To make going under the screen much easier, both Rose and Noah back up off their man to clear a lane for Deng to get through.  This is a pretty good defensive strategy by Chicago as you would rather want James shooting a three than getting in the lane, and going under the screen does just that.

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Throughout the playoffs, we are going to be looking at the teams that lost their last game and look at what they can do to try and get a win.

The Bulls really struggled on offense against the Cavs’ defense during Game 1.  They only scored 83 points, and with 106 total possessions, that comes out to only .78 points per possession.  However, there was one set that worked well for the Bulls, and it was the pick and roll.  The Bulls ran the pick and roll 27 times, and they were able to score on it 14 times.

In Game 2, the Bulls need to use the pick and roll to make the Cavs pay for playing Shaq.  On defense, the Bulls have nobody who can stop Shaq, and in Game 1 Shaq had 12 points on 5-9 shooting in just about 24 minutes.  Now, on the other end of the court, the Bulls need to involve Shaq in the pick and roll.  To do so, whoever Shaq is defending needs to set a screen for Derrick Rose.  Every single time down the court when Shaq is in.  Why?  Well, because when the Bulls did it in Game 1, it was effective.  This is because you are forcing Shaq to move, and at his age and game condition (he only just started playing again recently), that is going to be tough for him.  This is the first time the Bulls ran the pick and roll with Shaq in:

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For these playoff previews we are going to take a look at each team individually, and then we are going to look at the match-up.

The Chicago Bulls looked they were out of the playoffs a couple weeks ago, but after a few key Raptors broke their faces, the Bulls played their way into the final seed of the playoffs.  Their reward?  The Cleveland Cavaliers, who will be playing LeBron James

Cleveland Cavaliers

Strengths

What the Cavs do well.

• Movement without the basketball
• Defense
• Bench Play
• LeBron James

Weaknesses

Some problems the Cavs struggle with

• Rely on LeBron a little too much late
• LeBron’s shot selection late
• Guardplay other than LeBron

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With about a minute and a half left, the Celtics were down 4 points and looking to get a very important stop.  They tried to do so by putting on some full court pressure to disrupt the Bulls rhythm.  Also, they wanted to take the ball out of Rose’s hands, and they did so by sending a double team.  The double team almost worked, but some poor communication at the back end of the rotations allowed Chicago to get a wide open three:

Derrick Rose crosses half court, with Nate Robinson right on his hip.  However, Robinson doesn’t do too much to bother Rose.

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The Bulls like to run a pick and roll where they have Derrick Rose coming off of a screen set by Joakim Noah.  It is really tough to defend because you need to focus a lot of attention on Rose, because if you don’t he will fly right by you.  There is a problem with that strategy though, and it was on display during the Bulls-Cavs game last night:

As Noah comes over to set the screen, the Cavs quickly hedge it.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas comes out early and really high in an attempt to cut off Rose’s path around the screen.  As a result, Mo Williams goes under the screen, waiting to see which way Rose goes to pick him up.

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With about 5 minutes left, the Bulls and the Bucks were locked in a defensive battle where every basket was important.  Easy baskets were very hard to come by for the most part, but Chicago ended up giving the Bucks a lay-up.  The Bucks took advantage and kept the lead for the rest of the game.

As the Bulls start their possession, they run a side pick and roll involving Luol Deng and Derrick Rose.

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Every morning I will take an in-depth look at a game that happened the previous night.  The game that I pick is the one that I think was the best and most interesting one of the night/weekend.

The Bulls have been struggling a ton this year, but for one night, everything clicked.  The Pistons helped them though.  The Pistons shot only 41.3% (33-80 from the field), including only 18.2% from 3 (2-11).  Meanwhile Chicago shot 57.1% (48-84).  The High shooting percentage was due in large part to the points in the paint the Bulls got, as well as the fact the Bulls got a ton of fast break points.

What The Bulls Did Right?

Getting Points In The Paint

Here, the Bulls run a pick and roll involving Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose.  Derrick Rose is going to come off of it,  not hard as if he was going to attack the basket, but he curves it off, giving himself an angle to make a pass on the roll.

The Pistons try to hedge out of this screen, but they don’t do a good job of it.  If the defender hedging is going to come out this far, he needs to turn the point guard around.  Here, Rose is able to get around the defender, and now the Pistons are in a tough spot.

The Piston covering Tyrus Thomas is in the toughest spot.  He sees Noah rolling uncontested (due to the poor hedge), but if he leaves to help out on Noah, he doesn’t know if anyone has his back, rotating over to cover Thomas.  Rose gave himself a good enough angle to make either pass.  A big key.

The defender chooses to stay with Thomas, and Derrick Rose threads the needle with a pass to Joakim Noah, leading to a big time dunk.

Getting Out On The Break

Coming off of a screen, Rip Hamilton gets trapped on the sideline when Joakim Noah hedges out hard on the screen (this is how you do it by the way, completely knocking the ball handler off of his path).

Noah’s active hands knocks the ball loose, and he quickly gains possession.

As Noah dribbles to gain possession, the Bulls now have a 4 on 2 fast break, with no Detroit Pistons past their own foul line.  In fact, one Piston seems to be walking back on defense as the Bulls take the ball on the break.

Noah gets the ball to a guard’s hand (Hinrich), and in this camera angle, there are no Pistons getting back on defense.

Hinrich passes it to Rose as the rest of the Pistons chug along, at least pretending to hustle.

Rose makes the 4th pass of the fast break (which was allowed to happen since they had 5 seconds of a 4 on 2 fast break), and Deng finishes with the lay-up.

What The Pistons Did Wrong?

Poor Offense/Shot Selection

After bringing the ball up, Rodney Stuckey swings the ball to Rip Hamilton.  Take note of the shot clock up top.  There is 19 seconds left on it.

Hamilton, after surveying the situation for a second or two, swings the ball to Jonas Jerebko, who is out on the wing, beyond the three point line.

Jonas Jerebko tries to enter the ball into the post, but Deng is playing off of him, effectively cutting off any lanes to get the entry post in there.

Jerebko then swings the ball back out to Rip Hamilton.

Rip Hamilton points to Ben Wallace, calling for a screen.

He gets it and tries to use it, but the Bulls defend it perfectly (again), because of that, Rip Hamilton is forced to dribble the ball back towards the right wing.

He then swings the ball to Jonas Jerebko who takes an ill-advised three pointer.  Jerebko has played pretty well this year, but he isn’t a three point shooter.  He is shooting 25.5% from 3 on the year including a big fat 0% over the last 5 games.  So why did he take the shot then?  Well, the Pistons basically spent 12 seconds passing the ball around the perimeter.  The ball did not spend one second/bounce inside the three point line, so when Jonas Jerebko got a open look, he must have thought “well, nothing is really going on, so I might as well shoot it.”

This is sad.  I remember the Pistons offense of the last decade where they would run Rip Hamilton off a ton of screens, and get him open mid-range jumpers at will.  What happened to that?  They are now resorting to just swinging the ball around and seeing what happens.