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?
Much like Lakers approached defending Rajon Rondo in game six, the Celtics took whoever was covering Ron Artest (in most cases it was Paul Pierce) and had them float on the defensive end of the court. Unlike Rajon Rondo in game six, Ron Artest was able to make the Boston Celtics pay for this defensive strategy. Eleven of Ron Artest’s twenty points came directly from Boston Celtic double teams. Here is a look at these plays:
Play 1 (Two Points)
Above is a play from a sideline out of bounds set. Immediately after Ron Artest inbounds the basketball and floats to the corner, Paul Pierce leaves him to float in the middle of the court. Rajon Rondo, unsure of what to make of the situation decides to pick up Artest. As the shot goes up, Artest uses his size advantage on Rondo to grab the rebound and put it right back in the basket.
After Ray Allen hit a three pointer with about 52 seconds left, the Celtics found themselves down three points needing to get a stop to keep it a one possession game. They got their stop as Kobe chucked up a deep three pointer, but they were unable to secure the defensive rebound, and that was your ballgame:
After Ray Allen hits his three, things get a little hectic as Pau Gasol gets set to inbound the basketball. All ten players are in the Lakers’ backcourt, and this leads to some confusions about matchups. Initially you have Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett just kind of hanging around not responsible for any Laker yet.
Yesterday, the Celtics made it official. Kendrick Perkins won’t be playing in game seven tonight against the Lakers. Kendrick Perkins is very important for the Celtics on the defensive end, and the numbers prove it. According to raw +/-, the team is about 8 points better per 100 possessions with Perk on the floor versus with him on the bench, and it is performing better on both sides of the ball with Perk in the line-up (according to BasketballValue via CelticsHub).
On the defensive end, Kendrick Perkins is the anchor, allowing for the rest of the team to play against more favorable matchups. Kevin Garnett on Andrew Bynum is rough, but Kevin Garnett on Pau Gasol (the matchup when Kendrick Perkins is in the game) is much more manageable.
Perkins is also one of the reasons why the Celtics are so good at defending the pick and roll:
Perkins hedges out real hard here, but the Celtics probably gameplan it this way to get it out of Kobe’s hands. The Lakers actually counter with a nice play, a quick pass to Gasol who then hits a rolling Bynum (trying to take advantage of Perkins’ hedge). However, Perkins is able to get back, use his body, and force Bynum under the basket. This is something that Kendrick Perkins does very well.
Rajon Rondo is easily the key to the Celtics offense. If he is playing well, then the Celtics are really tough to stop, if he isn’t playing well then the Celtics look average at best. In game six, the Lakers were able to slow Rajon Rondo and as a result they were able to hold the Celtics to just 67 points. Here is how they did it:
Ignoring Rondo In The Halfcourt
The Lakers were able to stop Rajon Rondo in the halfcourt by basically ignoring him as his defender (Kobe Bryant for the most part) played about 10-15 feet off of him the entire game, whether he had the ball or not. It was as if the Lakers were saying, “If Rajon Rondo beats us with jump shots, then so be it.”
The above play is a perfect example of the Lakers’ strategy working as planned. Here, the Celtics run a screen and roll with Rajon Rondo coming off of a screen set by Kendrick Perkins. The Lakers switch the screen, and Pau Gasol ends up being forced to cover Rondo. This is usually a point guard’s dream, and the way a point guard normally attacks this is by pulling the ball out and then just blowing by the big man covering him. In fact, Rajon Rondo does try to do this, but Pau Gasol doesn’t take a step in Rondo’s direction and he stays in the paint. Rondo is basically left with only one option (the pass to the mismatch isn’t there because Gasol is clogging the passing lane), and that is to take an awkward jumper that he misses.
The Lakers are going to have to get on the same page when it comes to defending the Boston Celtics in the post. There were a few situations in the second half where the Lakers tried to front the post, however the lack of ball pressure lead to easy baskets for the Celtics:
In both of these videos, the individual parts of the defense aren’t the problem. Kobe makes the correct decision in playing off of Rajon Rondo to prevent him from penetrating and the fronting of the post in itself is a decent strategy. However, you can’t do both at the same time. This is because if you front the post, you are basically daring the offense to throw a pass over the defenders head. Give a guy like Rajon Rondo 10 feet, and he is going to make that pass 9 out of 10 times.
In the end this is all about communication. If the Lakers get caught in front of the the Boston’s big men, they have to let Kobe know (because he can’t see it as he is focused on the ball and his man) so he can put pressure on the basketball. I think being in front of their home crowd, the Lakers are going to be able to communicate easier and you won’t see mistakes like these.
Kobe Bryant’s third quarter in game five was truly amazing to watch. With that being said, I have to agree with Matt Moore who wrote at ProBasketballTalk that this run ruined any chance the Lakers had of winning. They Lakers played their best basketball and were most competitive when they were passing the ball around and having contributions from all players. However, where Moore blames Phil Jackson for this run (for essentially allowing Kobe to go off), I want to give the Celtics defense credit.
When you are dealing with a superstar like Kobe you always here of two defensive strategies. You can double him and force the ball out of his hands and let his teammates beat you, or you can let Kobe get his but not let anyone else go off. The Boston Celtics decided to go with the latter and it worked for them. Think about it, during Kobe’s spectacular run, did you see a double team? No. In fact, the Celtics didn’t overreact and completely change their defensive strategy:
This is Kobe’s first basket of the third, and it is a pretty good look at the Celtics’ defensive strategy. Kobe gets the ball in the corner and starts to back Ray Allen down as no double comes (Paul Pierce fakes a double and stays with his man). Kevin Garnett eventually brings a double, but only when it is apparent that Kobe is going to take a shot. They force Kobe Bryant into a tough shot, but he is able to knock it down.
The Celtics found themselves in a pretty interesting situation up five points with around 40 seconds left. Taking the ball out of bounds, they had four seconds to advance the ball from the backcourt (where they were inbounding it) past the halfcourt line in four seconds. The Celtics could have advanced the ball with another timeout, but because they only had one left, Doc Rivers decided to draw up a play for the Celtics to quickly advance the basketball. As Trey Kerby so accurately described it, it was basically the NBA version of the “The Annexation of Puerto Rico.” However, the Lakers made a few mistakes that aided to the play:
As Kevin Garnett gets the ball to inbound it, Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce switch places. They don’t set a screen, they just switch. It looks like the first option was Rondo curling towards the basketball (trying to get it to him in a dead sprint so he can just run it across half court) and Paul Pierce was the second option curling out towards the halfcourt line.
If the Celtics go on to win the NBA Finals after tying up the series at two last night, Rajon Rondo’s steal is going to be one of those plays remembered for a long time. When Paul Pierce missed a jumper with about 45 seconds left and when Kobe grabbed that rebound with the Lakers down 6, you just had a feeling that Kobe and the Lakers would somehow find a way to comeback and win the game. The Celtics defense prevented that from happening:
As Kobe grabs the rebound and starts downcourt, Ray Allen (Kobe’s defender) quickly finds Bryant and gets in front of him while backpedaling.
After going off for 27 points in the first half, Ray Allen was only able to muster up five points in the second half. Many would consider that a failure, but Ray Allen made made a huge impact in the second half just by being on the court.
Accumulates Fouls
Here, Ray Allen is trying to get to the baseline so he can start running off of screens. Derek Fisher wants to get in his way to try to prevent him from getting to his spot, resulting in a foul called on Fisher. Some think the only way to stop Ray Allen is to prevent him from getting to the baseline (a spot where he loves to run off screens). To do that, you need to be physical, and when you are physical you tend to pick up more fouls.
