How the Heat slowed Kobe
Here is a look at the defensive schemes Miami put in place to soundly defeat L.A.
The New Laker Offense
Want to see the changes Mike Brown has brought to Hollywood? Check out the video below and find out.
Ettore Messina And More Post Sets That Los Angeles Could Run
Ettore Messina was one of the best head coaches in European Club Basketball history, winning the EuroLeague title four times with two different teams. Messina has been rumored to take a number of different head coaching jobs over the years, and for whatever reason he just didn’t seem to be interested, until now. Messina has finally joined the NBA, agreeing to join the Lakers’ staff and as Ric Bucher reported, even though he will be listed as an assistant coach, his role will be to act as more of a consultant than an assistant coach.
With Mike Brown being a defensive head coach, it is my opinion that Messina will be a consultant on the offensive end more than the defensive end, so I thought it would be interesting to look at Messina’s offense with Real Madrid (the team that he coached for the past two seasons), and see if there is anything interesting that he could bring over to the Lakers.
BallInEurope, a great European basketball blog did a great interview with Land O’ Lakers, and in it, he talked about Messina’s offense:
In addition to his preference in the half-court, Laker fans will certainly be cheered by Messina’s specialty of working with the post. Nobody in Europe, where frontcourts tend to be notably smaller but the bigs typically have the complete skill set in shooting, really employs anything like a triangle offense. But if Mike Brown was serious when he implied that some stuff with the triangle would remain in the playbook, you can bet that some of those Gasol-Bynum double post plays will have been tweaked/modified/perfected with Messina’s input.
The numbers certainly back that statement up. According to Synergy Sports Technology, Real Madrid’s possessions ended with a post up 12.5% of the time, their second most (first was spot-up jumpers) used play type. Messina ran a few interesting sets that look to get the post that could work with Bynum, Gasol, or any other big that joins the Lakers (specifically if Kevin Love gets traded). Like everything else we have looked at the Lakers possibly running, it continues the theme of being simple, yet effective. Here are 2 post up sets that they can bring over.
Cross Screen To Post
One of Ettore Messina’s favorite ways to get the ball to the block was by running a cross screen for him with a guard being the screener and then coming off of a down screen/pindown screen on the weakside of the basketball, turning it into a double low post set (something that Mike Brown knows about).
How Mike Brown’s Time In San Antonio Will Shape The Lakers’ Offense
Last month, with a break during the Finals, I took a look at Mike Brown and what his time in Cleveland will tell us about how he will try to put Kobe Bryant in positions to score. Today, we are going to look at Mike Brown and how he plans on getting his two seven-footers involved on the offensive end. During his introductory press conference, coach Brown explained how his time with San Antonio will help shape his offense when using two seven-footers:
I thought it would be interesting to go through some old San Antonio Spurs’ game tape and see what sets coach Brown can bring from San Antonio to Los Angeles. Much like the sets we looked at with coach Brown and Kobe Bryant, these are very simple sets, but that doesn’t mean that these sets will be ineffective with Los Angeles.
Note: For the purposes of this post, David Robinson will be playing the role of Andrew Bynum and Tim Duncan will be playing the role of Pau Gasol.
Mike Brown’s Offense & Kobe Bryant
When Mike Brown got hired as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, the decision left a few people scratching their heads. While coach Brown has a reputation as a defensive coach, his reputation on the offensive end is quite the opposite. In my opinion, that isn’t really fair to Mike Brown. While he is deserving of criticism at times, in actuality, coach Brown’s offense is better than the general public’s perception of it. In fact, during coach Brown’s final two seasons, the Cavaliers had the 4th best offense in terms of offensive efficiency (points scored per 100 possessions). Now, the response to that statistic is that Brown had LeBron James. Well, that’s true, but in Los Angeles, you have a player just as good (or better, depending on who you ask), and I think that is where you need to start when looking at coach Brown and how his offense will translate to the Lakers.
One of the biggest advantages of the Triangle Offense was that it created terrific spacing, giving Kobe Bryant opportunities to catch the ball with a lot of room to operate. How will Bryant get his opportunities under Mike Brown? I think looking at how Brown set up LeBron James in Cleveland could help us determine what sets Brown will use – and have success with – in Los Angeles.
For the most part, I am going to be looking at Brown’s offense during the 08-09 season, the last season John Kuester was on Cleveland’s staff. Kuester was the de facto offensive coordinator of those Cleveland teams and with rumors that he will be fired by Detroit and that Mike Brown wants to add him to his staff, it makes sense to focus on this season.
Post Up Opportunities
Outside of isolations (which were 30.3% of Kobe Bryant’s possessions), highest percentage of possessions used by Kobe Bryant (14.8%) came in post up situations. While LeBron didn’t have a reputation for having a strong post up game, he did post up 113 times in the 08-09 season, with Mike Brown running a few different, yet simplet, sets to get him the basketball on the block.
Post off of a Downscreen
Aside from a straight post up, this might be the simplest post set that Brown ran for LeBron James. As you can probably guess, it involves LeBron James posting after coming off of a downscreen:
The Key Factor In Dallas’ Three Point Barrage? Dirk Nowitzki
In game four against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks were able to tie a NBA playoff record by hitting 20 three point shots (20-32/62.5% shooting), using these threes to complete their sweep of the Lakers. When looking at Dallas’ three point shots, the common thread is Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki was on the court for 15 of the Mavericks 20 three point shots, and in my opinion, Nowitzki was responsible for 12 of the makes. In addition to making the three or getting the assist, the attention that Nowitzki drew forced the defense into tough rotations, resulting in wide open looks behind the three point line:
Passing Out Of Doubles
Hubie Brown mentioned it during the game, but Dirk Nowitzki did a great job of always being willing to make the right pass when the Lakers sent a double team his way. Combine his height that allows him to see over just about any double team with that willingness to make the right play and you have a recipe for disaster if you are the defense:
On this play, Nowitzki makes the catch on the wing, just inside the three point line. He gives a pump fake on his man, and starts to drive. As this happens, Shannon Brown steps up to him to try and double/help. This forces Derek Fisher to step up and pick up Tyson Chandler, leaving Jason Terry wide open in the corner. Nowitzki has the height to see Terry in the corner and hits him with the pass. Terry makes the catch and knocks down the three.
The Mavericks Were Prepared For LA’s Quick Hitter
Trailing by four points with 18.7 seconds left, the Los Angeles Lakers were looking for a quick hitter, wanting to get an easy two without running a lot of time off of the clock in the hopes of extending the game. To get that easy bucket, Los Angeles went to a play that has worked in the first round against the New Orleans Hornets. It didn’t work this time because the Dallas Mavericks were prepared for it, and defended it well:
As soon as the ball goes to Derek Fisher, the trigger man, Kobe Bryant comes off of a staggered screen at the top of the key.
The design of this play is to make the defense think that the Lakers are running the play for Bryant, draw Dirk Nowitzki out to hedge on the screen for Bryant, and then have Pau Gasol slip the screen to the rim. However, Nowitzki pays no attention to Bryant, keeping his eyes/body locked on Gasol.
How J.J. Barea Got All That Space
After scoring just four points in the first half, J.J. Barea went off in the fourth quarter scoring eight points in the 9 minutes that he played in that quarter. Barea was able to score (and be effective) by getting in the lane and creating havoc.
The way that the Mavericks got Barea into the paint was by giving him a screen and running pick and pops at the top of the key. Maybe the most important aspect of the pick and pop was the screener, Dirk Nowitzki. The Lakers were so worried about leaving Nowitzki open, it messed with their pick and roll defense:
Here, J.J. Barea gets the basketball and Dirk Nowitzki comes over and sets a screen for Barea at the top of the key. As Barea uses the screen, Lamar Odom (the man defending Dirk Nowitzki) hedges as Derek Fisher (the man defending the screener) tries to fight over the screen.
How The Lakers Defended Dirk & What They Can Do Differently
Outside Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry, there isn’t really anyone on the Dallas Mavericks who can create their own shot, and this is what makes defending Dirk Nowitzki so important, because if you can stop him, you have a good chance of stopping the Mavericks’ offense and beating them. Nowitzki is such an incredibly difficult cover because he is a seven footer who can shoot over you while fading away. This means that you have to put a big man on Dirk, who can play on the outside in addition to playing on the post.
The Lakers tried to defend Nowitzki with two different players, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, and while one had some success, the other failed miserably when trying his hands at defending Dirk:
Pau Gasol – 6 possessions, 5-5 (100% FG), 13 points, 2.17 PPP
With Lamar Odom as the Lakers’ sixth man, Phil Jackson needs to find someone to defend Dirk Nowitzki until he enters the game. In game one, Jackson went with the size of Pau Gasol to try and stop Nowitzki, however, he didn’t have much success:
Here, you see Gasol’s discomfort on the outside. When Dirk Nowitzki makes the catch on the outside, Gasol is on him, but instead of getting a hand in Nowitzki’s face, he keeps both hands low, looking to steal any crossover dribble. With his hands down, Nowitzki is able to rise and fire, knocking the shot down over Gasol.
On this possession, Nowitzki makes the catch out by the three point line, and Pau Gasol is forced to follow him out there. Gasol is at a disadvantage when trying to defend Dirk on the outside and after a pump faked pass, Nowitzki drives, gets to his spot, and knocks down the jumper.
Quick Hitter: Lakers Score From The Baseline
Scoring from the baseline off of sets is incredibly difficult in the NBA mostly due because of the lack of space along the baseline when a player catches the ball. This is why you most often see teams enter the ball to the corner and quickly kick it to the outside versus seeing an actual set get ran along the baseline. However, in the 2nd quarter, the Lakers were able to run a great set that took advantage of both Lakers’ bigs (Gasol and Bynum) strengths:
As soon as the trigger man (Matt Barnes) gets the basketball, Shannon Brown comes off of a double screen set by both Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.
After running off of Bynum’s screen, Brown heads towards the corner, drawing taking his man with him. After setting his screen for Brown, Bynum comes over and sets another screen, this time for Pau Gasol.
