Video Breakdown: Game 12, Nets vs. Bucks
Nov 20, 2009 Defensive Keys, Nets vs. Bucks, Video Breakdown, Xs and Os
Ugh, that was a rough game huh? The Nets were able to contain Brandon Jennings (sure he put up 19, but that is 6 points below his average), but they let Andrew Bogut go off on them. He has always been a great player in the low post, but the Bucks also did a great job running sets for him that led to easy baskets (he is pretty mobile for a big man which helps the coaching staff run sets for him). We are going to take a look at two of those:
Set 1 (Poor Rotation)
Here the Bucks are running a guy off of Bogut’s screen. Brook seems to know it’s coming and he is starting to edge out on it. CDR does what most NBA defenders are taught to do, and he trails the man coming off the screen.
The screen gets curled, so Brook needs to come out and show to keep him from getting an open lane to the basket. Bogut is starting to roll on the screen, and this is where the breakdown in rotation comes from. Josh Boone has his eyes fixed on his man.
Boone leaves the lane far too soon leaving Brook Lopez in no-mans land as he just watches Bogut get the ball in the lane and finishing. Josh Boone needs to understand who the bigger threat here. Boone’s man is two passes away, and the only way the ball is getting to him is if there is a skip pass thrown, that gives him enough time to recover. Boone needs to stay in the lane until Brook Lopez recovers, and if the ball goes to Boone’s man, then he can close out on him.
Set 2 (No Switch):
Here we got another set-piece involving a screen. This time, Bogut is the one coming off a screen. Here, CDR is trailing once again, and the set sort of looks like the previous one I talked about. However, instead of CDR’s man coming off the screen, he quickly sets up to set one.
This must of caught CDR off guard, because it seems like he didn’t call the screen. Brook Lopez gets blindsided and he gets caught in the screen. Now usually teams don’t like switching little/big screens because it presents mismatches.
And CDR doesn’t switch this one. He should have recognized this and switched the screen. You don’t like having Brook cover a guard, but it is better than giving Andrew Bogut an easy lay-up.
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What these plays show you is that while they lock down and play hard on defense, they don’t really know situations and they break down mentally a good amount. This is something the Nets can’t do. The Nets work so hard just to get a shot attempt, and then they turn around and give up open easy to get buckets (in the case of the second set, it only took them 5 seconds to get a wide open layup).
Video Breakdown: Game 11
Nov 18, 2009 Defensive Keys, Video Breakdown, Xs and Os
Alright this one is going to be short and sweet, we are going to look at the Nets pick and roll defense, because as I pointed out earlier today, defending the pick and roll is key to stopping Brandon Jennings and the Bucks.
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Before the screen even gets used, Brook Lopez is putting himself in correct position to “hedge” the screen. What I mean by hedging the screen is that Brook is going to show at the ballhandler, allow for the defender to get back and then retreat to his man. This is all about rotation, if you rotate correctly, you can keep the ball out of the paint, and that is your best bet when defending the pick and roll.
In this case though, the ballhandler attacks Brook Lopez. Brook does the correct thing and stays with the ball handler, if he tries to switch, he will just give up an easy lay-up. The problem here is that Bobby Simmons doesn’t switch the screen, he continues to follow the ballhandler instead of getting in front of the screener Roy Hibbert, and prevent his roll to the basket.
Brook forces a tough-lay up to go up, but because Bobby Simmons didn’t get in front of Hibbert, he has inside position and gets the easy rebound and putback.
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Defending the pick and roll is key because the Bucks have a great PG and a real good big man. The one good thing is that Jennings tends to shoot jumpers from the pick and roll rather attacking the basket, which makes hedging and getting back to your man easier. We will see what happens tonight.
How Do The Nets Stop Brandon Jennings?
Nov 18, 2009 Analysis, Defensive Keys, Other Teams' Stars, Xs and Os
Brandon Jennings has been playing very well as of late. How well? Well, for those of you that have been living in a cave during the past week, he put up 55 against the Warriors recently. The Bucks won the game, but only by 4 points. So what does this tell me, if you can keep Jennings from putting up 55, you have a good chance at beating the Bucks. The Nets play the Bucks tonight, so I thought it would be fun to rewatch that game (Bucks vs. Warriors) and see how the Warriors defended him and if they did anything wrong. Well, they did a lot wrong. Fortunately for us, we can look at what they did wrong, and use that as a “what not-to-do” kind of thing:
Off The Ball Defense
When you are dealing with Brandon Jennings, you must know where he is on the court at all times. He moves well without the ball, so if you are caught peeking, he will cut on you and get an easy look:
Look at how Monta Ellis is playing Jennings. That is wrong. I mean, he is in the right position on the court, but look at how he is just staring at the basketball. Here, Jennings could go backdoor and get a lob with no one trying to stop him. A big key to stopping Brandon Jennings is forcing him to take all jumpers, you don’t want him getting easy buckets. A way to keep him from getting easy buckets is to make sure the guy covering him has an eye on him to prevent backdoor cuts.