Everyone talks about how important defense is in the playoffs, but I don't think people really understand what they are talking about. I think people tend to think about whether certain players can guard other players. A little deeper look reveals that, especially with the new zones, "team defense" is actually more important than individual matchups. You really only get an isolated one on one matchup a few times a game, so examining whether Rasheed or Ben Wallace can guard Z misses the point that there will be double teams, and switches and guys coming off the bench and on top of all that, only a few plays called for Z in the course of the game.
Even the concept of team defense though, needs to be examined a bit closer. I think you really need 4 things to play D the way you need to in the playoffs. Here they are in order of importance free of charge:
1. Motivation
2. Rebounding
3. The Flinch
4. The ability to create turnovers.
Now, here's what I mean in reverse order:
4. Turnovers. If football is a game of inches, basketball is a game of percentages and opportunities. Your ability to score is really dependent on the number of possessions your team gets in a game times your shooting percentage. Your offense determines your shooting percentage, usually requiring you to try to get as close to the basket as possible before shooting, or getting as open as possible before shooting or getting to that all-important free throw line where you are both close and open.
So, while offense determines half the scoring equation (shooting percentage), your defense determines the other half (number of possessions). With the value of each possession going up in the playoffs, and the quality of each team's ability to score going up (usually), the number of possessions you get actually becomes the most important aspect of scoring. It is just simple math. If you get more chances you can score the same number of points shooting a lower percentage. That is critical because flukey stuff sometimes affects shooting percentage like whether your 3-point shooters are hitting.
Playing good team defense then is about getting more chances for your team. The simplest (though not the easiest) way to do that is to create turnovers. You have to have long, quick, active guys who know how to get in the passing lanes. Look at SA and Detroit. Guys like Prince, Duncan, Manu, Rasheed, etc., prove this importance. Kobe, proving to be a smarter analyst than player, pointed out correctly on TNT the other night (while wearing that powder blue sweater, get a suit for crying out loud) that Manu is the key to the Spurs success. Much of this is because he is disruptive in the passing lanes and while players are dribbling. The fact that many of the NBA's current players over-dribble the ball and try to get too cute with their passing, plays right into his quick hands. Good defensive teams try to touch the ball all the time and that leads to turnovers which leads to more chances for their team to score.
3. The Flinch. This is a place in basketball where statistics can be very misleading. This isn't about shot-blocking. Or I guess I should say, it isn't only about shot-blocking. It is mostly about intimidation. Every young basketball player just starting out suffers the humiliation of getting his shot blocked. If you have an older brother or father that plays ball, this will probably come at a fairly early age. Unfortunately, this seems to have some sort of long-lasting, psychological scaring affect, I'm going to call the "flinch." The flinch is deadly to an offensive player. Scoring is about rhythm and timing and confidence more than anything else. To hesitate, to shift the ball from its intended place in your hand, to improvise at the last minute, will generally drive your shooting percentage into the toilet. Even worse, if you are primarily a jump-shooter, it can start actually affecting your form and your open shot can become just as bad as a well defended one.
The flinch is that little hiccup that happens when you think your shot might get blocked. It's as if seeing that hand go up or facing a taller opponent brings back all the pain and humiliation of those early times getting your shot rejected and it makes even great players hesitate and interrupt their natural motion. Getting someone to flinch might start with a blocked shot, but in the end is far more important than a block. Blocking shots is very hard. The best shotblockers in the game average no more than 3 a game. Think about that. If a player gets 6 blocks, it is a huge story, but out of the dozens of shots taken in a game (just by AI or Kobe alone) how much difference does that make? The block itself? Not much. The flinch that remains though can be huge.
I've seen Blazer games where Ratliff was really on his game with blocks. I've been to games where he will block 2 consecutive shots and teams will just stop going inside. They just give up. Why? You don't stop shooting when you miss a couple shots, why abandon something after a couple blocks, the result is the same. Why? The flinch. You don't want to go back in there and get rejected again. It is the ultimate male fear of rejection. So you hesitate. You pull up for the J rather than going to the hoop. You over pumpfake and travel. In short, you kill your own shooting percentage. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. You're blocking you're own shot.
So, to play good team D, you need to have a guy or two that makes the other team flinch. If you don't, players will start to believe that nothing can stop them and will attack the rim at every turn, which will increase their shooting percentage and probably get your team in foul trouble. You have to have a guy back there that makes player's hesitate. That's why the Suns can't win a title without Amare. That's why Z has to be on the floor for the Cavs. That's why TD and Robinson were nearly unbeatable. Unlike factors 1 and 2, you can still win without the flinch, but you have to be nearly flawless at the other 3. The Bulls dynasty proved this point. No one was flinching at Bill Wennington, but they did the other 3 things on this list so well, they overcame it.
Still, the flinch is crucial. Watch the good teams in the playoffs. When their flinch guy goes to the bench (Ben Wallace, TD, Z, Brand/Kaman, etc), it often suddenly looks like they can't guard anyone. Everyone on the opposing team breathes a sigh of relief as their confidence level gets a big boost and suddenly they don't have to settle for 20 footers, they can attack.
2. Rebounding. Did you see the Cavs debacle last night in game 6? They had that game. They outplayed Detroit, hit some big shots and "defended" well. Or at least they guarded their men, though you might notice that guarding your man isn't on this list. That's because getting someone to miss doesn't mean squat if you can't get the rebound. The Cavs couldn't get the rebound and proved my point about shooting percentages. Detroit missed big shot after big shot, but it didn't matter because they got the ball back to try again. Eventually, with enough chances, anyone could score. Ben Wallace at the FT line, may be the exception there, but it is a general rule. That's why I believe that you should not even be in consideration for defensive player of the year unless you both make people flinch and, more importantly, rebound. It is way, way more important than making a guy miss. It just is. Guys will miss on their own usually half the time at least. But that ball won't come to you byitself. Plus it increases your chances while limiting those for the other team. Rodman was a great defender because he always got the rebound not because he got a hand in your face. Not to say guarding someone has no value. It is very valuable, but just less so.
1. Motivation: This comes down to one critical component. In the end, there is only one way to motivate a basketball team to play hard on D. Your best player has to be able to make a difference in the game on the Defensive end. Dallas is going to put this theory to the test. Dirk is their undisputed best player. He sometimes tries hard on D, but in the end, he is pretty bad. With every champion I can remember or have even read about, their best player could affect the game with his D. Hakeem, Jordan, Duncan, Wallace/Billups, Shaq/Kobe, and the list goes on. You might ask, why isn't it enough to have a team that has a "defensive attitude" and multiple players that play good D? The reason? Motivation.
It may not be on a conscious level, but when your top player at the offensive end is a liability on defense, every other player, trying to follow the lead of their best player, eventually begins to believe they can only win on the offensive end and slacks off, even if ever so slightly, on D.
That's why, even though I picked Dallas in a bracket contest this year, I really think that only Detroit, SA, Miami and the Clippers have a legit shot at the title. Maybe Dallas will prove me wrong. If so, Avery Johnson is a brilliant motivator because it will mean he's convinced his guys to not follow Dirk's lead on D, and it will be the first time this has happened, ...ever... as far as I know. The Suns have Nash. He's brilliant on O and almost as bad on D. The Mavs have Dirk. LeBron is border line. He's not a great, or even good on the ball defender, but he is a very good rebounder and plays the passing lanes very well. That is two of the 4 items on this list and that might be good enough for the Cavs, someday, to win it all.
Ok, that's all for now.
Even the concept of team defense though, needs to be examined a bit closer. I think you really need 4 things to play D the way you need to in the playoffs. Here they are in order of importance free of charge:
1. Motivation
2. Rebounding
3. The Flinch
4. The ability to create turnovers.
Now, here's what I mean in reverse order:
4. Turnovers. If football is a game of inches, basketball is a game of percentages and opportunities. Your ability to score is really dependent on the number of possessions your team gets in a game times your shooting percentage. Your offense determines your shooting percentage, usually requiring you to try to get as close to the basket as possible before shooting, or getting as open as possible before shooting or getting to that all-important free throw line where you are both close and open.
So, while offense determines half the scoring equation (shooting percentage), your defense determines the other half (number of possessions). With the value of each possession going up in the playoffs, and the quality of each team's ability to score going up (usually), the number of possessions you get actually becomes the most important aspect of scoring. It is just simple math. If you get more chances you can score the same number of points shooting a lower percentage. That is critical because flukey stuff sometimes affects shooting percentage like whether your 3-point shooters are hitting.
Playing good team defense then is about getting more chances for your team. The simplest (though not the easiest) way to do that is to create turnovers. You have to have long, quick, active guys who know how to get in the passing lanes. Look at SA and Detroit. Guys like Prince, Duncan, Manu, Rasheed, etc., prove this importance. Kobe, proving to be a smarter analyst than player, pointed out correctly on TNT the other night (while wearing that powder blue sweater, get a suit for crying out loud) that Manu is the key to the Spurs success. Much of this is because he is disruptive in the passing lanes and while players are dribbling. The fact that many of the NBA's current players over-dribble the ball and try to get too cute with their passing, plays right into his quick hands. Good defensive teams try to touch the ball all the time and that leads to turnovers which leads to more chances for their team to score.
3. The Flinch. This is a place in basketball where statistics can be very misleading. This isn't about shot-blocking. Or I guess I should say, it isn't only about shot-blocking. It is mostly about intimidation. Every young basketball player just starting out suffers the humiliation of getting his shot blocked. If you have an older brother or father that plays ball, this will probably come at a fairly early age. Unfortunately, this seems to have some sort of long-lasting, psychological scaring affect, I'm going to call the "flinch." The flinch is deadly to an offensive player. Scoring is about rhythm and timing and confidence more than anything else. To hesitate, to shift the ball from its intended place in your hand, to improvise at the last minute, will generally drive your shooting percentage into the toilet. Even worse, if you are primarily a jump-shooter, it can start actually affecting your form and your open shot can become just as bad as a well defended one.
The flinch is that little hiccup that happens when you think your shot might get blocked. It's as if seeing that hand go up or facing a taller opponent brings back all the pain and humiliation of those early times getting your shot rejected and it makes even great players hesitate and interrupt their natural motion. Getting someone to flinch might start with a blocked shot, but in the end is far more important than a block. Blocking shots is very hard. The best shotblockers in the game average no more than 3 a game. Think about that. If a player gets 6 blocks, it is a huge story, but out of the dozens of shots taken in a game (just by AI or Kobe alone) how much difference does that make? The block itself? Not much. The flinch that remains though can be huge.
I've seen Blazer games where Ratliff was really on his game with blocks. I've been to games where he will block 2 consecutive shots and teams will just stop going inside. They just give up. Why? You don't stop shooting when you miss a couple shots, why abandon something after a couple blocks, the result is the same. Why? The flinch. You don't want to go back in there and get rejected again. It is the ultimate male fear of rejection. So you hesitate. You pull up for the J rather than going to the hoop. You over pumpfake and travel. In short, you kill your own shooting percentage. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. You're blocking you're own shot.
So, to play good team D, you need to have a guy or two that makes the other team flinch. If you don't, players will start to believe that nothing can stop them and will attack the rim at every turn, which will increase their shooting percentage and probably get your team in foul trouble. You have to have a guy back there that makes player's hesitate. That's why the Suns can't win a title without Amare. That's why Z has to be on the floor for the Cavs. That's why TD and Robinson were nearly unbeatable. Unlike factors 1 and 2, you can still win without the flinch, but you have to be nearly flawless at the other 3. The Bulls dynasty proved this point. No one was flinching at Bill Wennington, but they did the other 3 things on this list so well, they overcame it.
Still, the flinch is crucial. Watch the good teams in the playoffs. When their flinch guy goes to the bench (Ben Wallace, TD, Z, Brand/Kaman, etc), it often suddenly looks like they can't guard anyone. Everyone on the opposing team breathes a sigh of relief as their confidence level gets a big boost and suddenly they don't have to settle for 20 footers, they can attack.
2. Rebounding. Did you see the Cavs debacle last night in game 6? They had that game. They outplayed Detroit, hit some big shots and "defended" well. Or at least they guarded their men, though you might notice that guarding your man isn't on this list. That's because getting someone to miss doesn't mean squat if you can't get the rebound. The Cavs couldn't get the rebound and proved my point about shooting percentages. Detroit missed big shot after big shot, but it didn't matter because they got the ball back to try again. Eventually, with enough chances, anyone could score. Ben Wallace at the FT line, may be the exception there, but it is a general rule. That's why I believe that you should not even be in consideration for defensive player of the year unless you both make people flinch and, more importantly, rebound. It is way, way more important than making a guy miss. It just is. Guys will miss on their own usually half the time at least. But that ball won't come to you byitself. Plus it increases your chances while limiting those for the other team. Rodman was a great defender because he always got the rebound not because he got a hand in your face. Not to say guarding someone has no value. It is very valuable, but just less so.
1. Motivation: This comes down to one critical component. In the end, there is only one way to motivate a basketball team to play hard on D. Your best player has to be able to make a difference in the game on the Defensive end. Dallas is going to put this theory to the test. Dirk is their undisputed best player. He sometimes tries hard on D, but in the end, he is pretty bad. With every champion I can remember or have even read about, their best player could affect the game with his D. Hakeem, Jordan, Duncan, Wallace/Billups, Shaq/Kobe, and the list goes on. You might ask, why isn't it enough to have a team that has a "defensive attitude" and multiple players that play good D? The reason? Motivation.
It may not be on a conscious level, but when your top player at the offensive end is a liability on defense, every other player, trying to follow the lead of their best player, eventually begins to believe they can only win on the offensive end and slacks off, even if ever so slightly, on D.
That's why, even though I picked Dallas in a bracket contest this year, I really think that only Detroit, SA, Miami and the Clippers have a legit shot at the title. Maybe Dallas will prove me wrong. If so, Avery Johnson is a brilliant motivator because it will mean he's convinced his guys to not follow Dirk's lead on D, and it will be the first time this has happened, ...ever... as far as I know. The Suns have Nash. He's brilliant on O and almost as bad on D. The Mavs have Dirk. LeBron is border line. He's not a great, or even good on the ball defender, but he is a very good rebounder and plays the passing lanes very well. That is two of the 4 items on this list and that might be good enough for the Cavs, someday, to win it all.
Ok, that's all for now.
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