Hoops Tonight - Film Breakdowns: How the Thunder Tied Series vs. Nuggets + How the Knicks Stole Another Game vs. Celtics

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night against the Nuggets. I want to talk about some of the ways they were forcing turnovers on Nikola jokicch by winning the position battle with him. After that, I want to put a light on J Dubb, who I thought played a phenomenal second quarter in this game, and I just kind of want to focus on his semi trains, psition drives and the consistent rim pressure he was generating, some of the higher quality kickout reads he was making.

Just a little shout out to JDub for what I thought was a big balance back game in game two. And then after that we're going to move over to the Celtics Knicks series and what I want to focus on there is specifically some of the things that the Knicks were doing better on defense. I want to highlight

Jalen Brunson and his competitiveness defensively. I want to talk about a concept that I talked about last night involving the idea that the Celtics are letting the Knicks off the hook for some of their natural coverage openings because of their complete inability to knock down jump shots, and you can see it starting to have a mental impact

on the Celtics. I'll show you guys some examples of that, and then the final sequence, I want to highlight just how Mitchell Robinson made the adjustment and Ojan Andobi made the adjustment from what happened on the possession where Jason Tatum got his big dunk, and I want to focus on how they managed to get a stop on that final possession. You guys are the trip before we get started to subscribe to the Hoops and Not YouTube channel so we don't miss any more of our videos. Follow

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They were abating the high post entry and then they were shooting the gap without contact. So as you can see, Doord is not pressing up on Jokic, He's waiting for the pass. He's literally baiting him into the pass. And then when the pass comes, he's just gonna dip underneath and go get the basketball. So again, if he ran up and made physical contact with Jokic, makes it very

easy for Jokic to seal. And he's basically taking advantage of Jokic's laziness here because Jokic is not doing the job of creating that seal, creating that passing angle, and so Door's able to just shoot the gap and take the ball away. You're gonna see several examples of that here in this opening sequence. This one is the one that Chet forced. And once again I just want to give credit to Chet and credit to the Thunder for just battling Yokic off of position. Here, Jokic tries to

get an inside seal on sheet. Look at sheet, immediately, try to swim around and get that left arm in there, and that left arm ends up being just enough to force Yokic to lose control the ball, just that little bit of contact right there. And again there's two sides to this coin. Yoka has to do a better job of ceiling and creating that clear passing window, but there's the Thunder also on the other side of that, making Denver pay for that sloppiness. I talked last night about

how they were attacking the pocket pass. You'll see multiple arms getting in into that you know, passing window every single time. Here's an example. We have Russ come off the screen. There's our pocket right, that's where we're looking to make the pass. You're gonna see Hartenstein get a hand in. You're gonna see kese on Wallace get a hand in. You're gonna see active hands immediately. You'll see as they reach in. Hardenstein's the first guy to get a hand on it, and the Kesan shoots in there

and he gets a hand on it. Just attacking the pocket and preventing Denver from getting to their connective passing sequences. Again, like if Yokicic catches at the elbow, if Yollkicic catches in the pocket, if yoll caicch catches on the block, that's where he can be the guy that creates that huge advantage that keeps the Denver offense humming. But if you can disrupt the ball even from get into that spot, it goes a long way towards helping you get stops.

Here's another Yokics turnover on a high post entry very similar to the one we talked about earlier, This one from Aaron Wiggins. So Yokic at this phase is sealed on Wiggins there on his shoulder, but they get disconnected. You'll see him get disconnected. So Jokic works up a little higher, steps up to get higher. But look there's no contact now. Because there's no contact, that allows Aaron Wiggins to shoot the gap without having to worry about

a Jokic seal. Watch Aaron Wiggins shoot the gap and just go to the basketball.

is this is what I would consider semi transition. It's like basically a three on four break, right like, but everyone's back pedaling like this is now the on ball defender. And look, this was on a made basket. I was trying to remember last night if it was on a mad or miss basket, it was on a Mate. So look, made basket inbound to Jadub. Denver's not set in their transition defense. Now all of a sudden, Jamal Murray's dead to rights and Jadubb just hits that gap in the

middle of the floor. There gets Downhill forces the gold ten from Gordon. You're gonna see several examples of that here, same thing here against Christian Brown made basket.

had a rough night guarding on the ball. But like a lot of this from Denver where they're not set and Jadub's just making them pay with these hard semi transition drives and like he's not even getting picked up until he's basically in the finishing zone there in the middle.

the decision on this one once again, semi transition. Look Denver's backpedaling, Look at where Yo kich is. Jokica has his back turn to the basketball, Jada left to right crossover. Once again, Brown doesn't pick him up physically until south of the foul line gets to the baseline. He does actually tie him up a little bit, but so much rim pressure. There's four nuggets staring at him and the paint. He gets a clean kickout to Aaron Wiggins. Lots of

rim pressure on those semi transition drives. This was from earlier in the game. Just one of the examples of the better interior passing I was talking about. Just hits Isaiah Hartenstein in that little short range spa spacing zone. Here's that action they were running all throughout the early second quarter. Again, DeAndre Jordan was matched up with case On Wallace and they just spammed this action and got

two wide open threes for it. Next thing you know, David Adelman was taking DeAndre Jordan out of the game. Simple simple action, right ball screen. Christian Brown's not gonna switch DeAndre Jordan's on the ball. As we always talk about, if you run a traditional drop coverage in any way, shape or form high drop, low drop at the level in any way, you're going to concede a pick and pop three every single time. There's case On Wallace on

the pop bucket. Same exact thing on this next possession, and DeAndre Jordan got taken off the floor right after this go screen. Same exact thing two on the ball, pick and pop three bucket all right, Celtics knicks. I wanted to update you guys on a stat I talked about the difference in the shot quality in game one versus Game two. In Game one, the Celtics in the second half took twenty six guarded, catching sho and off

the dribble jump shots. They took only fifteen in the second half of Game two, and I thought most of them were really good looks, even though, like especially the off the dribble ones that they got. Derek White absolutely clean look at an off the dribble, three off of the left wing missed it. Jalen Brown right at the top of the key missed it. There were some really clean looks in there. I thought overall their shot selection

was better. But in this particular video, I'm gonna be focusing on one some of the ways that Boston's inability to shoot was becoming a problem for their ability to capitalize on the natural openings in New York's defense, and then two Jalen Brunson and the job that he did on defense, as well as Mitchell Robinson on the final sequence of possessions. So this is the example of the

pick and pop three. That happened late. Now, Horford had just gotten a wide open look out of the right corner here and he missed it.

this coverage against New York. This is a shot you have to take, and he just doesn't take it because he's, just like every other Celtic, completely lost confidence in his ability to knock down jump shots. He drives into Cat and again this isn't a bad look by any means. But this is a play where Cat's going to be much more impactful defensively than he was in that drop coverage. So, like that pick and pop three, you gotta take that again.

Like when it comes to Boston, I want Tatum and Brown to be working to generate shots closer to the basket so that they can draw more attention so that they can generate clean catch and shoots. But the pathway forward for Boston isn't stopped taking wide open catch and shoot threes. It stopped taking the bad ones and then work earlier in the clock to try to get good ones first. Jalen Brunson on defense, I thought this was an excellent possession. Watch the way he navigates the screen

first guard guard action switched on to Derek White. Now they're gonna bring Tatum up. Watch how he fights through the first screen, gets over the top a re screen, gets caught by that one. So now his next job is get inside position to prevent Tatum from having an inside seal. He fights and gets it inside position. Look at the work he does to fight Tatum physically to stop him from getting a catch deeper down here, he's literally hitting him like a football sled to fight him

into the catch further away from the basket. And then right here, like I get Tatum's read, I understand what he's thinking. He's thinking, Oh, like Josh Hart's in the gap. Josh Hart's in the gap. Therefore, I just take this easy kick out to Derek White. But there's seven seconds on the shot clock. I'd love to see Tatum at least try to back down Brunson a little bit more, because what you get is a semi contested three right

watch kick to Derek White. Hart gets a decent contest and it's a little bit more rushed.

Like Brunson again, like when you're talking about that work defensively, like Jalon Brunson knows he can't guard Jason Tatum necessarily, but what he can do is he can keep him in front and by doing that work to get that

inside position, fighting him further out. And then you know in Game one, in particularly, he at a couple of stops where he positioned himself in front of Tatum, so Tatum had to knock down a shot over the top instead of going through him, and you're going to see some examples later on in the video of him doing the exact same thing to Jalen Brown. This next clip is a botched coverage, a botched hedge and recover sequence

between Cat and Brunson. So Cat and Brunson end up guarding the action, and as you guys can see, Brunson goes hedge. They're gonna rescreen here, Brunson goes hedge and Kat goes switch, and so because they're not on the same page, there's a wide open three for Jalen Brunson here. But even if this was like a well defended hedge and recover, there's always a gap between the hedge and recover and the defender coming back because typically what Cat

would do here is as Brunson's hedging. Let's call this ojan and OBA. Let's pretend this is og. OG's gonna duck under this pick and try to pick Jaylen Brown up on the other side of the screen. But the only way he's gonna be able to do that is by leaving a gap between when Brunson leaves and when

Og recovers right or in this case, Cat recovers. So even though this one is particularly wide open, this is a shot that would be open against this coverage, just with a late close out from the guy coming underneath the screen. So once again, the hedge and recover has these natural openings. Not to mention, Derek White could slip out of it typically and get open. He just doesn't

because cat switches. But these natural openings that are appearing in these coverages, Boston is not making them pay for it, and that is putting them in the bad position of like, oh, we can't even capitalize on the normal stuff We've been cooking New York with every single game this season. Just that SHOT's not going in. The SHOT's not going in right now for the Celtics. One other thing I'll say, this is not Horford, this isn't this is a top

tier athlete in this league. Why not drive? There's nine on the shot clock. Why not just get downhill into the teeth of the defense. You might generate a wide open ketching shoot three, or for Drew Holliday here in the left corner. You might force Mitchell Robinson to step up and then McHale Bridges might have to dig down on Horford and you might generate a wide open catch and shoot for Tatum. You know there's at least a there's enough time on the clock to at least see

if New York makes a defensive mistake. But again, I don't hate that shot. Again, that's a wide open shot. I'm just saying like that's an example specifically with Tatum and Brown where if they were more reliable generating easy two's, that would be an advantage. Here is another successful hedge and recover from Jalen Brown or Jalen Brunson gets out on the hedge. Look at what the hedge makes Tatum do. Look at how this step, See how he uses his life foot Watch how Tatum has to use his left

foot to plant and go backwards with his momentum. That's what the hedge accomplishes. Drew's trying to screen Og. That gives Og an opportunity to recover and get back into position he does. Drew Holliday is in this light like in this pop here, but Jalen Brunson's in the passing lane. That's one of the things that you'll see like Tyrese Haliburton in particular do an amazing job of on his

hedge and recovers. Is like he'll hedge and as he's getting out, He'll be really high with his hands in that passing lane to make it so that the past the slipping, the slipping shooters just not open. And then one on one against og like these one on ones, Tatum's not beating him off the dribble. He's taking really tough over the top jump shots and if they go in, great, but if not, you know, there's nothing they can do. How about Jaylen Brunson getting a couple stops on an

island against Jaylen Brown. This is a tough one too. Look the way that. Look at how Drew Holliday's screen. We're gonna show a couple examples of this where the screening angles can change the drive. Drew Holliday's trying to screen on this like right side of the ball handler right that puts Brunson in the position. Look at where Brunson goes. Look at where Brunson had to lunge because he thinks Jalen Brown's coming that way. Next thing you know,

the screen is rejected. Watch the job Brunson does recovering and beating him to a spot here like that recovery athleticism with his foot speed boom, I can't beat him over here, but I can beat him over here, and he gets to that elbow. Now all of a sudden, it's a straight iso against a switch. And what's Jalen Brunson's job. He can't physically hang with Jalen Brown. Jalen Brown's gonna be able to bully him to something closer

at the basket. But at the very least, you stay in front, you wall up, and you make him make something over the top of you.

right again, I talked about this last night. Some of these hedges and drops are working because Boston is just decomposing as a jump shooting team. But if you switch, you run the at least the possibility of them doing something stupid and settling. Here, Jalen Brown's got Brunson on a switch with thirteen seconds on the shot clock, and this is the shot he gets. Starts with him containing the drive though right beats him to the spot, and then Jylen Brown is just gonna take this stupid ass

pull up. This is one of the bad shots at Boston. Take didn't take too many bad shots down the stretch, but that was one of them. But yeah, two big stops on an island against Jalen Brown. It's a huge deal.

he's gonna screen. Look at his shoulders are set. Horford's shoulders are set in a way that it looks like Tatum's gonna come off the screen this way right. But if you watch right at the last second, Horford goes nope, screen on the.

are completely turned, his hips are completely turned. That makes a very easy crossover to snake the pick and roll from Tatum snakes it. Kat's now dead to riots. He has no choice but the foul Tatum at the rim. Now let's take a look at what succeeded for Boston on this sequence. And then we'll talk about the adjustment. Oh, jannob backpedaling dealing with Tatum almost around half court, Horford

comes up and sets a screen. Tatum's got a full head of steam against Mitchell Robinson about ten to fifteen feet in front of him, and this is just too difficult to guard somebody in that type of situation. So I want you guys to see the adjustment. So Joe Mizula makes a bet. He goes, well, we just got Tatum a dunk by letting him run the length of the floor, so let's not burn this time out. Let's let him run the length of the floor, and New

York won't be set in their defense. Huge difference. Look where Og is Og just got burned because he got screened out here, and it created this massive runway that Tatum could attack. The adjustment is Og makes no attempt to pick Tatum up that far. They know the Horford screen is coming because it just worked. Look at how

they're sandwiching Horford. Mitchell Robinson is leaning on that right handed drive for Tatum, and Ognanobi's leaning on that left handed drive for Tatum, and if you watch them, they both just kind of sit on Horford. Look at this, they're doing it from the start of the possession. They're just sitting on Horford on either shoulder, basically being like, if he goes that way, you get him. If he goes that way, I'll get him. Like it's just like a like they're just waiting for that drive angle and

they're waiting further back. Instead of wiping out og And and Obi at half court and making it a one on one with a runway, now it's a one on two with a runway, and these two guys only have to worry about one direction. One guy having to worry about both directions with a head of steam is much harder then two guys each having to deal with just one direction drive while Tatum is like second guessing and not getting as much of ahead of a steam right, so

he gets going, has to Now his momentum's gone. Just the two of them being situated on both sides of the screener caused Tatum to hesitate. Now all of a sudden, he's lost all his moment to him, he should have just picked the direction and gone, but it is what it is. Then they decide to switch. Okay, so now that Tatum now that Tatum's lost his momentum. They trust Mitchell Robinson to be able to do the job. So Mitchell kind of gets a little out of position reaching,

but he's still in the play. Tatum crossover get gets Mitchell's stance open. Now he's got a driving angle. Mitch quickly turns his hips and makes a very similar move to what we talked about with Brunson. He wants to beat Tatum to a spot further back. This is where Tatum lost his control here. If he would have maintained his handle, he just lost control of the ball a little bit. If he would have maintained his handle, this

dribble got wide. If he'd have maintained his handle, he would have had a decent look at like a mid range pull up, like a little step back in here, but continues to turn. This is where it gets smart again with og. Og is reading the whole play. He sees Mitch is a little bit out of position, so he peels off a Horford to pick up Tatum and watch what Mitch does. Mitch switches into a box out of Horford, so Og is able to make it so that Tatum couldn't get into an easy little fading jump shot.

There he has to go wild with the one like fade away. And then the finish of the play, McHale bridges peels off of Jalen Brown and double teams and attacks the passing angle. Tatum reads it sees Brown open, but look at the pressure again. It's a lot easier to put two on the ball with active hands into like because even if this pass gets through, it's probably deflected. It's probably looping a buys Mitchell Robinson a chance to bail out and close out gets the deflection orces the turnover.