"That won't work when Playoffs come..."

[knownastron]

Where is the basis for a comment like this?

You all know what this refers to, the Sun's run and gun style, pick and roll players etc.

Does something actually change when playoffs come around? All of a sudden teams play differently? Does this mean the run and gun Suns beat the Lakers in regular season, but once playoffs come, something changes with the Lakers and they win? I often hear that the game is slowed down in the playoffs, is there truth in this?

People always talk like teams that make the playoffs all of a sudden play a whole different style of basketball.

Please discuss.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Teams slow down the pace in the playoffs. And teammates who don't generally care about the regular season tend to step up during the playoffs (well, at least you hope they do). But last year in the WCF, you could see that the Suns still played a run and gun style by yes, watching the games but actually looking at the scores. The playoffs in the East was at a much slower pace then in the West. During the Finals, the Celtics and Lakers games were pure defense.

[CowsMoo]

From the article Debunking Playoff Myths:

"Truth: Pace slows way down. How better to explain why high-octane teams like the Suns and the millennial Kings failed to win championships? Last year, teams averaged 94.1 possessions per 48 minutes in the regular season but a measly 91.1 come playoff time. Put another way, the average possession lasted .6 of a second longer, going from 15.3 seconds to 15.9. That may not seem like more than an eyeblink, but it's the difference between playing at an average pace (like the Lakers or Mavs do) and playing at the league's slowest tempo (this year, that honor belongs to the Blazers).

The reason for the downshift is fairly obvious. Call it an issue of control. "We can play at the pace we want to," Gentry says, "but our opponent can slow down the game at his end." Foes may not have the same kind of commitment on a random Tuesday night in January, but in the postseason, with elimination on the line, you'd better believe teams will do all they can to take away the Suns' Steve Nash-fueled transition game.

The tempo slowdown more than offsets the postseason's increase in offensive efficiency, which is why so many analysts mistakenly believe defense improves. And there you have it. Even when truth is revealed in the NBA, another misrepresenting myth lurks around the corner."


-Hollinger, May 17 2010 issue of ESPN The Magazine

[Doctor MJ]

Where is the basis for a comment like this?

You all know what this refers to, the Sun's run and gun style, pick and roll players etc.

Does something actually change when playoffs come around? All of a sudden teams play differently? Does this mean the run and gun Suns beat the Lakers in regular season, but once playoffs come, something changes with the Lakers and they win? I often hear that the game is slowed down in the playoffs, is there truth in this?

People always talk like teams that make the playoffs all of a sudden play a whole different style of basketball.

Please discuss.

It's a mixture of truth and bad assumption. The playoffs does tend to be more physical, and defensive teams are indeed more likely to pull an upset than offensive teams are.

With that said, people have been saying the Suns can't win in the playoffs since before their first playoff of the Nash era. What's happened? There's been no obvious statistical trend of their offense doing worse in the playoffs, and the two times they got "upset", they were playing a Spurs team that wasn't really an underdog (close record, injuries during regular season, and Spurs won the regular season matchup).

In the end, people want simple answers to complex problems, and so they use small sample size to assume an inevitability that isn't real.

[Soupman]

teams play better defense in the playoffs. Teams gameplan (via tape,scouting etc) thier competitor's style of play and matchups based on size,speed,hieght etc. Coaches get more time to gameplan and scout so they tend to perform better defense because of that. They can simply take away things you are good at or force you into uncomfortable situations.

[INKtastic]

part of the reason is the game slows down (see the post above) and teams play better defense in general (i.e. they don't take plays offs), but a larger reason is teams have more time to prepare for their opponent. i.e. if you play a team in the regular season, it could be your 4th game in 5 nights, you're pretty much just going to play your normal game. Meet that same team in the playoffs and you can make significant adjustments specific for that opponent.