Zach Lowe wrote:The Clippers will pose a serious threat as long as they defend with the ferocity they showed in blowing away San Antonio in Game 1. The Clippers fly around in a hyperaggressive defensive scheme, and the Spurs, after 12 Finals games against the Heat, are well versed in passing over and around frenzy. That has been the fear for the Clippers — that San Antonio is just too good at coaxing that first rotation out, and then whipping the ball around the floor, one step ahead of a scrambling defense, until they find an open 3-pointer or a shot at the rim. Other teams have to adjust for the Clippers’ system. The Spurs offense is built for it.
While they improved as the season went on, the Clippers finished 15th in points allowed per possession and followed the same trajectory last season before looking helpless against Golden State and Oklahoma City in the playoffs. But they showed up, big time, on defense in Game 1. The Spurs missed a bunch of open shots and free throws, but some of those open shots weren’t as good in reality as they look in the SportVU data now. The Clips cut San Antonio off at that path more times than not.
San Antonio’s bread and butter against L.A. is simple: Run a side pick-and-roll that draws a trap, and ping the ball ahead of the Clippers’ frantic rotations behind that trap. The pick-and-roll itself isn’t an endgame. It’s just a tasty piece of bait designed to lure two Clippers onto one Spur.
The Clippers were up to the challenge more often in Game 1 than in perhaps any meaningful game between these two rosters at full strength. Watch all five Clippers shift around the floor, in perfect synchronization, to snuff out two straight pick-and-rolls:
Zach Lowe wrote:The Spurs went just 13-of-33 on uncontested shots, per SportVU data. But the Clippers were good enough to shift the possession-by-possession odds in their favor, and they’ve rarely managed that against the Spurs’ beautiful machine. There is a long way to go, and both coaches will make a ton of adjustments — starting with the Spurs’ coverage of Paul, who just eviscerated Parker. The Spurs could switch on Paul pick-and-rolls a bit more often, something they’ve done in prior matchups, or stick one of Green or Leonard on Paul almost from the opening tip.
The Clippers were prepared for that, and had some plays specifically designed to help Paul evade Leonard’s octopus arms.3 Redick isn’t a fun hiding place for Parker, since anyone guarding Redick has to run around a lot, and Barnes might be able to hurt Parker a bit in the post.
San Antonio could try going small whenever Jordan or Griffin is out of the game, and the Spurs will clean up their transition defense after the Clips caught them napping a few times in Game 1. Diaw should be primed after the Clippers (smartly) ignored him as a spot-up threat, daring Diaw to beat them from the outside. We haven’t seen the last of Hack-a-Jordan, and Popovich didn’t really optimize it in Game 1.4
All of that stuff matters. But as long as the Clippers defense can make San Antonio fall back on fourth and fifth options, the Clips have a real chance to send the champs packing early.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-l ... s-dynasty/
It includes a few youtube clips and explanations of what was working for our defense in those clips, and what can we realistically keep doing for it to work.
