tommy
12-13-2011, 11:56 PM
I did this after the Ohio State game and some guys thought it was somewhat interesting, so I've done it again for the Washington game. If you guys continue to find it useful I’ll try to do it periodically but can’t do it for every game – too time consuming – especially as the games are played more frequently beginning in January. If nobody cares about it, then I won’t bother!
I've taken the whole game and broken down each defensive possession, this time whether or not it resulted in a Washington basket, in an attempt to get some real data on who is defending well and who poorly, and in what situations. Again, I acknowledge the inherent limitations of my "methods," including but not limited to the fact that team defense is a key part of what Duke does defensively and that is very difficult to quantify; that sometimes nobody is at fault on a particular play; sometimes the opponent just makes a good play or a lucky play; and many others. Of course a ton of possessions occur where a given player is not particularly involved defensively, or does nothing particularly positive or negative, so I don't note anything for that player for that possession. For example, many times a light screen is set by the opponent far outside, and, say, Tyler and Seth switch. I’m not counting that as a positive defensive play by either of them, because it was not in the context of the opponent forcing the action, the guys having to adjust and make quick decisions under pressure to protect the lane or the basket or prevent an open shot, etc. A lot of times guys move here or there, take different actions, and there’s nothing particularly positive or negative about it, so I don’t count those as anything.
I also know this is only one game, so it may be unwise to draw any particular conclusions from it.
I note anything that I saw upon replaying the game, and going back and forth over some plays over and over, anything that appeared to me to be positive - like solid ball pressure, a good hedge, good ball denial, good hands -- as well as the negative, like handling a screen/roll poorly, not closing out a shooter, losing your man in a 1 on 1 situation, not staying in front of your man, and more. That last one, staying in front of one’s man, has been an area of concern for many posters on this board. I abbreviate it in this thread as a “SIF” (for Stay in Front.) Sorry bout that one.
At the end, I will summarize what I found and try to (crudely, I admit) quantify it. I can tell you up front that (if you couldn’t tell from a more casual watch) a close review of the game reveals that this was a pretty good defensive performance by the Devils as a whole.
I've also developed some opinions about Tyler Thornton's performance at the offensive end, and wanted to try to see if my perceptions were backed up by a more detailed review of at least this game. I think I'll create another thread for that.
OK, as for the defense, here goes.
First half:
Time 1922: Thornton sticks his nose in as UW goes for defensive board, results in ball going off UW and back to us. Good defensive hustle play in the backcourt.
1852: Mason blocks 2 consecutive shots underneath. Tyler good help after the first block, bothered UW player into making weak second shot, making Mason's second block a lot easier.
1806: Thornton good wing pressure but he's too small to prevent easy entry pass
1756: 1 on 1 post, Austin challenges well, Mason comes over to provide good help and challenge
1734: Seth good pressure vs. UW mini-break, contributes to bad UW pass
1707: Rivers good SIF, fights through screen; Mason good hedge
1702: Ryan good challenge outside J
1659: Seth good help after UW offensive board, knocks it out of bounds. Good hustle play.
1654: Thornton knocked it out off UW offensive rebounder's hands, to Duke.
1634: Thornton loses his man 1-on-1 in halfcourt, leads to missed gimme by UW. Pick & roll - Mason switches onto Wroten - foul. Good play by Wroten.
1543: Austin good SIF vs. 1-on-1 move
1503: Miles great recovery from screen/roll, gets back into the lane, knocks entry pass away, should've been a turnover for us.
1447: Miles good battling for position in post, then good help on pick & roll, leads to turnover
1420: Wroten overpowers Rivers 1-on-1 to the hoop.
1315: Solid outside screen takes out Seth, Wroten splits past Mason; hoop. Good play by Wroten. Kid is a beast. Nobody’s “fault” here.
1238: Mason good help/hedge on hi screen/roll; Seth recovers, reaches in and knocks ball loose.
1217: Kelly, after switch, moves his feet to keep smaller man in front, but then loses Gant for easy J.
1200: Tyler draws offensive foul, pushing off outside, from Wroten.
1120: Miles good help on man coming off screen, forces pass back outside; then good close-out on another outside shooter.
1105: Tyler reaches in in backcourt as UW beginning its break; misses.
1056: Tyler good hustle to knock pass out of bounds in corner; good instincts.
1054: Tyler good pressure/bothering/disrupting flow of UW setting up its offense.
1050: Andre slow around screen leads to easy corner J that UW just airballed somehow.
1026: Miles, on switch, doesn't go for shot fake, stands ground strong.
1022: Austin good 1-on-1 SIF/pressure
1021: Miles a little lost/lazy outside on screen/roll, leads to 3 by Wroten.
956: Thornton beaten 1-on-1 off dribble; fouls.
935: Seth/Miles good aggressive double team as part of halfcourt pressure.
930: Seth good 1-on-1 SIF.
923: good UW screen/curl move beats Rivers - good play by UW.
859: Seth gets blown by on 1-on-1 to the hoop.
853: Thornton good reach-in from behind after trailing play into the lane; leads to scramble/jump ball. Good hustle - Tyler hits the floor.
822: Austin gets screened on out-of-bounds play, Mason doesn't react. Missed J.
759: Andre gets blown by in secondary break by Ross. Misses dunk.
738: Good interior passing by UW - we foul.
707: Good deep entry allowed by Miles playing too far under. UW missed an easy one here.
633: Tyler good SIF vs. pick/roll.
553: Tyler takes charge from Wroten on the break.
523: Tyler beaten to the hoop by Wroten, who misses the chippie.
452: Tyler good outside pressure. Miles good help for Tyler on the drive, causes a kickout. Then good challenge by Miles on the outside J.
359 Andre late/lazy through a screen. Wilcox nails the 3.
307: Tyler good fighting through screen, good contest on the J.
305: Mason misses blockout, offensive board for UW.
258: Andre trails over the screen, Ross gets into the lane; hoop. Nice play by UW.
228: Cook good pressure on outside, but then Gaddy makes move, gets enough separation for the J, which Quinn does contest. Good.
205: Ross strong individual move; Cook fouls him on 1-on-1 drive.
146: Pick/roll between Quinn and Mason's men - decent recovery by Quinn on roll but Ndiaye makes the play anyway, then several offensive boards and tips that are blown, Mason can't time his jump properly, finally ends up with a UW hoop.
105: Andre gets shot faked into the air; Wilcox hits the J.
027: Mason good outside pressure leads to steal.
012: Miles good hustle/transition D, then tips ball away from behind while chasing the play
009: Gbinije hustles on above loose ball, gets it to a jump ball. Turnover for us.
Halftime.
1927 Ryan good deny inside on the post
1919 Tyler beaten 1-on-1 outside by Gaddy’s crossover, leads to dunk when Ryan helps
1857 Ryan great fight around UW’s posting big man to intercept the entry pass
1827 Tyler good challenge of a pass in the backcourt; just being pesky
1817 Austin beaten around a screen, Ryan helps and blocks the shot on the drive
1813 Tyler loses his man around a screen on an inbounds play; bucket. Good play by Wilcox.
1747 Seth good denial on the wing.
1729 Ross beats Austin 1-on-1, goes to the hoop; bucket. Great move.
1710 UW on the break, Gaddy to the hoop, Thornton fouls him as he’s being driven by.
1708 Thornton fouls again off the inbounds play, this one an unnecessary hold 30’ from the hoop
1708 Good team pressure/denial on the inbounds; leads to bad pass and a Mason steal.
1653 Andre very good outside denial, pushed the receiver of the pass out to 40’ to catch
1650 Tyler good help for Andre on the drive, forces a kickout, then recovers well back to his own man
1648 Miles good help base as Thornton driven on, forces the kickout. Leads to Ross’s jumper but UW just had good ball movement here and deserves credit.
1559 Good team D forces tough jumper; we’re in good position for the board but Andre fumbles it, UW picks it up, Tyler fouls big man Gant on his lay-in for the and-one. This was an obvious push in the back, unlikely to stop Gant, and was Ty’s 4th foul, his third in the last 1:11 of game clock.
1537 Rivers good 1-on-1 vs Gaddy, good SIF
1532 Curry good SIF vs Wilcox, who walks
1403 Wroten right past Seth on a drive; bad SIF, but Miles great help at the rim and gets the block
1332 Ryan great outside pressure then blocks Wilcox’s J from 22’ away
1310 We go with ¾ court zone pressure, they break it, Mason is too passive at the back end. Easy runner in the lane by Wilcox.
1247 Defensive transition: mini break by UW. Mason loafs back, beaten down the court by his man, who catches in stride in the lane on the secondary break; layup attempt; foul on Ryan but this was Mason’s bad.
1221 Screen/roll, Miles good hedge but fouls. Not counting this “against” him.
1123 Mason helps Miles on the drive. Good help but Wilcox makes a good shot over him.
1047 Seth good ball pressure, forcing UW offense to initiate far out.
1043 Rivers good physicality 1-on-1.
1036 Miles can’t get around screen; Wilcox nails a 3.
959 Miles great help on a drive, gets shot block.
902 Kelly beaten 1-on-1 by Wilcox but Miles steps up and gets another shot block. He’s been a man all day on D.
749 Kelly good challenge on an outside J on a 1-on-1 move.
657 Mason good help for Ryan at the baseline; UW makes the shot anyway
609 Ross bangs a 3 over Mason on an outside 1-on-1 move
538 Tyler good ball denial on the wing
447 Poor team D – nobody guards Wroten on the catch, nobody steps up on his drive.
355 Miles good reach-in form behind as UW begins their break; knocks ball loose
343 Seth good SIF on Gaddy
333 Wroten takes Tyler to the hoop 1-on-1 and just overpowers him
248 Austin can’t stop Wroten’s 1-on-1 drive either. Fouls him out.
220 Gaddy drives past Dawkins 1-on-1, leads to dish and foul. That’s 3 in the last minute plus.
207 Quinn good ball pressure outside
159 Wilcox drives past Kelly 1-on-1 into the lane and to the hoop; bucket. Josh’s attempt at taking the charge is weak.
128 Wroten goes around Tyler and Mason, makes a circus wraparound shot.
058 Gaddy gets around Quinn, takes him to the hoop 1-on-1; bucket. Bad SIF.
053 Miles good hustling back to tip a long pass away and off UW; turnover for us.
035 Andre good help on our scrambling defense; Wilcox hits a good shot anyway.
So: here’s the way I summarize this, by player:
Rivers:
Good 1-on-1 challenge in post 1 occurrence
Good SIF 4 occurrences
Fight through screen 1 occurence
Overpowered and/or beaten 1-on-1 drive to hoop 3 occurrences
Thornton:
Aggressive hustle play 2 occurrences
General peskiness and disruption/good hands 5
Good wing pressure/denial 3
Too small and/or overpowered to the hoop 2
Beaten or loses man on 1-on-1 4
Loses man around screen 1
Draws charge 2
Good SIF vs pick/roll 2
Good contest vs. jumper 1
Unnecessary/bad foul 2
Good help and recover 1
Curry:
General peskiness and disruption/good hands 3
Good recovery on screen/roll; knocks ball away 1
Part of aggressive doubleteam 1
Good 1-on-1 SIF 3
Gets blown by 1-on-1 to hoop; poor SIF 2
Good denial on the wing 1
Mason:
Good help teammate in post/challenge 3
Blocked shots 2
Good hedge 2
Failure to get out on shooter after guard screened off 1
Missed blockout 1
Good ball pressure on outside 1
Passive at back end of zone press 1
Transition: Loafs back on defense, beaten down court for layup 1
Kelly:
Good challenge to jump shooter 2
Good SIF 1
Lose sight/concentration of man 1
Good deny inside post man 2
Good help in lane vs. drive against beaten teammate 1
Blocked shot 2
Good outside pressure 1
Beaten to the hoop 1-on-1; bad SIF 2
Miles:
Hedge/recovery/knock ball away 1
Strong fight for inside position 1
Good help on screen/roll 2
Good closeout/challenge on outside shooter 2
Stands ground vs good shot fake 1
Lost/lazy on screen/roll 1
Failure to get around screen 1
Part of aggressive doubleteam 1
Allows too-deep post position 1
Good help in lane or on baseline vs. drive against beaten teammate 5
Hustle back/tip ball in transition 3
Blocked shot at the rim 3
Dawkins:
Slow getting around screen 2
Failure to SIF 2
Goes for shot fake, leaves feet 1
Good wing denial 1
Good help/recovery 1
Cook:
Good ball pressure on outside 2
Contest outside J 1
Beaten to the hoop 1-on-1; bad SIF 1
Hairston:
Weak/late attempt to take charge 1
Gbinije:
Hustle on loose ball 1
OK so what do those numbers tell us, at least about this game? It’s a very crude way to evaluate performance, just by counting and cataloguing the positive and negative defensive plays. But to me, it at least suggests the following:
Austin did a pretty good job of manning up his guy in this game. He had 5 instances where he was being directly challenged by his guy, off the dribble, and kept him in front nicely, including once where he fought through a screen well. On 3 other occasions he was beaten into the lane by his guy.
Tyler Thornton is involved a lot defensively. He is pesky, he bothers, he puts his nose in there, and he hustles. He can move his feet. He pressures the ball and can deny on the wing. He can draw charges, usually by bothering his opponent to the point that he lashes out and Tyler is tough enough to stand in there and take it. But he also gets beaten an awful lot. He was beaten or lost his man on the way to the hoop six times in 30 minutes of action. He was simply outsized and/or overpowered twice. He made two dumb fouls, including his 4th, which kept him out of action for a good chunk of the second half. We definitely get a mixed bag from Tyler defensively.
Seth may not be getting enough credit for the defense he plays, if this game is typical of his performance. He is disruptive, and actually moved his feet pretty well against dribble penetration. He got beaten a couple of times too, but he generally was pretty aggressive and made a lot more positive plays on defense than he did negative ones.
Mason’s defensive game was hot and cold. He can be really good in help situations, hedging well, challenging shots inside and out, including actually blocking them. He had some trouble in non-halfcourt situations, including in transition and handling his responsibilities at the back of the press.
Ryan, true to his reputation, made very few mistakes. He has proven to be a versatile defender, challenging jump shooters while also denying post players their position, and helping teammates in the lane. Sure, he was beaten to the hoop a couple of times when he couldn’t get the puppies moving quite fast enough, but overall, his defense was pretty solid.
The defensive star of the game, IMO, was clearly Miles Plumlee. Dude came to play. He fought hard inside; he challenged jump shooters; he played smart on doubleteam situations; he provided great help for beaten teammates all day long; he protected the rim with at least 3 blocked shots. But my favorite part of watching him was the hustle he showed when we were in transition defense. On three separate occasions he hustled his butt off and was able to make up ground and knock the ball away from the UW player either from behind on the dribble or knock a pass away as it flew towards a UW player for what would have been an easy layup. I don’t know how many points Miles’s defensive skills, effort, and smarts saved us on Saturday, but it was a lot.
Andre Dawkins, for the team-leading 32 minutes he played, didn’t have much impact on defense. I only noted 7 plays that he really had much to do with. Unfortunately, five of them would have to be deemed negative. His main problems were getting around screens and keeping his man in front. He didn’t provide a lot of help for others, didn’t have his hands on many balls, didn’t have many notable challenges to shooters. He was kinda just out there doing OK, nothing special, but getting beaten periodically.
Quinn Cook played limited minutes, though he was in there at crunch time by necessity. Defensively, Quinn played well, with three of the four plays I noted being positive ones. I like his ball pressure and he seems willing to stick his nose in there too.
Josh and Mike G didn’t get enough PT to say anything meaningful about their performances.
OK, that’s my submission for longest-post-of-the-year. Of course, all feedback, suggestions for improvement on my methods, etc, are welcome.
I've taken the whole game and broken down each defensive possession, this time whether or not it resulted in a Washington basket, in an attempt to get some real data on who is defending well and who poorly, and in what situations. Again, I acknowledge the inherent limitations of my "methods," including but not limited to the fact that team defense is a key part of what Duke does defensively and that is very difficult to quantify; that sometimes nobody is at fault on a particular play; sometimes the opponent just makes a good play or a lucky play; and many others. Of course a ton of possessions occur where a given player is not particularly involved defensively, or does nothing particularly positive or negative, so I don't note anything for that player for that possession. For example, many times a light screen is set by the opponent far outside, and, say, Tyler and Seth switch. I’m not counting that as a positive defensive play by either of them, because it was not in the context of the opponent forcing the action, the guys having to adjust and make quick decisions under pressure to protect the lane or the basket or prevent an open shot, etc. A lot of times guys move here or there, take different actions, and there’s nothing particularly positive or negative about it, so I don’t count those as anything.
I also know this is only one game, so it may be unwise to draw any particular conclusions from it.
I note anything that I saw upon replaying the game, and going back and forth over some plays over and over, anything that appeared to me to be positive - like solid ball pressure, a good hedge, good ball denial, good hands -- as well as the negative, like handling a screen/roll poorly, not closing out a shooter, losing your man in a 1 on 1 situation, not staying in front of your man, and more. That last one, staying in front of one’s man, has been an area of concern for many posters on this board. I abbreviate it in this thread as a “SIF” (for Stay in Front.) Sorry bout that one.
At the end, I will summarize what I found and try to (crudely, I admit) quantify it. I can tell you up front that (if you couldn’t tell from a more casual watch) a close review of the game reveals that this was a pretty good defensive performance by the Devils as a whole.
I've also developed some opinions about Tyler Thornton's performance at the offensive end, and wanted to try to see if my perceptions were backed up by a more detailed review of at least this game. I think I'll create another thread for that.
OK, as for the defense, here goes.
First half:
Time 1922: Thornton sticks his nose in as UW goes for defensive board, results in ball going off UW and back to us. Good defensive hustle play in the backcourt.
1852: Mason blocks 2 consecutive shots underneath. Tyler good help after the first block, bothered UW player into making weak second shot, making Mason's second block a lot easier.
1806: Thornton good wing pressure but he's too small to prevent easy entry pass
1756: 1 on 1 post, Austin challenges well, Mason comes over to provide good help and challenge
1734: Seth good pressure vs. UW mini-break, contributes to bad UW pass
1707: Rivers good SIF, fights through screen; Mason good hedge
1702: Ryan good challenge outside J
1659: Seth good help after UW offensive board, knocks it out of bounds. Good hustle play.
1654: Thornton knocked it out off UW offensive rebounder's hands, to Duke.
1634: Thornton loses his man 1-on-1 in halfcourt, leads to missed gimme by UW. Pick & roll - Mason switches onto Wroten - foul. Good play by Wroten.
1543: Austin good SIF vs. 1-on-1 move
1503: Miles great recovery from screen/roll, gets back into the lane, knocks entry pass away, should've been a turnover for us.
1447: Miles good battling for position in post, then good help on pick & roll, leads to turnover
1420: Wroten overpowers Rivers 1-on-1 to the hoop.
1315: Solid outside screen takes out Seth, Wroten splits past Mason; hoop. Good play by Wroten. Kid is a beast. Nobody’s “fault” here.
1238: Mason good help/hedge on hi screen/roll; Seth recovers, reaches in and knocks ball loose.
1217: Kelly, after switch, moves his feet to keep smaller man in front, but then loses Gant for easy J.
1200: Tyler draws offensive foul, pushing off outside, from Wroten.
1120: Miles good help on man coming off screen, forces pass back outside; then good close-out on another outside shooter.
1105: Tyler reaches in in backcourt as UW beginning its break; misses.
1056: Tyler good hustle to knock pass out of bounds in corner; good instincts.
1054: Tyler good pressure/bothering/disrupting flow of UW setting up its offense.
1050: Andre slow around screen leads to easy corner J that UW just airballed somehow.
1026: Miles, on switch, doesn't go for shot fake, stands ground strong.
1022: Austin good 1-on-1 SIF/pressure
1021: Miles a little lost/lazy outside on screen/roll, leads to 3 by Wroten.
956: Thornton beaten 1-on-1 off dribble; fouls.
935: Seth/Miles good aggressive double team as part of halfcourt pressure.
930: Seth good 1-on-1 SIF.
923: good UW screen/curl move beats Rivers - good play by UW.
859: Seth gets blown by on 1-on-1 to the hoop.
853: Thornton good reach-in from behind after trailing play into the lane; leads to scramble/jump ball. Good hustle - Tyler hits the floor.
822: Austin gets screened on out-of-bounds play, Mason doesn't react. Missed J.
759: Andre gets blown by in secondary break by Ross. Misses dunk.
738: Good interior passing by UW - we foul.
707: Good deep entry allowed by Miles playing too far under. UW missed an easy one here.
633: Tyler good SIF vs. pick/roll.
553: Tyler takes charge from Wroten on the break.
523: Tyler beaten to the hoop by Wroten, who misses the chippie.
452: Tyler good outside pressure. Miles good help for Tyler on the drive, causes a kickout. Then good challenge by Miles on the outside J.
359 Andre late/lazy through a screen. Wilcox nails the 3.
307: Tyler good fighting through screen, good contest on the J.
305: Mason misses blockout, offensive board for UW.
258: Andre trails over the screen, Ross gets into the lane; hoop. Nice play by UW.
228: Cook good pressure on outside, but then Gaddy makes move, gets enough separation for the J, which Quinn does contest. Good.
205: Ross strong individual move; Cook fouls him on 1-on-1 drive.
146: Pick/roll between Quinn and Mason's men - decent recovery by Quinn on roll but Ndiaye makes the play anyway, then several offensive boards and tips that are blown, Mason can't time his jump properly, finally ends up with a UW hoop.
105: Andre gets shot faked into the air; Wilcox hits the J.
027: Mason good outside pressure leads to steal.
012: Miles good hustle/transition D, then tips ball away from behind while chasing the play
009: Gbinije hustles on above loose ball, gets it to a jump ball. Turnover for us.
Halftime.
1927 Ryan good deny inside on the post
1919 Tyler beaten 1-on-1 outside by Gaddy’s crossover, leads to dunk when Ryan helps
1857 Ryan great fight around UW’s posting big man to intercept the entry pass
1827 Tyler good challenge of a pass in the backcourt; just being pesky
1817 Austin beaten around a screen, Ryan helps and blocks the shot on the drive
1813 Tyler loses his man around a screen on an inbounds play; bucket. Good play by Wilcox.
1747 Seth good denial on the wing.
1729 Ross beats Austin 1-on-1, goes to the hoop; bucket. Great move.
1710 UW on the break, Gaddy to the hoop, Thornton fouls him as he’s being driven by.
1708 Thornton fouls again off the inbounds play, this one an unnecessary hold 30’ from the hoop
1708 Good team pressure/denial on the inbounds; leads to bad pass and a Mason steal.
1653 Andre very good outside denial, pushed the receiver of the pass out to 40’ to catch
1650 Tyler good help for Andre on the drive, forces a kickout, then recovers well back to his own man
1648 Miles good help base as Thornton driven on, forces the kickout. Leads to Ross’s jumper but UW just had good ball movement here and deserves credit.
1559 Good team D forces tough jumper; we’re in good position for the board but Andre fumbles it, UW picks it up, Tyler fouls big man Gant on his lay-in for the and-one. This was an obvious push in the back, unlikely to stop Gant, and was Ty’s 4th foul, his third in the last 1:11 of game clock.
1537 Rivers good 1-on-1 vs Gaddy, good SIF
1532 Curry good SIF vs Wilcox, who walks
1403 Wroten right past Seth on a drive; bad SIF, but Miles great help at the rim and gets the block
1332 Ryan great outside pressure then blocks Wilcox’s J from 22’ away
1310 We go with ¾ court zone pressure, they break it, Mason is too passive at the back end. Easy runner in the lane by Wilcox.
1247 Defensive transition: mini break by UW. Mason loafs back, beaten down the court by his man, who catches in stride in the lane on the secondary break; layup attempt; foul on Ryan but this was Mason’s bad.
1221 Screen/roll, Miles good hedge but fouls. Not counting this “against” him.
1123 Mason helps Miles on the drive. Good help but Wilcox makes a good shot over him.
1047 Seth good ball pressure, forcing UW offense to initiate far out.
1043 Rivers good physicality 1-on-1.
1036 Miles can’t get around screen; Wilcox nails a 3.
959 Miles great help on a drive, gets shot block.
902 Kelly beaten 1-on-1 by Wilcox but Miles steps up and gets another shot block. He’s been a man all day on D.
749 Kelly good challenge on an outside J on a 1-on-1 move.
657 Mason good help for Ryan at the baseline; UW makes the shot anyway
609 Ross bangs a 3 over Mason on an outside 1-on-1 move
538 Tyler good ball denial on the wing
447 Poor team D – nobody guards Wroten on the catch, nobody steps up on his drive.
355 Miles good reach-in form behind as UW begins their break; knocks ball loose
343 Seth good SIF on Gaddy
333 Wroten takes Tyler to the hoop 1-on-1 and just overpowers him
248 Austin can’t stop Wroten’s 1-on-1 drive either. Fouls him out.
220 Gaddy drives past Dawkins 1-on-1, leads to dish and foul. That’s 3 in the last minute plus.
207 Quinn good ball pressure outside
159 Wilcox drives past Kelly 1-on-1 into the lane and to the hoop; bucket. Josh’s attempt at taking the charge is weak.
128 Wroten goes around Tyler and Mason, makes a circus wraparound shot.
058 Gaddy gets around Quinn, takes him to the hoop 1-on-1; bucket. Bad SIF.
053 Miles good hustling back to tip a long pass away and off UW; turnover for us.
035 Andre good help on our scrambling defense; Wilcox hits a good shot anyway.
So: here’s the way I summarize this, by player:
Rivers:
Good 1-on-1 challenge in post 1 occurrence
Good SIF 4 occurrences
Fight through screen 1 occurence
Overpowered and/or beaten 1-on-1 drive to hoop 3 occurrences
Thornton:
Aggressive hustle play 2 occurrences
General peskiness and disruption/good hands 5
Good wing pressure/denial 3
Too small and/or overpowered to the hoop 2
Beaten or loses man on 1-on-1 4
Loses man around screen 1
Draws charge 2
Good SIF vs pick/roll 2
Good contest vs. jumper 1
Unnecessary/bad foul 2
Good help and recover 1
Curry:
General peskiness and disruption/good hands 3
Good recovery on screen/roll; knocks ball away 1
Part of aggressive doubleteam 1
Good 1-on-1 SIF 3
Gets blown by 1-on-1 to hoop; poor SIF 2
Good denial on the wing 1
Mason:
Good help teammate in post/challenge 3
Blocked shots 2
Good hedge 2
Failure to get out on shooter after guard screened off 1
Missed blockout 1
Good ball pressure on outside 1
Passive at back end of zone press 1
Transition: Loafs back on defense, beaten down court for layup 1
Kelly:
Good challenge to jump shooter 2
Good SIF 1
Lose sight/concentration of man 1
Good deny inside post man 2
Good help in lane vs. drive against beaten teammate 1
Blocked shot 2
Good outside pressure 1
Beaten to the hoop 1-on-1; bad SIF 2
Miles:
Hedge/recovery/knock ball away 1
Strong fight for inside position 1
Good help on screen/roll 2
Good closeout/challenge on outside shooter 2
Stands ground vs good shot fake 1
Lost/lazy on screen/roll 1
Failure to get around screen 1
Part of aggressive doubleteam 1
Allows too-deep post position 1
Good help in lane or on baseline vs. drive against beaten teammate 5
Hustle back/tip ball in transition 3
Blocked shot at the rim 3
Dawkins:
Slow getting around screen 2
Failure to SIF 2
Goes for shot fake, leaves feet 1
Good wing denial 1
Good help/recovery 1
Cook:
Good ball pressure on outside 2
Contest outside J 1
Beaten to the hoop 1-on-1; bad SIF 1
Hairston:
Weak/late attempt to take charge 1
Gbinije:
Hustle on loose ball 1
OK so what do those numbers tell us, at least about this game? It’s a very crude way to evaluate performance, just by counting and cataloguing the positive and negative defensive plays. But to me, it at least suggests the following:
Austin did a pretty good job of manning up his guy in this game. He had 5 instances where he was being directly challenged by his guy, off the dribble, and kept him in front nicely, including once where he fought through a screen well. On 3 other occasions he was beaten into the lane by his guy.
Tyler Thornton is involved a lot defensively. He is pesky, he bothers, he puts his nose in there, and he hustles. He can move his feet. He pressures the ball and can deny on the wing. He can draw charges, usually by bothering his opponent to the point that he lashes out and Tyler is tough enough to stand in there and take it. But he also gets beaten an awful lot. He was beaten or lost his man on the way to the hoop six times in 30 minutes of action. He was simply outsized and/or overpowered twice. He made two dumb fouls, including his 4th, which kept him out of action for a good chunk of the second half. We definitely get a mixed bag from Tyler defensively.
Seth may not be getting enough credit for the defense he plays, if this game is typical of his performance. He is disruptive, and actually moved his feet pretty well against dribble penetration. He got beaten a couple of times too, but he generally was pretty aggressive and made a lot more positive plays on defense than he did negative ones.
Mason’s defensive game was hot and cold. He can be really good in help situations, hedging well, challenging shots inside and out, including actually blocking them. He had some trouble in non-halfcourt situations, including in transition and handling his responsibilities at the back of the press.
Ryan, true to his reputation, made very few mistakes. He has proven to be a versatile defender, challenging jump shooters while also denying post players their position, and helping teammates in the lane. Sure, he was beaten to the hoop a couple of times when he couldn’t get the puppies moving quite fast enough, but overall, his defense was pretty solid.
The defensive star of the game, IMO, was clearly Miles Plumlee. Dude came to play. He fought hard inside; he challenged jump shooters; he played smart on doubleteam situations; he provided great help for beaten teammates all day long; he protected the rim with at least 3 blocked shots. But my favorite part of watching him was the hustle he showed when we were in transition defense. On three separate occasions he hustled his butt off and was able to make up ground and knock the ball away from the UW player either from behind on the dribble or knock a pass away as it flew towards a UW player for what would have been an easy layup. I don’t know how many points Miles’s defensive skills, effort, and smarts saved us on Saturday, but it was a lot.
Andre Dawkins, for the team-leading 32 minutes he played, didn’t have much impact on defense. I only noted 7 plays that he really had much to do with. Unfortunately, five of them would have to be deemed negative. His main problems were getting around screens and keeping his man in front. He didn’t provide a lot of help for others, didn’t have his hands on many balls, didn’t have many notable challenges to shooters. He was kinda just out there doing OK, nothing special, but getting beaten periodically.
Quinn Cook played limited minutes, though he was in there at crunch time by necessity. Defensively, Quinn played well, with three of the four plays I noted being positive ones. I like his ball pressure and he seems willing to stick his nose in there too.
Josh and Mike G didn’t get enough PT to say anything meaningful about their performances.
OK, that’s my submission for longest-post-of-the-year. Of course, all feedback, suggestions for improvement on my methods, etc, are welcome.