Our (Belated) Defense vs. BC

[tommy]

Not much to say at this point about that game, especially as our attention is focused on Tallahassee and tomorrow night's game. I just got to watch BC tonight and even discounting for the fact that I knew the outcome of course, it was kind of a bore (for a Duke game, that is), wasn't it? That atmosphere just seemed completely dead, and BC pretty much stunk. I mean, to get a grand total of two offensive rebounds in an entire game? Two? To make only 15 field goals all day? Especially when you scored hoops on your first five possessions? Only 10 more the rest of the day? And as has been discussed ad infinitum on these boards, Duke is no defensive juggernaut.

Sure, we played well defensively, and the numbers look great, but I didn't see "stifling," "suffocating," and those sorts of things happening. We did pretty well staying with our men on drives, we switched and hedged and helped and played team defensive appropriately and effectively, but there was very little in the way of a real challenge to our defense coming from BC. They seemed to be pretty passive -- or maybe it just seemed that way cuz they didn't have the skills to challenge us.

How on earth did that team beat FSU???

The overall defensive rating for the team was very good, at 76.9 -- by far the best since I've been charting -- and Austin Rivers graded out the best, at 70.4. That's a large margin to beat your team average by. Very large. But just about everybody had a good number (even Andre with a 77.5) with the exception of Miles Plumlee at 93.9. In most games this year, a number like that would lead our team, or come close to it, but not on this day. Miles gave up 5 hoops and another 5 free throws. That's 15 of their 50 points. I think he can be forgiven though.

The stop percentages below look great for most guys, and for the team, too, with a couple of sort-of-surprising exceptions as you'll see. But I think Tyler's numbers got hurt by the fact that he started, so he was in for BC scoring 5 hoops in their first 5 possessions, but then didn't play all that much in the rest of the game, so didn't have enough additional possessions to offset the bad start the team had.

Wouldn't it nice to be posting these kinds of numbers game-in-and-game out? Life would be good.




Stops
Hoops
Stop%


Curry
29
13
69%


Rivers
39
14
74%


Dawkins
29
15
66%


Mason
15
11
58%


Thornton
10
12
45%


Kelly
33
17
66%


Miles
25
15
63%


Cook
13
11
54%


Gbinije
6
7
46%


Hairston
10
5
67%


TEAM
42
24
64%

[Kedsy]

The stop percentages below look great for most guys, and for the team, too, with a couple of sort-of-surprising exceptions as you'll see. But I think Tyler's numbers got hurt by the fact that he started, so he was in for BC scoring 5 hoops in their first 5 possessions, but then didn't play all that much in the rest of the game, so didn't have enough additional possessions to offset the bad start the team had.




Stops
Hoops
Stop%


Thornton
10
12
45%


Cook
13
11
54%


Gbinije
6
7
46%


TEAM
42
24
64%



You explain Tyler's outlier in the stop chart, and I know all of Michael's minutes came in garbage time, but his stop number, and Quinn's too, are a bit of a disappointment against an overmatched BC.

[superdave]

You explain Tyler's outlier in the stop chart, and I know all of Michael's minutes came in garbage time, but his stop number, and Quinn's too, are a bit of a disappointment against an overmatched BC.

One thing I noticed from the BC game was that Quinn and Tyler were both attempting to play ball denial D on BC's point guard, Jordan Daniels (I think that's the guy). They picked him up full court and forced someone else to bring the ball up and initiate the offense. So they were concentrating on that effort as opposed to other defensive aspects.

[Kedsy]

One thing I noticed from the BC game was that Quinn and Tyler were both attempting to play ball denial D on BC's point guard, Jordan Daniels (I think that's the guy). They picked him up full court and forced someone else to bring the ball up and initiate the offense. So they were concentrating on that effort as opposed to other defensive aspects.

Stop percentage isn't an individual statistic. It's how often the defensive possession ended in a stop while you were on the floor. So, if your explanation is correct, it was either a strategy fail or a team execution fail while the player(s) in question were in the game.

[superdave]

Stop percentage isn't an individual statistic. It's how often the defensive possession ended in a stop while you were on the floor. So, if your explanation is correct, it was either a strategy fail or a team execution fail while the player(s) in question were in the game.

If those guys were playing ball denial in order to get BC out if its offensive sets, the tradeoff would be Quinn and Tyler's ability to help on D. It essentially turns the game into 4 on 4 on one end of the court. I dont know the wisdom of that strategy vs. a weak point guard, but could see it paying off for stretches against a more elite point like Kendall Marshall.

I did think we rotated well against BC. Their 10 field goals over the last 30+ minutes was pretty sorry, and may have made us look better than we actually were. They missed a lot of shots in the paint.

[Kedsy]

If those guys were playing ball denial in order to get BC out if its offensive sets, the tradeoff would be Quinn and Tyler's ability to help on D. It essentially turns the game into 4 on 4 on one end of the court. I dont know the wisdom of that strategy vs. a weak point guard, but could see it paying off for stretches against a more elite point like Kendall Marshall.

If you're right about the strategy employed, the team played poor defense while we did it. If it didn't work against BC, it's hard to see it working against UNC.

[nocilla]

If you're right about the strategy employed, the team played poor defense while we did it. If it didn't work against BC, it's hard to see it working against UNC.

Or maybe Marshall is a lot more important to UNC's offense than Daniels is to BC's.

[superdave]

Or maybe Marshall is a lot more important to UNC's offense than Daniels is to BC's.

That was my point. But on the other hand Unc has a lot more capability to kill us at all the other positions if we have one guy not playing help D. I'd have to go back and look because I dont remember, but Quinn and Tyler could have just been playing deny when the ball was in the backcourt.

I think the key vs. FSU will be to rebound. They dont shoot particularly well so we need to limit 2nd chance points and we'll be alright.