Let's talk defense

by Engineering Problem on Jan 18, 2008 8:01 PM PST

Ask most fans and pundits what the keys to the Blazer resurgence are and you'll likely hear teamwork and shooting. Fair enough, but what about the defense? One measure of defense is "points per shot" allowed. This is a measure of straight up D; i.e. how easily teams score when they don't turn it over. Amazingly, the Blazers are 2nd to Boston in this category. What makes this even more remarkable is that opponents are relatively free of pressure (we're last in steals by a large margin) and don't have to concentrate on offensive rebounding (we're bad on the defensive glass). Portland plays a relatively small team that doesn't bang.

Watching the Blazers, they don't have the "look" of a great defensive team. Some of this is attributable to Nate's "stay at home" philosophy, which doesn't generate turnovers from the opposition. Hard to argue with the effectiveness, despite the lack of fastbreak points. Those who advocate a pressure defense should realize the strong position we'd be giving up.

I'll confess, I can't figure out how a young, small team of shooters can be effective at forcing teams to be so incredibly inefficient with their possessions. Does anyone with more knowledge have a theory on this?

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I think you're right, it's just real simple:

We're staying in front of our man. You give someone an open jumper or path to the hoop, and they'll shoot 80%.

Put a hand in their face, change their approach to the hoop, and it drops below 30%.

Do a halfway decent job of blocking out, and you're on your way.

I think the various zones we rely on have helped the guys who were having trouble with switching. By giving them "rules" for guarding cutters, they haven't been leaving guys alone on the perimeter the way they were at the beginning of the season.

I agree that the strength of this team has been their defense. It isn't flashy, and we aren't picking off passes and generating steals, but we're forcing teams to take contested shots. I'd much rather have that than a lot of steals, because every steal is a gamble. You miss, someone gets an open look at the hoop.

It's pretty much the way Nate played the game.

Except he did it in short-shorts.

by webted on Jan 18, 2008 8:30 PM PST reply actions

no one uses zone more than we do

Nate is taking advantage of the system. most nba players havent been coached or practiced working on zone offense because the NBA is made up of one on one players.

Travis Outlaw drops the sledgehammer on Daequan Cook for a dunk so vicious, it's illegal in 48 states.

by BlazerBandit on Jan 18, 2008 9:33 PM PST reply actions

Nate's work with the USA team

the past two summers seems to have altered his style and philosophy. Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, also coaching on that team, is the acknowledged master of of 2-3 zone in college. I was intrigued to note this year that Coach K has also gone to the zone at Duke (with mostly perimeter players this year).

by lee3022 on Jan 18, 2008 11:47 PM PST up reply actions

Contested Shots

You said it WebTed!

Even the shots teams are making against us are made with a guy's hand in their face. Yes, we have breakdowns where teams get some easy buckets but for the majority of the games, the Blazers contest just about every shot.

I think I heard Mike Rice say that one of the assistant coaches watches game film and records contested shots as a stat.

by tssbro on Jan 18, 2008 9:36 PM PST reply actions

Under the radar

I heard someone--one of the Blazers' announcers, I think--say that Nate deliberately doesn't talk much about the team's D. He wants it to fly under the radar a bit. Hubie Brown--a former defensive guru--seemed impressed tonight. He liked the white team's use of an active zone to compensate for their lack of size. He pointed out that using the two smallish forwards (Outlaw and Jones) paid off on the offensive end with a lot of made jumpshots. I'd say it helps that both players have been rebounding pretty well lately considering their lack of bulk.

"Ime caught the guy in mid-air with a fist and calmly continued his dispatching of oncoming people." -Gabe Muoneke

by hurryup09 on Jan 18, 2008 10:18 PM PST reply actions

Points per shot

it shows that we force a lot of misses. If we could clear the boards more consistently, our defensive numbers as far as points per possession would be better and we might get some more easy baskets as well.

Greg Oden will have an opportunity to really help this team just by playing within himself and doing what he's good at.

by jksnake99 on Jan 19, 2008 1:18 AM PST reply actions