I can't pimp this site enough, but it does a good job of breaking down why the Hornets are so effective against the Spurs.
Normally, I'd only post links to this site when it paints the Spurs on the positive side of great basketball plays, but I thought this was interesting.
http://coachingbetterbball.blogspot.com/
Hornets Easy Offense Leads to 2-0 Series Lead
Posted by bruchu Labels: *NBA, Half-Court Set Offense
Watching the Hornets dismantle the Spurs tonight has me just awe-struck. I mean, I've watch many Hornets games all year and I've written as far back as Nov and Dec about how good Chris Paul and the Hornets are. But to me, they really are the best team in the Playoffs right now.
The reason why I'm calling the Hornets offense "easy offense" is because in contrast to the Spurs, everything seems so easy. The Spurs are trying so hard to get their scores, while the Hornets are scoring so effortlessly. And I don't think it's so much that the Spurs are playing bad defense, or that the Spurs offense is particularly bad. It's just that the Hornets are playing at such a high level both on offense and defense that they're on a whole other level right now skill wise than everyone else.
Take these 3 sequences for example.
1. The Spurs spent 20 secs off the shot clock working the ball from one side to another, but miss. With 10 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, CP3 races down the court past 3 Spurs and scores with 1 second left.
2. Ginobili hits a 3-pointer as the Hornets get crossed up on defense, that big shot cut the Hornets lead cut to 9. CP3 runs the PNR and finds Chandler on the alley-oop, lead back to 11.
3. Spurs made the adjustment to double West on the 1v1 ISO, 2 quick ball reversals later, Stojakovic hits a wide open 3-pointer to put the game away.
CP3 PNR Alley-oop to Chandler:
It's such a big part of their offense, I wrote about it earlier in the year.
Now you might be asking yourself, why does CP3 and Chandler run the PNR so well?? After all I've asked that very question myself. What is it about them that other teams cannot emulate, after all 75% of NBA plays are off the PNR. The reason why it works is because CP3 turns the corner on the ball-screen so quickly that they're basically playing 2-on-1 forcing Duncan to choose to cover CP3 or Chandler,
The counter to this would be to go underneath. So Duncan stays on Chandler, and Parker goes underneath. Only problem is that CP3 is a complete guard and will knock down the 3-pointer. As far as I can see, this play is unstoppable.
Double-team to Ball-reversal Corner 3-pointer:
This is just smart basketball. David West burned the Spurs in Game 1. We've all heard from the pundits that the Spurs do not have anyone that can guard him 1v1. So as soon as he gets the ball in the high-post 1v1 ISO, Duncan goes to double-team. West quickly reverses the ball to Mo Pete, then to Stojakovic in the corner. Notice the back-pick by Chandler to make sure,
Summary:
Overshadowed in my post here is the Hornets defense. They've been playing inspired, CP3 is quick enough to keep up with Parker. They've scouted Ginobili and they know he likes to go left and they've stopped his ability to make that lateral step in the lane. Finally, they've prevented Duncan from turning into his defender, forcing him to take middle jump hooks. As they say, the devil is in the details, and the Hornets are locking in on those details.
I'm reminded by a quote by John Wooden, "I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent." The Spurs by no means are not untalented, but I think at times we overrate experience and underrate talent. Clearly, the Hornets have more talent and the talent is winning out over the experience.
Can Chris Paul really hit that 3 ball consistently? I wouldn't mind seeing Parker go under the screen, and force him to take that shot. I believe in one of the Spurs wins over the Hornets, they had Parker go under the screens, but the Hornets adjusted in the following matchup and won.
I could be wrong about that, but I'm pretty sure that's what happened.
Here is the YouTube with those highlights:
In that first play, will someone please tell me WTF Oberto was doing. He's standing at the three-point line guarding West who is at halfcourt. The quarter is running down and he watches CP3 blow right by him?
The second play is the Hornets' bread and butter. The only way to have success against it is if you give it different looks. Go under sometimes. Trap sometimes. Send in a third defender sometimes. You play it straight up like that every time and the Hornets will just keep scoring.
That third play was just horrible defense by Manu. He has to stay on the top side of Chandler so that he can make a rotation back to Peja. If you are guarding Peja, you simply cannot go 15 feet away from him with no way to return.
Taking Manu off of Peja is so damn vital going forward. Manu is too much of a roamer defensively to put on a deadeye who is on fire.
i wanted to kill manu when he lost peja for that corner 3. that was more bad defense than good offense.
and i'd much rather have paul taking 3's than having him tag team timmy with chandler.
anyways, its a good basketball blog
Well, illustrated like that, the plays do seem very simple and effective. I guess the 90s Bulls could defend that screen-roll by switching all the time, but otherwise that is a tough play to stop
personally, i believe cp can hit tht 3 on a regular basis.
Love that site, but this is nothing new.
It's "easy offense" when your opponent is creating a mismatch from the tip with their defensive assignments.
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