Disclaimer: No agenda to grind here.
I promised Apa that I would rewatch tonight's game carefully and pay attention to how opposing teams are supposedly scheming against and stopping the Parker PnR in crunch time.
They aren't stopping it, at least not this Knicks team.
I took snap shots of all the PnR plays in the 4th and the spacing and options the Parker/LMA 2 man game generate are pretty substantial.
Look at the crowd Parker draws here. From this position, he potentially has a layup (not the best shot against the Knicks length, but against smaller teams, it will be there), a dump off to LMA for a dunk (it wasn't there in this instance, but will be there), and a kick out to Kawhi for 3/drive. Parker made the right play, kicked it out to Kawhi, which resulted in a Kawhi vs. Melo one-on-one situation, with Melo fouling Kawhi.
Parker draws another crowd. The Knicks collapse to cut off his penetration and what results is LMA wide open at the top of the key. LMA can either take the shot and/or kick it to Leonard for an open 3 (since Melo would likely run out to LMA to try and defend the shot). Danny Green could also have an open 3 point shot from this situation. Play resulted in LMA swishing a jumper.
Here the Spurs got a double switch off the PnR. Parker can either take Lopez or dump it in to LMA who obviously has the advantage over Melo on the block. LMA made a great seal and Parker walked in for the layup.
As for getting torched by Galloway. Parker wasn't directly involved in any of Galloway's scoring plays that I can remember. Galloway mostly freelanced his way to points in the fourth.
RobZ was right, Parker played a pretty good game.
But I know what Parker haters are focusing on. The last shot Parker took (which wasn't from a PnR set) was God awful and exemplified "Enrique" and "Hero ball." He took an LMA pass, and off an LMA pick (it still wasn't a PnR play) launched a stupid 18 footer with 7 seconds left on the shot clock as Porzingis was running toward him. Just a brain dead in' play. If this were the playoffs, and that decision had cost us the game, I would be going nuclear on Parker right now.
This play was also irritating. Kawhi had a clear pinch, and Parker refused to pass (in Parker's limited defense, when you see a giant like Lopez in front of you, that pass isn't as easy to make as it looks from our POV. Still, Parker could've ball faked and then hit Kawhi or something).
Parker does need to clean up a few bad habits, but if this game is any indication, I think the PnR will be a great weapon for this team. LMA can do so much more than Duncan and Tiago can here. And it WILL generate offense and mismatches for Kawhi. That said, the Warriors might have the personnel to defend it, since they can switch everything and not be mismatched, but against most teams, I don't see them defending these sets very effectively.
The Knicks gave us a "sweat" because they really did make a lot of tough outside shots. Leonard and LMA were also clearly fouled on a few plays that should've been FTs.
I'm looking hard, but I'm just not seeing Parker being a detriment this season. Analytics confirm it as does "eye test" analysis.
Am I worried he'll play in the playoffs like he did on that ty shot toward the end of this game? Yes. But as of right now, I can't see much to complain about.
Last edited by midnightpulp; 01-09-2016 at 08:27 AM.
Only the last play where Tony ran down the clock and took a contested shot. That was a bad play, it should have been in Kawhi's hands to run down the clock.
There of course is that argument that Parker has a better mismatch with Calderon over Kawhi vs Anthony.
Given that, you give the ball to be best mismatch and not the best player.
Great post, OP. Glad to see some objectivity here. I also thought Parker had played a good game until that terrible last shot.
I have no idea what they were doing on the last play when the PnR was working so well. They brain farted.
This play began badly with Parker dribbling to one side of the floor (basically cuts the court in half and forces a predictable 2 man game). He makes a lazy pass to LMA, who is positioned way outside his range/comfort zone and being defended by Porz, who easily cuts LMA off. LMA is forced to pass it back to Parker, sets a pick for Parker, and with 7 seconds left, Parker takes an ty 18 footer.
Ok, rewatching it again, the play makes a bit more sense. It got Parker a huge mismatch and clear driving lane that he didn't in take for some god only knows reason.
Actually a decent play. It created a wide open lane for Parker. If he drives here, he either has a layup or can hit a cutting Kawhi for a dunk as Melo would be forced to try and block the shot.
Why he took that in' jumper is bizarre.
Last edited by midnightpulp; 01-09-2016 at 08:56 AM.
Nice breakdown mid, thanks
There's some defense for the last shots many times. Defenses focus so much on Parker that it's almost habit for him to put up a jumper when the screen allows it. Pop, as we all know, loves to play percentages, and having Parker punish teams for going under is automatic, and will always, in the long run, benefit the team whether or not the shot goes in. Parker has also worked immensely hard to make that shot one of the most reliable in the game. It's easy to second guess the decision based on whether or not the ball goes through the hoop, but that seems like a practice that's ignorant of the way the Spurs have played for much of the last two decades.
Adding 2 more instances.
Both plays resulted in a wide open jumper for Tony (he made one/missed one). Why wouldn't he take these? He's shooting 57% from 16 feet and out this year. I agree the 18 footer from the PnR shouldn't be "spammed," (which it wasn't in this game), especially against the Warriors who have Draymond that can close that distance much faster than lops like Lopez, but it's a useful play to run at times because it establishes Parker's jumper and opens up the paint.
Those aren't "Enrique" jumpers. Enrique jumpers are when he dribbles/dribbles/dribbles, does some kind of lazy crossover, and shoots a contested 18 footer.
That said, I hope Pop adds some more variety off this set. Parker has a driving lane and Leonard can cut through the backdoor for an alleyoop/dunk.
Last edited by midnightpulp; 01-09-2016 at 08:53 AM.
The two jumpers I just poster were "good" jumpers. The one over Porzingis was terrible and not a high percentage shot by any means. Parker should've driven. I know what you're saying, that Parker is hardwired to shoot there after a decade, but he also knows how to penetrate off those mismatches.
And we know that the big downside of having a shoot-first point guard is that he runs home to what he knows a little too often. It sucks, but it's kind of to be expected. He's a long way from Jamal Crawford or Kobe Ballhog.
Good stuff mid. Thanks.
Great stuff OP, obviously there's posters that don't watch games and follow play-by-plays on NBA.com
Great breakdown post.
I honestly thought TP played a decent game until that last ing shot. He had two options, dish it to LMA who had the mismatch or drive it on Porzingis for a somewhat easy layup. Instead, he chose the worst option in that situation.
I havent watched the game but Im glad the tp lma 2 man game is really materializing. Enough of tptd or lma green pnr/pnps.
No need to go there TGY. This is a great thread and you try to provoke the usual krew battle.
Great analysis midnightpulp. This should be the benchmark for praising or criticizing a players play in a game. Dumbom and apple s are the other end of the spectrum pointless trolling or half assed worthless analysis without substance to back it up. Well done.
+1.. Even that last shot, I don't know what other options there were. Offense had become a bit stagnant, and no one could make anything happen. A timeout would have been good too, like we got that play with LMA hitting Manu on the backdoor. Could have got something similar.
Some "fans" on here talking about hero ball and all this other non-sense, I swear I can't tell if they are really that immature/illiterate or just enjoy trolling
Such vanilla mainstream screencaps from OP... why isn't the ball in Kawhi's hands in any of those screencaps? smh
Look at every other team in the league, crunchtime comes and they put the ball in their best player's hands (even the Knicks last night with Porzingod and Melo).
Also, you should delete that post immediately, if any of the coaches sees Kawhi ball watching in a corner in crunch time, he's not making the All Star game.
It's really annoying at this point man. We didn't have to deal with this a couple years ago. We are 32 and freaking 6. Jesus,I dont know where all these guys came from. I thought trolls at first but they legitimately hate some of our guys and want our team to do poorly to make a damn point...
At first I thought it was just trolling, but when you look at the Jimmer thread, you really start wondering if we really do have some legit re s in here, tbh
Doesn't the Jimmer thread have like 100 pages ������
You're just starting to wonder?
For most of them it's far more about getting any sort of attention than actually having a defensible position.
The knew members on both sides are gonna vote for Trump, mark my words.
Terrific contribution, M-P. Thanks very much for the work in re-watching and taking the time to put all this together. Great objectivity!
It seems pretty obvious its a Lakers fan down to the SDSU angle on Kawhi. Post an article from Bruno's 'new' blog and it becomes really obvious.
Some people don't like the fact that some ideas and opinion are less valid and shouldn't be treated as equal. You get that cause you troll from that angle yourself quite often.
Could have been gassed. TP was working pretty hard last night, and looked VERY quick all evening. Might have come at the cost of his legs in the last 5 minutes.
Thanks for the breakdown, midnight! Good stuff! And a lot of good takes in this thread overall!
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