A look at the Spurs offense in Game 4

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

This is a continuation from my offensive breakdown of game 3, which can be found here:

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94672

Had my crap together for the full game this time. I did stop recording plays when garbage time started in the fourth, I really didn't care what Vaughn, Horry, and Udoka were doing.

A little more refinement in the stats than before...

Plays were broken down into six categories:

1. 4down, defined as any play that put Duncan on the low block, gave him an entry pass, and resulted in a double by the Hornets.

2. Pick and roll, pretty self explanatory. Think all of these but one were run on the side, not up high.

3. Isolation plays, where the ball was given to a Spur to go one on one against his man, with no screen help or anything coming for him.

4. Motion offense. This is a catchall of sorts, but the Spurs actually have a pretty nice motion offense that they run from time to time (judging on the resuts, I really wish they would run more...).

5. Set inbounds plays. Called plays out of an out of bounds situation for a shot.

6. Transition opportunities. Baskets scored in transition.

All that said, on to the numbers, in the format of successful trips (defined as either a basket or two FTs) - total number of times the play was run.

I only counted the main play that led to a scoring attempt. For example, if we looked for Tim in the 4down look but Chandler had him fronted or pushed too far out, so we reset and ran a pick and roll that got us a shot, that play counted as a pick and roll play.

I realize that probably isn't the perfect way to chart all this, but this whole thing started with the idea of charting the plays that actually led to a shot attempt.

1st quarter
-----------
PnR: 6-13 (six scores on 13 times it was run)
Iso: 0-1
Motion: 1-1
Inbounds: 2-2
Transition: 1-2
4Down: 1-2

2nd quarter
-----------
PnR: 4-4
Iso: 2-4
Motion: 2-3
Inbounds: 0-1
Transition: 1-1
4Down: 3-3

3rd Quarter
-----------
PnR: 6-9
Iso: 2-4
Motion: 2-2
Inbounds: 0-0
Transition: 0-1
4Down: 1-3

4th Quarter (prior to garbage time)
---------------------------------
PnR: 2-4
Iso: 0-2
Motion: 1-1

Totals for the game (prior to garbage time)
-----------------------------------------
PnR: 18-30 (60%)
Iso: 4-11 (36%)
Motion: 6-7 (86%)
Inbounds: 2-3 (67%)
Transition: 2-4 (50%)
4Down: 5-8 (63%)


General thoughts:

The trend for the Spurs in the series as it has progressed is more pick and roll, less four down. I don't have stats for game 1, but I know it was reported (either ESPN or NO press) that the Spurs had 4 points off of 21 possessions in game 2 when Tim was doubled (one can reasonably conclude that those were all 4down possessions because that's the only time NO brings a double on him).

Game 3 was 13 possessions of four down, and last night we only saw eight trips that featured four down.

It's smart of the Spurs to keep attacking the Hornets this way. Paul and Chandler are both marginal pick and roll defenders, particularly with Parker hitting the outside jumper like he is.

There was also some resistance and insistence here on this board that going away from 4down would not lead to any layup attempts because New Orleans would just pack the lane. Some food for thought...

Game 4, the pick and roll resulted in:

8 layups (attempts)
6 trips to the FT line for two shots, all on drives
16 jumpers (attempts)

The flex set we ran resulted in:

4 layups (attempts)
3 jumpers (attempts)

-----------------

The challenge for New Orleans is going to be to come up with some kind of competent pick and roll defense. Since the Spurs have gone to it in heavy doses in games 3 and 4, the Spurs offense has had much more flow to it, produced many more points relative to games 1-2, and caused early foul trouble for Tyson Chandler attempting to protect the rim in both games.

The curiosity to me is the flex. We appear to only run it when we have both Manu and Oberto in the game, and it has been ridiculously successful (Spurs scored on six of seven possessions they ran it in game 4, 4-6 trips in game 3).

The one thing we really need to get away from is isolation sets, they were far and away the lowest percentage outcome in both games 3 and 4.

Anyway, food for thought, and one more reason why we're all of a sudden gashing NO in games 3 and 4 after struggling to hit 80 in the first two.

Good adjustment, keep it up Pop

[Solid D]

Good lookin' out. One suggestion for one of your general categories, AHF...change Flex to Motion. Although the Flex is a motion offense, the Spurs don't always run the Flex.

[timvp]

Nice research

I haven't re-watched the game yet but upon first viewing, I thought the Spurs mastering 4-down was a huge key to the game. The Spurs were just baiting the Hornets with early 4-down sets and had so much success that the Hornets finally unpacked the lane. After unpacking the lane, Duncan got easy shots and Parker and Ginobili were able to get room to go to the cup. I'll re-watch the game and see if that's accurate or not but I really think successful 4-down sets sprung the rest of the offense.

Question: If the Spurs run 4-down and then Duncan passed it out and the ball got swung to Parker who then ran a pick-and-roll, did you count that as 4-down or a pick-and-roll?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Good point, that's probably a more accurate description. Got kinda carried away with the fact we always run it with Team Argentina in there

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Nice research


Question: If the Spurs run 4-down and then Duncan passed it out and the ball got swung to Parker who then ran a pick-and-roll, did you count that as 4-down or a pick-and-roll?

Pick and roll. I treated that like a play reset.

[mystargtr34]

Whats the flex they run?

[timvp]

Pick and roll. I treated that like a play reset.

Fair enough. Although it should be noted that running a pick-and-roll against a rotating defense is much easier than running it against a set defense. So 4-down in that scenario shouldn't be lost in importance.

[Solid D]

Whats the flex they run?

When you see the Spurs run a continuity passing and screening offense in the half-court, particularly cross-lane screens and down-screens with an ensuing cut to receive a pass, those cuts are the basis for the Flex. Make a pass, set a pick, cut to receive a pass, catch and shoot or make a pass...and continue that cycle. The Spurs have one set that comes to mind where they start both Bigs at opposite elbows. Another one starts with Parker entering by passing to the wing to Manu then down-screening for Timmy who pops to the FT line and then on from there.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I'll see what I can do LJ, that's hard to always quantify as sometimes they reset on plays like that.

[SequSpur]

this is good .

[slayermin]

Nice work!

[timvp]

I'll see what I can do LJ, that's hard to always quantify as sometimes they reset on plays like that.

Yeah, it'd be pretty impossible to credit everything appropriately. But nice work

[Princess Pimp]

Good point, that's probably a more accurate description. Got kinda carried away with the fact we always run it with Team Argentina in there

I thought you said Danny Crawford would the Spurs in Game 5.

Idiot!

[timvp]

After rewatching the game, 4-down deserves a lot of props for blowing the game open. The second quarter started with two 4-down plays that resulted in wide open three-pointers. And then later in the quarter, the knockout punch was again delivered by 4-down. This time the Spurs tried to bait the Hornets again to double down ... they refused to so Duncan took it himself and got an and-1 against Chandler. Ballgame. Hornets looked frustrated and unsure of what to do defensively the rest of the game.

[T Park]

4 down?




I'm not saying a word.

[Tiro]

nice work. learn a lot.

will see what happen in game 5.