We break down the key offensive and defensive play of the Knicks game.
Getting the mismatch you want
This is a play that the Raptors have run on either side of the court a few times during crunch time this year. This demonstrates how an offense has attained the switch they sought and gone about taking advantage while the defense takes no action in mitigating the switch. Passes are in red, player movement in white.
The play starts off with Chandler guarding Turkoglu and Lee guarding Bosh, logical matchups that are more than acceptable to the defense. The Knicks are in man-to-man defense and the Raptors have no advantage at this point. That is soon to change.
Bosh sets a high-screen on Chandler, notice that Turkoglu has no intention of driving the ball and using the screen to his advantage. The objective here is to switch the shorter Chandler on Bosh. David Lee is respecting Turkoglu’s drive-game even though the latter isn’t really in a position to take advantage of the screen. Perhaps Lee should’ve just focused on sticking with Bosh rather than worrying about Turkoglu. The floor is very well-spaced with the Knicks are respecting the Raptors’ three-point threats of Calderon, Jack and Bargnani.
Bargnani’s placement in the corner is key because with Lee guarding Turkoglu, the entry-pass for the Turk will be difficult. The point-to-wing pass gives the 7-foot Bargnani a very good angle to make the entry-pass, a key element in this play and a part of the Raptor game that has dramatically improved from last year. Triano has done a good job of keeping his tallest and most effective post-passer in the right position.
Bosh had done a very good job of sealing of Chandler and not allowing the Knick to front him. All that’s left for the mismatch to take into full effect is the pass which Bargnani makes to Bosh’s right hand, away from Chandler. Lee is still respecting Turkoglu and the Knicks are not sending any help yet, even though it’s quite apparent what’s going on.
I’ve included this frame to show that the Knicks, despite seeing the mismatch, are not providing any help even after the Bosh catch. Either they have faith in Chandler’s defense, or they are unprepared on how to handle this situation.
Bosh takes the shorter Chandler right to the rim, there’s zero chance of a block on this play as the weak-side defender Nate Robinson is too short and Gallinari isn’t playing any defense.
David Lee is left to wonder what could’ve been if he had not switched so eagerly on Turkoglu.
Recovering after giving away the mismatch
Here’s a play where the offense gets the switch they sought, but the defense recovers because of poor offensive floor spacing and good defensive communication.
The Raptors are in a man-self-basket position here. Antoine Wright is guarding the inbound man and not providing any pass-pressure. This can be questioned in this situation but it does have the effect of eliminating the give-and-go the inbound guy can play with the player he passes to. It is somewhat surprising that the Knicks will give the ball to Al Harrington given that the Raptors are not denying them any passing option. I suppose they want to exploit Bargnani’s defense on the perimeter.
The Knicks have set two solid screens. Nate Robinson has set one on Turkoglu giving the Raptors the impression that the play might be for Chandler. However, soon after that switch, Lee sets one on Jack. In this situation it is a test of the defense to maintain the matchups they were at and not concede a switch. Turkoglu has seen the screen on him, but I don’t think Jack is aware of the impending pick about to be set on him. Poor communication on the part of Bosh? I don’t know, this is something somebody who was sitting courtside can comment on.
Turkoglu has recovered but Jack has been completely caught. As Nate Robinson goes to the wing, Bosh is forced to go with him and leave Jack guarding Lee, a potentially disastrous matchup for the Raptors.
This is a key frame. Jack is now guarding Lee but the Knicks spacing is poor, the ball is too far away from the mismatch they’ve worked so hard to get. Even though Bargnani has stumbled, his pressure on Harrington has forced the latter to catch the ball much farther than he would’ve liked. There is simply too much space between Harrington and Lee for a pass to be made. Harrington has also been forced to catch the ball with his back to the basket which has prevented him from seeing the action that has developed underneath.
Lee has rolled to the rim but Harrington does not have a good angle to make the pass, Bargnani is more or less out of the play as Wright assumes responsibility on Harrington. Jack is a little late in realizing that he’s left Lee open underneath the rim and tries to catch up.
The other option for Jack could be to rotate to Nate and let Bosh drop down to Lee. However, that would leave one of those two players very open and the pass to them easy since Jack’s central position is what’s preventing Harrington from making the pass to Lee.
This is where the Raptors communication on defense has paid off. Jack and Bosh communicate that it’s OK for Bosh to guard Lee again as Robinson is no longer a threat (if he had moved to the corner, he would’ve remained one and maybe Bosh wouldn’t rotate), leaving Jack as a “free man” on defense. This is the moment where Jack sees Harrington’s intentions of taking it to the rim and goes about getting himself in a position to pick up a charge. This is 100% defensive instinct and what separates a good defensive player from a bad one.
Whether Jack is moving is debatable, but Harrington should’ve stopped on a dime and just taken a short-jumper because Lee has 50-50 rebounding position on Bosh. Harrington has basically hogged the ball on this possession after failing to catch it properly on the inbounds.
It’s also worth noting that the play the Knicks ran doesn’t seem to have many options.
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Awesome break down, I really love these. Great job!
Agreed. Props to Arse on these every time. Realize they’re time consuming but love seeing this on the site.
And I think this is a great example of how we’re coming together on D. We didn’t make all the perfect decisions, but hustle, court awareness and communication saved us. Nice to see.
Which again proves that defense requires more bball smarts because not only are you playing the ball, you are playing the man and in both cases you are thinking as you make assumptions. In addition you must consider the position of your teammates in relation to yourself and the opposition.
On offense you run plays with options or you just improvise .. nothing much except for individual raw talent.
You play offense for show and defense for dough ….!!!
Great breakdown.
Thanks Arsenalist, great post.
From what I heard in interviews, Nate was actually the first option on the knicks play but Jack didn’t let him get open, so the pass went to Harrington instead.
I don’t believe that. That screen action was very deliberate and looked planned. As you can see in the first frame, Jack is basket-side of Robinson and not denying the ball at all.
1st: good job
2nd: Various sources across the ocean confirm that harrington wasn’t the designed receiver. I tend to believe that the action from Harrington was just supposed to bring Bargnani outside the paint meanwhile the real pass was supposed to go to Chandler or Nate.
Bad timing/ execution from NY was the key for the failure + good defence :)
3rd, please “arsenalize” our turnovers as that’s the last area in which we are sub par and I don’t quite understand why we keep having so many
Well, Arse I like the breakdown, especially the first one, but you should rewatch that last sequence, but it take balls to disagree with the Coach who drew it up’s own words. You suppose he’s lying?
You mention the lack of pressure by Wright, but,he was doing something wright as it was the length of time that it took to inbound the ball (seemed to be like 6 seconds at least) and Knicks not having a time out, that broke the play. The play, according to Mike D, was for Nate to get the ball, as you pointed to the screen sequence to free Nate, or get Bosh on him (outside the paint it’s pretty much the same thing). Harington was lifted to take Bargs out of the paint, so they’d have Nate with the mismatch on Bosh and a mismatch on Lee. Because of the length of time it took (perhaps credit Jack for slowing Nate) Gallo felt he needed to get it inbounds. Andrea got his hand on the pass and disrupted the catch, he looked to be fouled by Harrington, and when Harrington pushed, then he drove and commited the Charge. That’s what I think anyway.
Malefax is correct IMO. Nate’s pick was intended to get the slower Turk to switch on to him and Jack on to Chandler down low (two mismatches)…the Lee screen/would then have given Nate room to roam on the inbound for a drive past a recovering Turk. Chandler would have been well positioned against Jack down low for the feed if Jack went across to help on the drive by Nate. Hedo did a great job of jumping the pic and slowing the progress of the set (to the point where Gallinaro gave up on the intended play) and not allowing the initial mismatch. D’Antoni’s at fault for trusting the little man to set a good screen which he did not (and really can’t be expected to) but credit to Hedo for the veteran play.
This way the game is so great, we could debate this forever.
“It’s also worth noting that the play the Knicks ran doesn’t seem to have many options.”
Hmmm, I wonder what DAntoni would have to say about that critique!
Nice presentation though thanks. As you noted the Knickettes didnt run that very crisply and I would have to say that Chandler (I am assuming) who is being guarded by Turk at the bottom of the shot had made himself irrelevant after the breakdown of the play. He may well have been an option of some kind.
I think it’s showing that the players abandoned the original play after a little inbounds resistance from Bargs and Wright… they’re still a misfit group these knicks are…
Breaking It Down is the ish!! Mad props to Arse!! :)
Awesome breakdown. Jack got the benefit of the call because Harrington looked out of control on that drive, allowing the refs to punish Harrington for his actions.
It was a 50/50 rebounding position, but I had a gut feeling that Lee was going to overpower Bosh for a tip-in if the shot was up.
Kudos to Bargnani on screwing the in-bounds play for the Knicks, because it was what made Harrington turn the other way around and panic.
I agree. Fantastic breakdown. Keep them coming.
I guess Jack really made up for missing that FT in the crunch. If Jack can keep developing with us, can he be a Derek Fisher or a Chauncy Billups?
I can only assume you mean a good team-first player, because Dereck FIsher and Chauncey Billups are incredibly different in terms of talent. FIsher was a half decent starter who got by on timely shooting and smarts and never averaged more than 11.9 ppg or 4.4 apg in a season. Chauncey Billups is a former NBA FInals MVP who is a four time All-Star. Hopefully Jack will end up being somewhere in between.
Jay’s strength is in the Xs & Os. It shows.
Me learnings the basketballs. This adds a whole new dimension to me watching games… I love it! Keep it coming.
Kudos for these awesome breakdowns. Keep em coming!
A couple of things to add.
The first play was obviously made for bosh to play one on one on the elbow and not to let Turk play the pick and roll play. During Bosh driving, which is to the middle and not to the line (the exact oposite that any defensive player would want and the only thing that Chandler should had dennied -Bosh left hand and the drive to the middle), the weak side is no longer responsability of Robinson and Galinari because they’d free two open shooters if they would have helped.
The help defense was responsability of Harrinton which would leave Bargniani open for a corner three, but with Bosh’s drive, the help could never arrive in time. Again, the worst part of the Knicks defense in that play was not the switch, it was Chandler allowing Bosh to drive to his left and to the middle, he should have force Bosh to his right and to the baseline.
In the second play, Bargniani saved the game, because that was a very good offensive move to free Robinson, but with Bargnani’s defensive pressure and the fact that Galinari was thinking that he could loose the ball for the 5 secs violation, they couldn’t get the ball to Nate, which was the first option.
Beside from Bargnani defense, that last play could have cost us the game. If instead of Harrington, it was Duhon or Jose calderon the Knicks would have won the game by giving the ball to Lee under the basket
I think its posts like these that separates RR from other fan based sites. Arse did you ever play the game at a high level cause you have some good B-ball IQ.
Thanks, just some high school man. And pickup twice a week.
that’s some Acumen. Period. *drops mic*
http://bucketsoverbroadway.com/files/2010/01/Al-Harrington.jpg
i still laughing ….
a classic
BWHAHAHA he looks like a 14y/o schoolgirl with that face and the knee-high socks…. what a douche.
LMFAO! Hilarious!
I think he looks like a duck.
Teach!
Any chance you can find a person who knows video editing so you can commentate while the action unfolds? I like the breakdown, but I’d like it even more if it were in video form! :P nice job nonetheless.
Yup, we’ll hire a video editing guy, just as soon as you buy a t-shirt:
http://raptorsrepublic.com/t-shirt-lower-bowl-sucks/
No, I prefer the current format. It allows me to absorb what you are saying and then compare to the images.
Great job once again arse, keep up the dedicated work here at RR!
I keep e-mailing anyone connected to the Raptors media asking them to do exactly what you’ve done in this post. Perfect stuff — someone in TV aught to give you a job!
3 in the key! Lee’s camped out in the key in almost every frame of that 2nd play.
Yeah, exactly. I guess they don’t call three seconds in that situation. Then again, Jack was not set on that play either. It should have been a blocking foul.
I think they called the offensive foul on Harrington for an elbow, it dosen’t matter whether Jack was set or not, Harrington was outta control and initiated contact…if you dip the shoulder or lead with the elbow it’s an offensive foul. I’m just surprised they actually called it by the book it in that situation, knicks at home in a game-on-the-line play.
love it! for a newb to basketball (don’t play but watching for 5 years now), it’s a great education…keep ‘em up!
Really interesting stuff. Great job.
I like what you’ve done here, and some good insights. I disagree about Lee having rebounding position though. The still pic doesn’t show Lee’s momentum moving AWAY from the basket, hence a quarter of a second later, Bosh has the inside track.
BTW that play by Bargnani not only took Harrington away from the basket. His hand poke also took. 1.9 seconds (of the 7 they had left) for Harrington to recover and start moving toward the basket.
As for Harrington being the first option, now way. Look at Gallinari. He’s looking inside, looking, looking, then starts to panic and THEN thinks of Harrington, fakes a pass to him, but looks inside again before finally giving it to Harrington. Plus D’Antoni said they wanted to get the ball to Nate.
I love the format and the x’s and o’s insight, but picking apart the knicks is an easy target. Their “plays” usually consist of takin crazy 3′s and hoping Lee gets a offensive board on a miss. Whenever I get down about how bad the raps have been over the years I look to the knicks for perspective since they still can’t manage to put together a winning team in the salary cap environment. The Knicks have become the Maple Leafs of the NBA, huge market with no front office game.
Amazing to see the repect they have for Bosh; trying to disrupt his every move…he has to work hard for every inch on the court. I love watching him fight to set-up ideal position for his O attack, it’s one of his key strengths.
Great stuff Arse sure beats all to hell the constant “Bosh leaving” speculation.
Duhon’s poor shooting of late left D’Antoni with no choice but to play Harrington and Nate in late game O situations. As someone said had Duhon recieved the inbounds pass instead of Harrington, all other things being the same, Lee would have recieved a pass over Jack. Fun to speculate, and JT is looking better and better the closer we look at tactics and stratagy.
Great, great stuff!
You’re teaching me something every time and I highly appreciate it!
Thanks!
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