Kings - Jazz - Defensive Statistics and Analysis

First, a minor hiccup in the cumulative stats for the Kings. Because, I live in LA and tried to TIVO the Kings-Clippers game off of league pass, I recorded a blacked out game. Hopefully, I can find the archives on NBA League Pass, but for now, we move on to Sacramento-Utah.

This game Utah was able to beat us with a number of off the ball screens. We were slow to recover and often just switched, which is very lazy for an off the ball screen. Ironically, Utah probably could have won this game easier with more post ups (they scored on 10 of 18 post ups) or pick and rolls. We were horrendous stopping both, but the Jazz were content to pass the ball around the perimeter while setting off the ball screens.

For a quick recap, I will be tracking Heavily Contest Shots (HC), Lightly Contested Shots (LC), Altered/Blocked Shots (ABS), Forced Turnovers (FTO), times a player was beaten 1 on 1 into the lane (BL), times a players gets posted up and scored on (PSO), times a player gets posted and the other team gets a clear advantage like a double team (PA), times a player gets posted up and gets a stop (PST) and uncontested shots allowed by the team (TU). Also, four pick and roll categories scored tandemly (both the on the ball defender and screener are graded the same) – Pick and Roll Scored On (PRSO) if the two offensive players executing the pick and roll score directly, Pick and Roll Switch (PRSW) if the two players simply switch, Pick and Roll Advantage (PRA) if the offense gains a clear offensive advantage such as a third defender having to come over which leaves another player wide open, and Pick and Roll Stop (PRS) if the players show and recover and completely nullify the play.

Let’s start with our defensive players of the game.

Jason Thompson – This wasn’t a complete effort by JT, as his pick and roll numbers were fairly poor. Out of the 6 times the Jazz involved him in a pick and roll, they gained a clear advantage on 5 and we just switched defenders on 1. Basically, we were left at a big disadvantage every time. However, JT did everything else well. Against a team with 3 bigs who can play in the post, JT stopped 5 of the 8 post ups they Jazz tried on him (versus 3 stops on 10 tries for the rest of the Kings). JT also altered/blocked 4 shots (1-4), heavily contested 1 more (0-1) and lightly contested 9 more (3-9). On top of that JT wasn’t beaten off the dribble or into the lane once, but did record 1 Hold. He also forced 3 turnovers. Overall, this was a much more impactful game for the rookie.


And our defensive goat of the game:

Will Solomon – Will managed to play 17 minutes against the Jazz and did not manage to contest a single shot. That’s right, 0 ABS, 0 HC, and 0 LC. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Will got beaten off the dribble twice, giving the Jazz an easy 4 point and did not manage to get a single hold. Will did record 1 pick and roll stop and force 1 turnover; however, this is an embarrassing display for playing over 1/3 of the game.


Other notes:

- Outside of Jason Thompson we had no answer for the Jazz in the paint. We were scored on 7 out of the 10 times the Jazz posted up someone other than JT. Rashard McCants was our worst offender recording 0 stops and getting scored on 4 times in the post. This is an annoying side effect of Kenny Natt’s obsession with small ball.
- Speaking of Rashad McCants, this was and up and down game for him. As I previously noted, McCants got abused in the post (scored on all 4 times he was posted), gave up an advantage the one time he was involved in the pick and roll, and got beaten into the lane twice. However, he was able to alter/block 1 shot, recorded 2 holds, and he forced 2 turnovers. It was mostly disturbing though that Matt Harpring could destroy him in the post the way he did. McCants may prove to be a solid perimeter defender who can force some turnovers, but if the opposing team has SG/SF who can play in the post, then we really can’t play McCants and Martin together, which is too bad because they would give us some offensive punch.
- Andres Nocioni would have had a solid game if he hadn’t gotten beaten off the dribble/into the lane 4 times. He recorded 3 HC (1-3) and 1 LC (1-1), forced a turnover and was able to stop 3 of the 6 pick and rolls the Jazz ran against him, making him our best pick and roll defender tonight.
- Spencer Hawes continues to struggle against the pick and roll. Tonight the Jazz ran it against him 7 times. They scored outright once, gained an advantage on 3 and we switched 3 more (actually a big advantage for the Jazz since it left Hawes on Deron and Bobby Jackson on Okur or another big. Hawes is already showing at age 20 that he can be a special scorer in this league. He has displayed some pretty polished post moves with both hands in the post and can shoot from the outside. However, if he wants to be more than a scoring big off the bench for a team, his defensive acumen has to improve. He will need to add bulk to hold his spot in the post without losing his speed and learn how to negotiate the pick and roll more effectively.