There’s a lot of focus on breaking down offensive plays, because offense is a very interesting topic to analyze. It’s only after you watch the replay of most sets do you notice the subtleties of the action at play because the game simply moves too fast for someone watching on TV to keep track. Defense is even worse because focus is on the offensive player because they have the ball, meaning that the happenings on defense, unless it’s a late-game play, are a second-thought.
I’ve picked out three defensive plays from the Phoenix game that show you the spectrum of how the Raptors defense can work (or not work).
Double-screen negates Terrence Ross
Two soft double-screens set for Dragic completely take out Ross, who is left trailing the play. There’s no communication between DeRozan and Ross, as Dragic gets into the heart of the lane unimpeded. There he meets Jonas Valanciunas who is forced to come out and contest the shot, which he does as he’s supposed to in that situation. At this point, Valanciunas is completely out of rebounding position, and since Ross doesn’t block-out Plumlee, the Suns get a big-on-small matchup on the glass to score.
[gfy]ValidGlaringHuemul[/gfy]
Failure at multiple points, but the question is what allowed a double-screen set for a player of Dragic’s caliber to go unnoticed? The answer is the early side-action which had everyone paying attention to that side of the court, allowing Dragic to run without even as much as a bump. Take a look at this freeze-frame and look at where everyone is looking.
DeRozan up for rotating
The Suns aren’t all-out breaking here, but they are testing the defense’s ability to setup quickly. The early attack is met well and the Raptors quickly cover all five guys, so no easy baskets for Phoenix off the top. The Suns run two pick ‘n rolls in quick succession, on the first one the Raptors are able to switch and on the second they hedge and allow Plumlee to cut down the middle. The beauty here is that DeRozan drops down to cut off Plumlee’s path to the rim, giving Valanciunas enough time to recover.
Bledsoe now has to look elsewhere and he goes to the corner, but Amir Johnson’s rotation is intact. DeRozan, not content with his first rotation, makes another out to the perimeter, and after the pump-fake and drive, Lowry makes another rotation forcing a bad pass. Excellent communication and recognition in situations that require thinking on your feet. This sort of defense is so difficult to sustain for prolonged periods simply because of the physical exertion it requires, so when you see guys take plays off on D, it’s often times from fatigue more than anything.
[gfy]ArcticHappygoluckyCuckoo[/gfy]
Bang-bang charge
I like this play because Lowry’s positioning outside the circle is very decisive. He stops on a dime and comes to a complete stand-still so quickly, that by the time Dragic leaves his feet to jump, Lowry’s already set in stone. Lowry understand the charge rule perfectly and doesn’t try to sell the charge by leaning, which is the #1 way to make an official angry since it implies that you’re trying to con him.
The anticipation of the pass to Dragic is also commendable, because instead of meeting Dragic at the rim and trying to block his shot, Lowry takes the shorter distance to the edge of the circle. Ninety percent of guys in this situation would let their physical instincts take over and try to block the shot or contest it. Lowry, though, has become such an astute reader of the game that he recognizes his physical limitations in the situations, the nature of the player with the ball, and the options he has to defend. He gets it right more often than not.
[gfy]GreenRigidHyracotherium[/gfy]
