The Raptors took on 5 games in a week and came out the other side unscathed. Beating two #1 seeds (that’s right, the Bulls and Heat swapped during the week) for 3 wins, and nabbing two more off of the Hawks. Truly, remarkable stuff from a crew that is simultaneously immensely talented and incredibly rag-tag. They’re playing some damn good basketball, fueled by the star performances of Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and for a spell – Gary Trent Jr.
When it comes to playing the Atlanta Hawks, the real goal becomes about mitigating as much of Trae Young’s star power as possible. In doing so, you have to find a solve or at least a livable option for defending him in the pick n’ roll. Coming into this game, Young had won the last 8 he’d been a part of, and averaged 30 and 8.5 in those game. He’s been cooking every team he plays. This is a small part of how the Raptors tried to unlock the problem of guarding him.
The Trae-Collins drag screen/step up screen is one of the best plays in the NBA and the Raptors were defending it with hardly any intensity. Fred was providing little to no resistance, the help-side defenders weren’t engaged with the primary action whatsoever, and Siakam was in an almost impossible position, yes, but he doesn’t perform very well in it either. Young had 6 assists in the first quarter, and while he is probably the league’s best pick n’ roll ball handler and will no doubt put you in tough positions, the Raptors did a poor job of helping themselves early on.
Even though Siakam is involved in all these plays, I don’t really fault him for much because he was operating from a point of severe disadvantage – except for the last play. Siakam is in the midst of tagging Capela, and Young uses his eyes to move him off the tag and into thinking about Collins above the break. Froze him, and threw the lob.
“Late in the game the coaching staff did a wonderful job and made an adjustment on a play call, and he (OG) ended up blocking the shot, because we got him in the right position to do so.” Nick Nurse said after the Raptors win over the Hawks. “So, he’s capable of doing all that stuff defensively, inside, outside, shot blocking, steals etc. And again, I keep saying with, you know Scottie, OG, Pascal, Freddy, and now Gary – we need to keep them sharp and defense in the forefront of their minds, because they all can play it, and if they all play it then we can give ourselves a chance.”
The good news is that they adjusted. Young was on the second night of a back-to-back, VanVleet was brutalizing him on the other end of the court – making him defend heaps of screen play himself – and the Raptors decided to put the onus on him to score in tough positions. Shade toward the pick n’ roll from one pass away, lower the level of the screen, or straight up switch the damn thing (which they did at the end of the game and OG blocked him twice). Young doesn’t make the one pass away play that often if it’s not to his roller, so this serves to crowd his space, and by defending the level of the screen a bit lower you take away the potency of the rim-runner. Of course, Trae can perfectly place some lobs and beat you anyway, but that’s the idea. And finally, when you switch you’re hoping that Young tries to beat someone without screen help. All this to create more work for him, which it did, and eventually he started moving off-ball for more possessions, where VanVleet’s deny defense was more effective. Really good stuff with one of the NBA’s best offensive engines.
A little reminder, if you haven’t read my piece about how good a defender Precious has been, you can do so here. Look at him move his feet with Young, man. Chopping those steps, flipping those hips, keeping up. Really, really impressive.
Does this exact strategy work when both teams are well rested and engaged? Tough to say. But, at the end of a week from hell against some of the best competition that could’ve possibly come the Raptors way, they figured out how to get enough stops against an offensive wrecking ball. Well done, fellas. Enjoy the two days off.
Have a blessed day.
