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I decided to take a look at what exactly was working with the Blazers to go up 2-0, and more importantly what's working for LaMarcus Aldridge. What I found, honestly, wasn't so much what Portland was doing as it was what Houston wasn't doing. That's not to say Aldridge isn't making his own, because he's straight abused Houston at times, especially in the post, but Houston has been hampered by defensive breakdowns during the first two games of this series, and when I say defensive breakdowns I'm referring to being late on rotations, or not making them at all, forgetting to box out, fundamental things, etc.
Now let me say, I obviously do not know what Houston's correct rotations are. These are all assumptions on my part, but I believe them to be right.
So with Portland, you're looking at a team that uses a very high percentage of ball screens in their offense. During the regular season the PnR made up of about 25% of their possessions, during the post season that number is down just slightly to 24%. That's a really high number, for comparisons sake Houston was only around 15% during the regular season.
So what is Houston doing to defend the PnR?
In Game One, they elected to what I like to call "shadow" the ball. As you can see in the below image, Dwight has two feet in the paint, no hedge (thought that would have been an earlier image), probably a little late, and not being ultra aggressive to stop the ball. The breakdown comes with Asik, who needs to be a step further underneath the rim, having both feet inside the restricted circle, instead of one. Even James Harden is aware of this, as he's pointing to where Asik should be.
Next we have some of the fundamental work I spoke of yesterday and earlier in this post. I don't even have any explanation for what Dwight was trying to do here, but by the time he got his head around Batum already had a step on him:
One of the first things I learned about basketball was to never have your back to the ball, see man/ball, etc. To make matters worse, Dwight gets out rim ran by Aldridge who essentially beats him to the spot, gets the foul, and goes to the line.
Here is another example of how Houston elected to defend ball screens in Game 1. You can see Howard laying off or "shadowing" Batum.
Houston actually played well initially, as Lin quickly realized what Portland was doing and recovered to Aldridge to contest before he could get a shot up. Dwight left off of Batum however, and left him wide open on the wing for an open three, which he hit.
A lot of Aldridge's points came from him simply winning the one on one matchup against Terrence Jones. Whether Aldridge was in the high post, low post, isolating from mid range, didn't matter. He had his way with Terrence Jones. He also had a stretch where four or five straight shots came from the low post, against a number of different defenders. Jones, Asik, Garcia, and Parsons. Houston never attempted to bring a double. Here is a sequence of images displaying a masterful job by Terrence blocking out:
It was quickly evident in Game 2 that Houston changed their approach to defending ball screens, as they chose to show more aggression towards the ball. I didn't mention it above, but Houston also gave up a lot of dribble penetration in Game 1, which led to easy baskets at the rim or open shooters.
In this particular set you see a little screen the screener action, but you will also see Dwight playing much more aggressive up on the ball, hedging, trapping, doubling down on Lillard, whatever you want to call it. The trade off here is that you are also leaving the screener, which means someone has to make the necessary rotation. My money would be on Harden is the guy that needs to make that rotation out to the corner, but he's standing in no mans land not guarding anyone.
Next up we have another pick and pop, this time with Terrence Jones hedging on the ball. He expects Dwight to come out and contest the shot, but as you can see in the image below, Dwight misses the rotation. I let the video roll a little longer before I captured the image so that you could see Terrence Jones literally walking down the paint with his arms out at his side bitching that Dwight did not make the rotation. That's good I guess that Jones knows what rotations need to be made, but problem is Jones does not do his job either, as he was supposed to account for boxing out Robin Lopez. This is terrible effort from both Dwight and Jones, and it results in another open look for Aldridge.
Another example of Houston being aggressive hedging on ball screens, but this play highlights Aldridge's great midrange abilities. Houston again allows an open shot, but Aldridge passes up the look:
Maybe he passes it up because of the incoming Asik, though I have no doubt that he could have gotten it off clean. But he pump fakes, brings it back down, only to go right back up and drain it right in Asik's face.
In this next play, Asik and Aldridge are busy battling for position nearly 20 ft from the basket, which does not allow Asik to get out and hedge on the screen, which allows Wesley Matthews to get dribble penetration. Parsons then needs to do a better job at "jamming" the roller, but he does not which allows Aldridge a free roll to the rim.
Lastly, this particular play is probably the closest to what Houston is looking for on their rotations. As you can see in the below image, Harden is already making the rotation off the pass by Mo Williams:
This still isn't perfect however, as Harden is probably still not close enough to really effect Aldridge. Asik also needs to show more urgency to get down to Robin Lopez and get a body on him.
So as I hopefully laid out, Aldridge is definitely having his way with Houston. You can't take anything away from him, when they're just giving him the ball and getting out the way he's dominating. But in these certain situations, Houston is not doing themselves any favors. Asik defended Aldridge a whole lot more in Game 2 than he did in Game 1, and Jones a lot less. Asik actually did a very solid job. It will be interesting to see how or if Houston adjusts more in the coming game.
Now let me say, I obviously do not know what Houston's correct rotations are. These are all assumptions on my part, but I believe them to be right.
So with Portland, you're looking at a team that uses a very high percentage of ball screens in their offense. During the regular season the PnR made up of about 25% of their possessions, during the post season that number is down just slightly to 24%. That's a really high number, for comparisons sake Houston was only around 15% during the regular season.
So what is Houston doing to defend the PnR?
In Game One, they elected to what I like to call "shadow" the ball. As you can see in the below image, Dwight has two feet in the paint, no hedge (thought that would have been an earlier image), probably a little late, and not being ultra aggressive to stop the ball. The breakdown comes with Asik, who needs to be a step further underneath the rim, having both feet inside the restricted circle, instead of one. Even James Harden is aware of this, as he's pointing to where Asik should be.
Next we have some of the fundamental work I spoke of yesterday and earlier in this post. I don't even have any explanation for what Dwight was trying to do here, but by the time he got his head around Batum already had a step on him:
One of the first things I learned about basketball was to never have your back to the ball, see man/ball, etc. To make matters worse, Dwight gets out rim ran by Aldridge who essentially beats him to the spot, gets the foul, and goes to the line.
Here is another example of how Houston elected to defend ball screens in Game 1. You can see Howard laying off or "shadowing" Batum.
Houston actually played well initially, as Lin quickly realized what Portland was doing and recovered to Aldridge to contest before he could get a shot up. Dwight left off of Batum however, and left him wide open on the wing for an open three, which he hit.
A lot of Aldridge's points came from him simply winning the one on one matchup against Terrence Jones. Whether Aldridge was in the high post, low post, isolating from mid range, didn't matter. He had his way with Terrence Jones. He also had a stretch where four or five straight shots came from the low post, against a number of different defenders. Jones, Asik, Garcia, and Parsons. Houston never attempted to bring a double. Here is a sequence of images displaying a masterful job by Terrence blocking out:
It was quickly evident in Game 2 that Houston changed their approach to defending ball screens, as they chose to show more aggression towards the ball. I didn't mention it above, but Houston also gave up a lot of dribble penetration in Game 1, which led to easy baskets at the rim or open shooters.
In this particular set you see a little screen the screener action, but you will also see Dwight playing much more aggressive up on the ball, hedging, trapping, doubling down on Lillard, whatever you want to call it. The trade off here is that you are also leaving the screener, which means someone has to make the necessary rotation. My money would be on Harden is the guy that needs to make that rotation out to the corner, but he's standing in no mans land not guarding anyone.
Next up we have another pick and pop, this time with Terrence Jones hedging on the ball. He expects Dwight to come out and contest the shot, but as you can see in the image below, Dwight misses the rotation. I let the video roll a little longer before I captured the image so that you could see Terrence Jones literally walking down the paint with his arms out at his side bitching that Dwight did not make the rotation. That's good I guess that Jones knows what rotations need to be made, but problem is Jones does not do his job either, as he was supposed to account for boxing out Robin Lopez. This is terrible effort from both Dwight and Jones, and it results in another open look for Aldridge.
Another example of Houston being aggressive hedging on ball screens, but this play highlights Aldridge's great midrange abilities. Houston again allows an open shot, but Aldridge passes up the look:
Maybe he passes it up because of the incoming Asik, though I have no doubt that he could have gotten it off clean. But he pump fakes, brings it back down, only to go right back up and drain it right in Asik's face.
In this next play, Asik and Aldridge are busy battling for position nearly 20 ft from the basket, which does not allow Asik to get out and hedge on the screen, which allows Wesley Matthews to get dribble penetration. Parsons then needs to do a better job at "jamming" the roller, but he does not which allows Aldridge a free roll to the rim.
Lastly, this particular play is probably the closest to what Houston is looking for on their rotations. As you can see in the below image, Harden is already making the rotation off the pass by Mo Williams:
This still isn't perfect however, as Harden is probably still not close enough to really effect Aldridge. Asik also needs to show more urgency to get down to Robin Lopez and get a body on him.
So as I hopefully laid out, Aldridge is definitely having his way with Houston. You can't take anything away from him, when they're just giving him the ball and getting out the way he's dominating. But in these certain situations, Houston is not doing themselves any favors. Asik defended Aldridge a whole lot more in Game 2 than he did in Game 1, and Jones a lot less. Asik actually did a very solid job. It will be interesting to see how or if Houston adjusts more in the coming game.
