Boston Celtics bust Miami Heat zone defense, and a question arises about the future of NBA offense

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2020/01/boston-celtics-bust-miami-heat-zone-defense-and-a-question-arises-about-the-future-of-nba-offense.html





Boston Celtics bust Miami Heat zone defense, and a question arises about the future of NBA offense




Today 3:44 AM




Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward, center, drives to the basket as Miami Heat guard Dion Waiters, left, and forward Derrick Jones Jr. (5) defend during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, in Miami. Boston won 109-101. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)AP



By John Karalis | JKaralis@masslive.com




MIAMI - The Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat, in part, because they were able to beat Miami’s zone defense.

“We came in the locker room and watched some film," Kemba Walker said after the game. We got guys moving, getting to the middle, moving the basketball."

Keep “the middle” in mind for a second. It’s important.

Let’s rewind for a hot second. Miami plays a ton of zone. They’re one of a few teams to really embrace it, and maybe the poster-team for how to do it well. Zone defense is different from man-to-man, as the name suggests, because players are assigned to zones on the floor rather than players. They basically guard whomever passes through their zone.


Here’s a basic look at a 2-3 zone.


a 2-3 zone

The “X’s” are people and the circles are the zones they cover. They call this a 2-3 zone because it’s 2 people then 3 people. If you see 1-3-1 being mentioned, the set up is a person, 3 people, then a person.

Let’s get back to “the middle.”

“The key was trying to get it to the middle there,” Gordon Hayward said after the game. “We started to get into the teeth of the zone and we were getting some easy stuff.”

So when a team plays zone and guys are defending areas on the floor, getting into certain areas creates a natural overreaction to the ball. Getting into the middle of that 2-3 zone, somewhere around the bottom of that free throw circle, forces three guys to cover the player because he’s in three different zones.

Like so...


Jaylen Brown attacks a zone

Look at all that real estate Jaylen Brown has.

He shot this, and made it. He could have dumped it down to a player along the baseline.

If you want the perfect example of how that looks, it happened a couple of weeks ago


John Karalis

@RedsArmy_John
Attack the gap twice, get it to the middle of the zone, everyone collapses and you dump it to the big who was behind everyone on the baseline. Textbook https://twitter.com/StoolGreenie/status/1216156528710803456 …

Dan Greenberg

@StoolGreenie
Basketball porn

https://twitter.com/StoolGreenie/status/1216156528710803456

4:36 PM - Jan 11, 2020


They didn’t quite pull this level of ball movement off but they did do a better job of attacking the gaps (the gaps are those soft spots in between defenders where both will react to the ball being there).

“We had to change our attack at halftime,” Brad Stevens said after the game. “Guys did a really good job of attacking it and then once we got a comfortable rhythm against it we were a little bit better.”

So right now we’ve got ourselves the basic story from this Miami game. They played a zone, Boston spent a lot of time before the half not attacking gaps and getting into the middle, they adjusted, and scoring came easier.

Now let’s get to that question about the future of offenses. For that, we’re going to get this piece from last year on Fansided, quoting Los Angeles Clippers’ Rodney McGruder, then of the Miami Heat.

“We’re just trying to not have easy blow-bys where guys can get into the paint and make easy sprays and stuff. Other teams just pass the ball around the zone. They don’t really try to penetrate it and get in the middle of the zone. Sometimes they’ll just pass it around and just shoot a 3. They play the way we want them to play.”


This is how Boston played in the second quarter.

According to this recent piece in the New York Times, NBA zone defense has jumped 50 percent from last season. It’s not a lot, but it’s growing by leaps and bounds.

Teams can’t rely exclusively on zone defense because it’s terrible once a team figures it out and at that point it can be destroyed pretty easily. The whole point of a zone right now is to throw enough possessions of it at a team to confuse them and change the flow of the game.

But if it’s happening more often, and the way to beat it is almost always by attacking it and getting into the middle of the lane, then what happens to the future of NBA offenses if teams are asking players to specifically catch the ball in the least efficient spot on the floor?

If more zone is being played, then more guys will be going to the middle of the floor with the ball. If teams are to protect the rim at all costs, decisions have to be made. If those decisions are to protect against the dump-offs to the baseline, then the offensive player will have to shoot from that 10-15 foot area.


Suddenly the mid-range artist might have more purpose. This phased out element of the game might have some use after all.

It’s impossible to know how this trajectory will really go. Wild evolutionary paths get cut short all the time. A rules tweak somewhere along the line could change everything. Maybe someone much smarter than me figures out a counter to the counter to the counter.

In the meantime, it’s pretty clear. As the zone becomes more prevalent, someone who is comfortable working in that middle space is necessary. Boston has those guys on this roster, and they can use them to attack and punish zones.

Now the question is how far will this pendulum swing?



bob
MY NOTE: Pretty interesting analysis, I think. So, mid-range shooters like DeMar DeRozan might become kings again, eh? Everything old is new again...Personally, I'd love to see that more than the 3-ball obsession we have now.


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There are multiple configurations of zone defenses. Every team plays them but I doubt it will make the pendulum swing from the weapon of choice, the 3 pointer.

Really good job of in-game adjustment by Stevens.