Screen Play: Pierce's Evolving Offense

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4699284/screen-play-pierces-evolving-offense


Jackie MacMullan chronicled Paul Pierce's evolving offensive game after he scored a team-high 27 points to pace the Celtics past the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night at TD Garden.


When Pierce injured his knee during the playoffs last season,
Celtics coach Doc Rivers talked about a need to bring Pierce off screens
more often in order to give him more space to work with. Now at age 35
-- and never the most athletic player to begin with -- the Celtics are
again putting a heavy emphasis on bringing Pierce off pin-downs in order
to generate open looks.



But it's almost staggering how much of his early season offense has come off screens.



With help from Synergy Sports play-type data, here's a look at Pierce's offensive output over the last four seasons:




Captain Crafty


A glance at Paul Pierce's offensive production, highlighting his
overall points per play (with percentile rank among all NBA players),
then the percentage of his top play-types (with points per play and
percentile):

SeasonOverall PPPOff ScreenTransitionSpot-upIsolation

2012-13	1.02 (81st)	22.1% (0.893, 44th)	18.2% (1.174, 54th)	14.6% (1.162, 77th)	14.2% (0.889, 71st)
2011-12	0.978 (83rd)	14.0% (0.994, 66th)	14.3% (1.14, 48th)	15.2% (0.978, 62nd)	15.5% (0.829, 70th)
2010-11	1.088 (96th)	9.5% (0.992, 72nd)	14.2% (1.364, 86th)	17.1% (1.081, 78th)	14.7% (0.941, 83rd)
2009-10	1.064 (94th)	5.5% (1.09, 89th)	17% (1.159, 51st)	17.2% (1.172, 91st)	17.9% (0.94, 80th)
* Pierce’s top play type during the 2009-10 season was pick-and-roll ball-handler, accounting for 18.3% of his plays. This season, pick-and-roll ball-handler accounts for a mere 10.3% of his plays.

Pierce's increase in shots generated off screens has leapt from one
of his least-used play-types in 2009-10 (when he was more of a
pick-and-roll guy) to his most common method of attack this season.
Pierce is clearly still getting used to that increased activity and is
doing much of his damage in transition (when he's got familiar room to
operate, including the ability to step back for 3-point shots). And as
his spot-up numbers suggest (and the eyes have confirmed over recent
games), Pierce can still free himself for step-back jumpers against even
the most athletic defenders (like Kevin Durant).


The numbers suggest that there's been little drop-off in Pierce's
offensive contributions regardless of how he generates it. Rivers talked
before Friday's game about how you can put an elite scorer into any
offense and that player is going to score. Pierce is proof that
regardless of how the Celtics utilize him, he's still going to put
points on the scoreboard.



By means of comparison, Ray Allen generated 35.9 percent of his
plays off screens in Boston last season. The Celtics likely won't ever
get that drastic with Pierce, but there's no doubt the benefit of
producing quality looks. Rivers will do whatever is necessary to keep
feeding Boston's most consistent offensive presence.



Yet again, Captain Chameleon is able to adapt to his surroundings.
Pierce always talks about giving the game what it needs, and even at an
advanced age, he's still giving the offense what it needs, just in a
different way.




bob




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Here's Jackie Mac's column that was referred to in the above ESPN-Boston column by Chris Forsberg.

http://espn.go.com/boston/nba/story/_/id/8667451/paul-pierce-pilots-boston-celtics-clutch



BOSTON -- The coach was shockingly candid in his comments; a public attempt, perhaps, to temper the player's expectations.
When Doc Rivers was asked about Paul Pierce, he explained the future Hall of Famer could no longer create the same
separation that once made him such a feared scorer, that what little
athleticism he may have possessed was waning. The inference was that
while the Boston Celtics would continue to get him the ball, it would
have to be in a different manner.

His minutes would be monitored and his game would be modified. The Celtics would run more pin-down
screens for him. They would work to create baskets for him in
transition, and stray from the isolation plays that were both Pierce's
triumphant trademark and, occasionally, his most visible blemish.

The captain said very little about any of this. He was, after all, 35 years
old, an All-Star strolling down the other side of the mountaintop, a
player who could well have been dealt for future prospects had Kevin Garnett decided to retire last summer. There was even some brief discussion about bringing him off the bench.




Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

Paul Pierce might not jump as high or move as quick as he once did, but the
captain was as good as ever during crunch time, willing the Celtics to
victory.Pierce said all the right things. It was Rajon Rondo's team, he declared, and Jeff Green
would provide him with precious minutes of rest, Pierce assured the
masses. He was happy to fulfill whatever role the Celtics asked.

All true. But c'mon now, when the game was on the line Friday night, when the ball was in his hands, when the Oklahoma City Thunder and its MVP candidate Kevin Durant were roaming the parquet in search of its ninth win in 10 tries, did
you honestly think Paul Pierce would suggest that someone else take the
big shot?

No. That's what he does.

Still.

Until further notice.

Pierce pumped in a team-high 27 points to lead the Celtics past Oklahoma City
108-100, their most significant victory of this version of the quest for
Banner 18.

It has been an uneven start to the Celtics' season.
There are so many new faces, and so many new roles for the old vets. The
litany of team concerns included indifferent defense, appalling
rebounding, disjointed rotations.

After Rivers pointedly expressed his disappointment in the team's effort at a pregame shootaround,
Pierce promised to make a difference.

He submitted a forgettable first half against the younger, quicker, more agile Thunder. But, when
the third quarter started, the captain stamped his imprint on the game,
ripping off seven straight points (a fallaway, a drive to the hole and a
3-pointer) to push Boston's lead to 8.

It was one of those stream-of-consciousness offensive explosions that provided a flashback for Kendrick Perkins, the former Celtics center who now sets bruising screens for Oklahoma City.

"Seen it before," Perkins said. "Hundreds of times. Paul can score. He'll always be able to score."

In the final quarter, Pierce strung together another 3-pointer, a pair of
free throws off an acrobatic spin move, then absolutely schooled the
overmatched Kevin Martin to push the Celtics in front 88-76. It was the kind of matchup Boston's
coaching staff is working hard to unearth so Pierce can exploit smaller
defenders.

Of course, at various points of the night, he also scored on Durant, Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefolosha. That, say his teammates, is what they call his equal-opportunity swagger.

So many of his offensive possessions seemed dubious at first blush. As he
hoisted his shot, you felt certain it would be swatted away, or his
drives rejected, or his pull-up would clang short. With no lift and no
length, yet enough guile to fill the Garden, The Truth still knows his
way around the basket.




"Pierce is one of the more crafty guys in this league,"
Thunder coach Scotty Brooks said. "You don't think he can get around
you, but he gets around you. You don't think he can get the shot off,
but he gets it off."

Sometimes, the selection is harrowing, one of
those "Oh God, don't shoot it from there" offerings that make coaches
blanch -- until it goes in.

And, when it doesn't, Rivers merely swallows hard, claps his hands and understands this is the road you walk
when you put your faith in a professional scorer.

"He's a shotmaker," Rivers shrugged.

The Celtics needed a legitimate victory over an actual contender, not Toronto or Washington without John Wall.
The dispiriting loss to San Antonio two nights earlier was still eating
away at Pierce, and he called upon his teammates to provide some
consistency and some passion.

"We've been up and down for most of
the season," Pierce said. "This was a gut-check type of win, a
look-at-yourself-in-the-mirror type of game."

And what did The Truth see when he gazed at his reflection? Although he has led the team
in scoring for much of this young season, he was shooting 41.7 percent
coming into this game, well below his career average. Rivers is right --
players are having better success thwarting Pierce in those mano-a-mano
duels that he once thrived on.

The captain loves to go for the big kill, and sometimes that leads him into that isolation netherland
that can choke the life out of Boston's offensive rhythm.

He nearly cost the Celtics in the final three minutes, when, his team up
10, he caught the ball on the right wing and launched a 3-pointer just
five seconds into the possession. His feet were so far behind the line,
it should have counted as four. Had it fallen, it could well have been
the definitive dagger to finish OKC off.

But the shot bounced away, and that miss was quickly converted into a Kevin Durant 3-pointer on the other end.

"I didn't mind that he took the shot so much," Rivers said. "It was just too far out."

On the very next possession, Pierce was whistled for an offensive foul,
then hacked Durant and sent him to the line for two. Suddenly, it was a
five-point game.

Suddenly, you weren't sure you wanted Pierce to have the ball anymore.

"I don't mind Paul shooting it," Rivers explained, "but I don't want him
dancing too much with the ball. I thought that's what he did in the
fourth quarter."

In spite of his big numbers, Pierce did not garner headlines on this night. The spotlight was squarely on Jeff
Green, the former Thunder player who scored 17 in his first appearance
against his former team.

The captain was somewhat of a footnote, once again the top scorer on a team that continues to search for its
identity. Friday's win was a step in the right direction, but the
Celtics have miles to go.

When Pierce was told that Brooks had termed him crafty, he smiled knowingly. Crafty is one of those code words for "old."

"I've been doing this a long time," Pierce said. "I've never been the most
athletic guy, but I've used my footwork and hesitation moves and my pump
fakes really well through the years over younger, quicker guys."

The younger, quicker guys left Boston disappointed on Friday. The older,
slower guy shot 8-of-16 from the floor, 7-of-7 from the line, and 4-of-6
from the 3-point arc.

The captain also had five turnovers. It's just not going to be as pretty as the days of playoff MVP trophies and
championship banners. Paul Pierce is showing his age, but that doesn't
mean he'll ever turn down the biggest shot in the biggest game.

Still.

That is, until further notice.






bob






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