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OK, time for a #videothread! Because Bogey/Niang/Clarkson all went nuts offensively, the storyline will be about them last night. But Rudy was dominant defensively, so let& #39;s walk through them, starting with the play that prompted this tweet. Here goes... 1/ https://twitter.com/danclayt0n/status/1387603672012496898">https://twitter.com/danclayt0...
2/This frame tells the story of why this matters. The *instant* the pass is out, Gobert& #39;s attention is back on Metu. Ball hasn& #39;t even gotten to him yet and Gobert is fully back in front. But more importantly, look at where the other 3 defenders are. At home. Not needing to help.
3/That& #39;s huge. Most tms bring help to P&R. Utah& #39;s great 3pt def is in part because they don& #39;t need leave shooters to help Rudy. Like here: Rudy cuts off the drive, which lets Niang get back in front. But nobody comes off their man to tag Metu because they know Rudy has him, too.
(Side note: Niang deserves his own D thread from last night. But anyway...)
4/Let& #39;s zoom out & look at Rudy& #39;s entire first half. We& #39;ll see more of the same, but if we go chronologically, here& #39;s Rudy using his awareness & length to save a bucket and turn it into 2 pts for Utah.
4/Let& #39;s zoom out & look at Rudy& #39;s entire first half. We& #39;ll see more of the same, but if we go chronologically, here& #39;s Rudy using his awareness & length to save a bucket and turn it into 2 pts for Utah.
5/Here are two early plays where Rudy stops the ball on *side* P&R and still gets back to impact Holmed. Empty side P&R is tough for this scheme. Almost every other team is bringing a helper to tag Holmes and then shifting back as the big recovers. Jazz don& #39;t need to.
6/By now, Sac is sick of 1 dude blowing up their P&R actions. So they try something else: they use different screeners. But watch Rudy *still* show on the ball and get back to Holmes.
Again: nobody comes in to help on Holmes, so that& #39;s the ONLY pass Haliburton has.
Again: nobody comes in to help on Holmes, so that& #39;s the ONLY pass Haliburton has.
7/Sac keeps trying to use other screeners to keep Rudy out of the P&R def. But to do that they have to park Rudy& #39;s man on a crowded weakside baseline, which makes it too easy on both these plays for Rudy to roam over to the driver while someone else plays safety on the weakside.
8/OK, that didn& #39;t work, so Sac keeps searching. Here are consecutive plays where they go back to Rudy& #39;s man screening, but have the guard snake the pick. Jazz will live with these pullups, esp because again: look at the 3 other defenders. They never have to leave the shooters.
9/Like seriously, this is great collective defense. Haliburton actually gets a clean look here because Jones moves on the screen so Joe can& #39;t get back in front. But it hardly matters. That pullup is Haliburton& #39;s ONLY option here, because everybody else is one step from their man.
10/A little more creativity from Sac here. Holmes slips this staggered pick as the backscreener, so now if Rudy& #39;s going to show on the ball someone *does* have to come in and tag Holmes. But Niang does a good job helping and then recovering. (Again, Niang was great on D too.)
11/Twice in the span of 5 seconds, Rudy is going to commit to the ball here without needing help on his guy. I like how he also directs Ingles here: "no, we& #39;re not switching, I& #39;ve got this." With a nice help from Ersan, Joe& #39;s able to recover and send his guy into Rudy a 2nd time.
12/And just for kicks, let& #39;s end with this one, where Rudy moves his feet and gets a transition block. I left the sound on for this one so you can hear Niang very loudly yell, "Hell yeah, get that shit out!" You& #39;re welcome.
Too long? Oops. That was only the 1st half, too! Simply too many plays that show why Gobert is a nightmare for other teams to score against, & why his ability to guard multiple guys allows helpers to stay home. Opponents just don& #39;t have good options when Rudy is this good. /end
