But It's the Other Way

Phoenix's Pick and Roll D (part 2)

Part One Here

In the last post on Phoenix's pick and roll D, I noted some of the common mistakes the roll defender was making. Now, I'm going to look at some of the mistakes being made by other defenders.  All of these examples come with the caveat that for the most part, I have no way of knowing what scheme Phoenix was attempting to run, so it's entirely possible I'm placing blame on someone for not making a rotation they weren't supposed to make. But aside from egregious errors

I see you, Morris Twins

where the players were clearly expecting different schemes or have no idea what a scheme is let alone which one they are attempting, I'm going to assume that everyone is at least attempting to do the right thing.

Part of the reason it's sometimes hard to blame the roll defender is that the ball defender is doing a poor job slowing the ball handler down. If you let an NBA guard get a free run at a big closing out on him, it usually doesn't end well:

So, aside from special situations where the ball defender goes under by design - usually guarding a non-shooting threat like Rajon Rondo, Andre Miller, Ricky Rubio, or in this case, Eric Bledsoe: 

the ball defender would like to create some space between the ball-handler and the screener to allow him to stay on the ball-handler's hip and then recover good defensive position with help from the roll defender. For example:

Now, if you recall the first post on Portland's offense, yes this play did result in an open 3 for Wes Matthews, but that doesn't change the fact that the middle pick-and-roll was reasonably well defended.

In any event, compare Livingston's positioning and effort above to Dragic's here: 

Of course, it's not as simple as just beating the dribbler to the screen. If the defender over commits to the screen side, the ball-handler has a straight-line drive to the basket as the help defender is in position to help on the screen side, but not the open side. See Eric Bledsoe here:

Watching the Suns, both Dragic and Bledsoe are consistently caught in one or the other of these errors. Unsurprisingly, due to his superior athleticism, Bledsoe is both less prone to these mistakes and better able to recover.

Phoenix's problems don't end with the two players directly involved in the PnR. Good team defense requires one or more of the other players (and in NBA schemes, usually a big) to crash the paint before recovering back to shooters. Continuing with the example of Brooklyn's defense of a Phoenix PnR:

Phoenix's help defense in this regard is at best inconsistent. Some examples: 

Similarly on the next possession:

And so I'm not just picking on the Morrises (not matter how richly deserved):

Now in the above, Goodwin at least has the explanation that A) he's a wing and usually a big would be the third man in; B) he's a 19-year old rookie and its all happening so fast; and C) he also has to worry about a Ben McLemore, who's at minimum a competent enough shooter who you don't really want to leave open for corner threes. However, preventing a dunk sort of supersedes the desire not to give up corner treys. 

Also he might ask, what is Marcus Morris doing to assist on this play.  This is a good question, and one that I'm sure Phoenix's coaching staff is asking of both Morri. Would it surprise you to learn that the Morrises are a frequent offender on this front? I bet it wouldn't.  Frye also has a tendency to get caught ball watching rather than helping.

As I noted last time, these mistakes are adding up, literally losing the Suns games:

In the above clip, Phoenix breaks down at all three levels, with Bledsoe, Frye and Morris all coming up short. These mistakes lead to an uncontested layup on the most important defensive possession of the game.

In the last post in this series, I'm going to look specifically at Miles Plumlee and note that even in the last week he appears to have improved somewhat as a PnR defender. He still is occasionally out of position or late, but he seems to recognize the correct scheme, is a willing communicator and moves his feet pretty well for a big man.