TrailBlazing Offense (part 1)
Part Two - Part Three
In rewatching some of the plays I wanted to use for discussing Phoenix's poor pick and roll D, I kept noting to myself 'hey, that was a nice little action Portland ran to get into the PnR.' Meanwhile, my guy Zach Lowe noted "POR offense is gorgeous to watch."
In rewatching some of the plays I wanted to use for discussing Phoenix's poor pick and roll D, I kept noting to myself 'hey, that was a nice little action Portland ran to get into the PnR.' Meanwhile, my guy Zach Lowe noted "POR offense is gorgeous to watch."
Wes Matthews: just offscreen to the left And then during the first half of Monday's win in Brooklyn, (where doing the fourth quarter the hone fans sounded like they were yelling "Boooooooo-rooklyn"), Portland's offense hummed. The ball moved, players moved. Brooklyn's defenders where just a little late, a little out of position and Wes Matthews went all Pleasantville. Of course Brooklyn's neanderthal iso-ball routine might make anyone look fluid by comparison.
Damien Lillard is a key as he has the freedom and ability to simply break his man down and head to the basket anytime he senses an opening.Upon careful viewing, the first thing that became apparent was how early in the shot clock the Blazers get into their offense. They aren't looking for quick shots (Portland is currently 20th in pace), but where many teams pound the ball at the top of the key for a few seconds before engaging in some desultory movement, Portland's first option is for Lillard to spot an opening and just go:
Note that the above (like all of the plays illustrated here) come off of makes, either field goals or free throws. Even in semi-transition or secondary break, Portland almost immediately has multiple ball and player movements so that when the team gets into the meat of the offense (often a Damian Lillard/LeMarcus Aldridge pick-and-pop), the defense is not quite set:
Portland gets a wide open three in 4 seconds off offense off of a Brooklyn make. Having the help defender a little out of position can make a big difference to the success of a possession- above, the whole play works by taking advantage of Evans' fundamentally correct instinct to protect the paint.
Many of Portland's quick hitters come out of the "horns" set, which turns Portland's lack of a traditional post up big into a strength by bringing the defense to the top of the floor and keeping the lane clear for Lillard and to a degree Batum, Matthews and Mo Williams. The horns set allows for the ball to reverse from one side of the floor to the other fairly quickly, as we see here:
Many of Portland's quick hitters come out of the "horns" set, which turns Portland's lack of a traditional post up big into a strength by bringing the defense to the top of the floor and keeping the lane clear for Lillard and to a degree Batum, Matthews and Mo Williams. The horns set allows for the ball to reverse from one side of the floor to the other fairly quickly, as we see here:
5 players in motion, 4 players touch the ball ending in an open shot in about 5 seconds of offense. Even though the elbow to elbow passes between the bigs don't completely reverse the floor, they completely set up the play, as Johnson cannot overplay Matthews quick post up:
A lot of this early action seems designed to get the ball to Lillard on the move with the defense already slightly scrambled:
Again, 5 seconds of offense, five players moving, multiple passes and an open shot.
I'll get to it more in the next post on Portland's offense which will focus on Aldridge and how he really serves to make everything go, but this quick hitting horns set also allows for a lot of "Dirk postups" for Aldridge:
Now this isn't a great look, but it is a very good one, as LMA is one of the better midrange shooters in the league. Additionally, just having to account for this quick midpost play opens up more options for quick continuity:
None of these examples appear to be set plays. Rather, they simply flow from the continuity of Portland's offense, which utilizes spacing, movement and the threat of excellent shooting to make the defense react to multiple options and looks at every moment.
To this point in the season, when someone other than Lillard is starting the offense, this initiation seems to come a second or two slower. While Batum and Matthews are always likely to be slightly more methodical than a natural point like Lillard, Mo Williams seems likely to improve in this regard as the season goes on. Given that he is not used to playing with coaches who are offensively shall we say adventurous (the last 4 coaches he played for? Tyrone Corbin, Vinny Del Negro, Mike Brown, Larry Krystkowiak), I would expect it to take him some game time to become better used to a motion based offense.
In the next post about Portland's offense, I'll show some of the ways that Aldridge stands out in semi transition and as a passer.
Part Two - Part Three
To this point in the season, when someone other than Lillard is starting the offense, this initiation seems to come a second or two slower. While Batum and Matthews are always likely to be slightly more methodical than a natural point like Lillard, Mo Williams seems likely to improve in this regard as the season goes on. Given that he is not used to playing with coaches who are offensively shall we say adventurous (the last 4 coaches he played for? Tyrone Corbin, Vinny Del Negro, Mike Brown, Larry Krystkowiak), I would expect it to take him some game time to become better used to a motion based offense.
In the next post about Portland's offense, I'll show some of the ways that Aldridge stands out in semi transition and as a passer.
Part Two - Part Three
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