Rather than focusing on winning, the team starts to focus on not losing. It sometimes works, but often it backfires. Rather than using the strategy that got them the lead in the first place, they resort to playing back on their heels a bit more, trying to prevent big plays even at the expense of allowing the opponent to progress down the field. In some ways, the Jazz’s overall style is similar to football’s “prevent defense.”Ĭoaches often use this strategy when they want to preserve a late lead by deterring big plays and forcing the opponent to burn clock. But by and large their defensive style skews more to the reactive and passive side. In fairness, Snyder has had the team experiment with some different styles this year, including switching, hedging and selective trapping. They stick to their men on the wings, fighting over most screens rather than switching, and attempting to funnel everything toward a waiting Gobert. And once in the halfcourt they get established. They force everything they can into the halfcourt. If they can’t get back, they foul to stop the play. They crash the boards and then get back in transition. The Jazz try to limit fouls, but that also means they don’t force many turnovers. This has actually been a philosophical point of emphasis for head coach Quin Snyder for the last few years. At times he’s even had more blocks than Gobert in far fewer minutes, but Gobert tends to have a greater impact on deterring and impacting shots at the rim, and proves to be a better defensive anchor for the entire team.īut the Jazz’s style goes beyond Gobert. Whiteside jumps at pump fakes, but also is rewarded by high block counts. You can see a difference even today in the way Whiteside and Gobert, now teammates, approach their rim protection duties. Gobert has focused more on playing solid defense as opposed to chasing blocks. On the contrary, he has three Defensive Player of the Year trophies, all of which came after he won his lone block title. Since then, Gobert’s block numbers have dropped, but not because he’s become a worse defender. (Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) takes the ball to the hoop, as Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell (45) and Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) defend, in NBA action between the Utah Jazz and the Washington Wizards, at Vivint Arena on Saturday, Dec. The next season, it was Gobert’s turn to lead the league, with 2.6 blocks per game, and Whiteside was right behind him in fourth place. In 2015-16, Gobert’s first year as a full-time starter, he finished third in blocks per game, still behind Whiteside’s league-leading 3.2. For years, he battled then Heat center Hassan Whiteside for the NBA’s block crown. This conservatism even shows up in the way Gobert protects the rim. Because of his ability to protect the paint with sound, fundamental defense, the Jazz have constructed a conservative defense that waits for attackers to challenge him instead of sending pressure out to blow up actions at the point of attack. Playing conservativelyįor years now, the Jazz’s defensive identity has been built around Gobert. Overall, the Jazz are pretty hard to score against when they’re set (sixth-best halfcourt defense), but once a team has “solved” that defense and found a groove, perhaps it’s harder for the Jazz to stop the bleeding. One theory: Maybe the Jazz’s conservative defensive style allows teams to get into a rhythm. A query at shows that the Jazz defense allows 113.6 points per 100 possessions that start with the Jazz leading by 10 or more, significantly worse than their overall defensive rating of 108.5. Some data would suggest that the letdown starts on the defensive end. Even in several of their wins, they’ve let opponents back into games. In seven of the Utah Jazz’s 14 losses so far this season, they have surrendered a double-digit lead on the way to defeat - like on Monday night, when a diminished Detroit squad raced back from 22 down to stun the visiting Jazz.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |