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I tweeted about how well Conley was dealing with Detroit's high pressure on Tuesday & using it against them. Figured I'll give you a look at what I meant. Quick #videothread...
1/x
1/x
Detroit wanted to ball deny & force Conley outside. They know he's lethal when he gets to the middle, so they kept trying to push him outside. Conley said, "uh, OK." Here he is getting an easy layup because he & Niang are both ready when Delon Wright lunges out at him. 2/x
Better example here w/ Mike on ball. McGruder gets up high well before the screen comes. He's essentially pre-icing because they'd rather Mike drive baseline than get to the nail (middle of FT line). Stewart's hedge is sloppy, so Mike accelerates, bends whole D towards him. 3/x
Look at how crazy narrow that passing window was.
Bigger point is that, even though they're denying him middle, Mike still has an insane internal radar for where the other 9 guys are. Still makes an on-target, on-time pass going across his body + through multiple defenders. 4/x
Bigger point is that, even though they're denying him middle, Mike still has an insane internal radar for where the other 9 guys are. Still makes an on-target, on-time pass going across his body + through multiple defenders. 4/x
He was just very ready for this (this is how Det's 2nd unit defends regularly). They are actually a pretty good defensive unit. Several variations of that bench group have insanely good halfcourt D numbers. They turn teams over a lot by getting frisky up top. Good eFG D, too. 5/x
But Mike was just ready with ALL his counters. Like here, he actually goes early. Stewart is supposed to hedge at the level, but because Mike goes so quick, he's not ready, he just backpedals. Conley attacks that indecision. "Oh you want me to go baseline? OK." 5/x
This might be my fav. They jump out to deny Mike, so he makes a little V-cut. McGruder has to chase him, so he's not in position to show on the backpick for Gobert. The Jazz run that UCLA cut for Rudy a lot. Here, it's Mike using Detroit's pressure to get them off balance. 6/x
Some of this seemed to be a Mike-specific scheme (they were terrified of letting Mike get middle), but even in general, the Jazz were well prepared to punish Det for lunging into passing lanes. Lot of really nice backdoor assists in that one. Jazz knew the scouring report. 7/end
