They are starting to get some props for this though perhaps not enough relative to what it means overall. for one you just have to watch. You can tell they are active as heck defensively. They are all over the place all the time with a high focus on steals and deflections. for two it’s basically a matchup zone with a little more emphasis on being man to man where possible. Question: has this ever been tried consistently before by any team at any meaningful level? It makes sense, in today’s nba, for a variety of reasons. Giannis tried to guard Jimmy Buckets last night down the stretch. Guess what? They just pick every time. You can’t depend on single dominant defenders like in the 80s/90s with dominant defensive bigs anymore. for three, it requires accountability for EVERY person on the floor. Great defense always does but the style makes it more so. There’s no finger to point at a player that’s supposed to be your best defender. Everyone has to defend all the time. because of that... Hardens defense. I’m not ready to make any grand proclamations cause it can all revert back. But wtf?? I’m not talking about one solid possession. I’m talking about consistent solid defense. Still on bigs. But he’s even somehow figuring out how to guard perimeter players better. He still gets blown by but not as frequently. Maybe this is Elston Turner?? I don’t know. Someone clearly has been actually teaching him ways to play better perimeter defense. You sum all the above up... And I actually think this is the defense of the future in the nba. Even if the Lakers win a ring... more and more threes and small ball will become the way to go. HOU, Miami, Boston... even the Clippers go small a lot. the defensive equivalent of this is the matchup man switch everything zone. it still requires talent. Bad defenders will still be exposed. I hope this thread isn’t premature. Heck there was a period during the restart where they weren’t defending anything. Which points to something - there’s perhaps a risk of it going very bad, if everyone isn’t on the same page. in any case if it keeps up, then that more than anything will determine their fate this year. The key thing about a 14-0 run... is the 0. If you hold the other team to low points even if your offense is sucking you’ve still got a good shot.
Our defensive style forces players to be more attentive and help each other. I’m kind of reminded of that Don Nelson Warriors team that knocked off the Mavs in the first round years ago.
They can use the same settings as Heats, they can easy to beat Lakers. Heats did a good job to destroy Bucks.
It was the Clippers defense being greater than ours that had me saying the Clippers were better before the restart. Rockets are now secretly deserving of being favorites......but don’t tell anyone.
