Thunder's stay-or-switch mentality a key to slowing Pacers' high-octane offense

New York Times

2 days ago

OKLAHOMA CITY — Twenty-four hours before Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Iman Shumpert — currently working as a correspondent for ESPN — took a break from his afternoon duties to reminisce on his playing days.
On basketball's biggest stage, the former NBA champion harkened back to the battles his Cleveland Cavaliers had against Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and the Golden State Warriors. Shumpert, then regarded as one of the most physical pound-for-pound defenders in the league, said he identified with the likes of the Oklahoma City Thunder's Lu Dort and Alex Caruso, particularly with the mental requirements of defending against screen-heavy opposition — a tactical part of this current matchup between the Thunder and the Indiana Pacers.
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'Aggression,' Shumpert told The Athletic, of the key to negation. 'If you go back and watch what me and J.R. (Smith) did when we got to Cleveland, there was something we used to do with the Knicks — as part of that 'Knickstape' era. We would grab each other's arm, because we wanted to be even more locked in on a string. Defensively, when we used to talk about building our shell, we would come together. If you were going to switch, you had to literally push (the opponent) to where you needed him to go and vice versa. It would end up in a closeout.
'The only thing you have to remember in switching is, 'I'm running through him if this screen looks cute.' If it looks like it could be a slip or they're just running past, we're not switching. If we are switching, it's to get a steal or jump on you to make you change hands. But there has to be a goal involved with the switch. Any switch that's not aggressive can't be mentioned in the playoffs.'
After listening to Shumpert, I scoured the Internet, sifting through clips from both his stints in New York and Cleveland, searching for possessions where the tandem locked arms while attempting to defend screening action. This instance below in 2013 was one of the closest, ironically against the Pacers. Here, Shumpert and Smith are involved in a ball screen with George Hill and Paul George. If you look closely, you can see Shumpert shove George in Smith's direction before jumping out to latch on to Hill.
In the 2016 NBA Finals, the Cavaliers shifted the majority of their focus to Curry and Thompson, and while Smith isn't involved here, Shumpert (initially matched up with Thompson) and LeBron James (matched up with Curry) are. The Curry-Thompson off-ball screening action is tricky to navigate in real time, so by Shumpert nudging Thompson toward James and James nudging Curry toward Shumpert, their freedom of movement is limited.
This Thunder squad is different defensively from Shumpert's former teams, with Oklahoma City home to multiple All-NBA defenders and physical, tenacious ball stoppers. The Tyrese Haliburton-led Pacers aren't a mirror image of Curry's Warriors teams, either, as there are no Hall of Fame shooters on the roster.
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But the similarities are there. Indiana, much like Golden State, values ball and player movement and uses multiple live ball screens to confuse opponents and generate efficient half-court looks. And Oklahoma City, like Cleveland, would prefer to keep its matchups unaltered, but is comfortable switching if needed. Through the first two games of this year's finals, it's clear the Thunder's key to success is switching — determining whether they should, what happens when they do and the necessary level of aggression regardless of the approach.
When asked about the most important aspect of defending Indiana's ball screens, Thunder forward Jalen Williams was clear.
'Communication,' Williams said. 'Obviously, we have schemes in place. I don't want to get into too much matchup-oriented stuff. A lot of it is just being physical into the screen, making sure our communication is early and loud. That's been kind of the biggest thing. From there … we have really good defenders that can sniff a lot of plays out.
'I think there's an old saying: 'Talk it, touch it, switch it' … probably replace the 'switch it' part. A lot of it is being able to be close enough to your man to hear the coverage call and all that.'
The tail end of Williams' explanation, removing the switching, gives some insight into the foundation of Oklahoma City's defensive principles. According to Synergy tracking data, the Thunder avoided switching on ball screens nearly half the time (48 percent), allowing just 0.90 points per chance — the fourth-best mark in the NBA. This makes sense given the presence of Dort and Caruso, two of the league's best players at blowing up actions and staying glued to their matchup. They were just as successful on switches (24 percent), allowing 0.91 points per chance.
In the postseason before the finals, those numbers differ slightly. The Thunder are still an elite team going over screens (51 percent, 0.78 points per possession allowed). But the Pacers are unlike any team they've faced. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault referred to Indiana as a 'conceptual offense' that plays 'a very distinct style.' The Pacers have led the playoffs in passes made, assists created and distance covered, all while being in the upper quartile in ball screens and actions.
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That level of offensive sophistication often puts teams in a bind. While the Thunder are the league's most efficient defensive unit, they're not immune to mistakes. Oklahoma City's stay-or-switch question boils down not just to personnel, but also location on the floor.
The Pacers were credited with 31 direct picks in Game 1, according to Synergy, scoring a whopping 1.50 points per chance on plays that resulted in a direct shot and 1.45 on those that followed with an extra pass, both extremely efficient numbers. This was just the third matchup this season of the two teams. Indiana increased its volume in Game 2, totaling 43 direct picks.
The Thunder found success in Game 2 through a combination of ball screen location, aggression and overall defensive alignment. Most NBA teams run pick-and-rolls at the top of the key and will attack left or right depending on the set, personnel or defense. Against Oklahoma City, Indiana has kept things even, initiating action at the top of the key 50 percent of the time and going left 37 times and right 36 times.
So why do the Thunder want to ensure the Pacers attack the right side of the floor? For starters, it allows them to maintain a relatively compact shell (area within all five defenders) while keeping the potential help defense alert. Consider this possession below, with Andrew Nembhard bringing the ball up the floor, Myles Turner in the slot and Pascal Siakam in the corner. Oklahoma City knows that a) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is going to fight through this screen; b) Chet Holmgren is prepared to hang back near the nail for potential cleanup duty; and c) Caruso will inch slightly toward the ball, creating an even tighter shell. The baseline also serves as a fourth defender of sorts.
So what looks like ordinary ball screen defense is actually a calculated response. Nembhard's hesitation is caused by Holmgren's presence, which allows Gilgeous-Alexander to make a play on the ball. In Game 2, the Thunder held the Pacers to just 0.74 points per chance on left-sided ball screens, compared to 1.33 on right-sided ones. (Oklahoma City is allowing 0.94 points per chance through the first two games when defending the left area of the floor.)
The more the Thunder can keep their intended defenders attached, the more creativity they have making aggressive plays as a domino effect. Per Synergy, Oklahoma City went over 58 percent of ball screens, compared to just 39 percent in Game 1. Dort is nearly impossible to dislodge, even as he runs through two screens. The action is kept on the strong side, allowing Dort to crowd Haliburton's airspace, forcing Bennedict Mathurin to attack Williams (not a good idea), resulting in yet another turnover. Location, aggression, precision and decision.
'We have to play to our principles,' Holmgren said. 'We've been working on them all year. But you really have to communicate when it's loud, especially when somebody's up guarding the ball. They can't see everything behind them. They're trusting you to communicate with them. Whoever's guarding the screener kind of, whether they're in coverage or something else, they got to trust the people behind them to communicate with them what's going on, trust everybody is going to be in the right spots, try to execute over and over again.'
(Photo of the Thunder defending against Tyrese Haliburton: Logan Riely / NBAE via Getty Images)