Basketball Articles
Some Defensive Things to Look For in the Oklahoma Game
Posted by Trips Right on February 21st, 2009 under Basketball
Defensively, Texas is going to have to play a game of pick your poison tonight, as many teams have to do when facing Oklahoma. Allowing Blake Griffin to operate unencumbered all over the floor is an exercise in futility and is quite frankly begging for the super soph to foul out your entire frontcourt. So, to defend Blake Griffin, and Oklahoma as a whole look for the Horns to do the following.
Let Blake Dominate the Basketball
As is common with most stars, Griffin has a tendency to dominate or hold the basketball to the detriment of his team in the halfcourt. Movement of the other floor players becomes minimal as players stand and watch while BG surveys the defense and waits for the double that almost always comes. It’s in Texas’ best interest to allow Blake to hold the basketball when he’s 15 ft away from the bucket. If he wants to shoot it, fine. If he wants to turn and back down my big, cool. I’ve got something for him. Texas needs to allow Blake to catch the ball away from the basket and then keep from doing anything overly aggressive to force his hand. Let him catch it. Play sound. Wait for him to make his move when he’s on the perimeter. If he takes his time doing so, even better. Which leads me to my next key…
Help Big and Quick Down Low, Help Slow and Small On the Perimeter
If Griffin does get post catches in the scoring area, the double must come quickly, aggressively, and hopefully from the small forward position or bigger. The double has to come from a player that has a fighting chance to bother Griffin while not allowing BG to split the double team. Look for Texas to attack BG with a double team on the block from Damion James or Gary Johnson. They’re big and athletic enough to make a difference.
As I alluded to in point number 1, when BG catches the ball facing up I wait for him to declare before I bring help. And when he does declare my help is coming only after he’s put the ball on the floor and hopefully turned his back on the double. When he’s backing down my big, I’ve got a 1 or a 2 coming to steal the basketball at best, or force Blake to pick up his dribble at worst. When getting help, however, Griffin’s defender must create a solid enough base to keep BG from getting the baseline and neutralizing the double team. This is done with a power step that puts one foot out of bounds along the baseline so if Griffin tries to get baseline, it’s either a charge or BG is out of bounds. Too often defensive players relax when receiving double team help and we’ve also seen it result in a quick Griffin spin to get baseline followed by a tomahawk yoke.
Know Who You’re Guarding
OU is going to use Griffin as a ball screener and a baseline screener to free up dribble penetration and shooters in an effort to punish defenders that are hesitant to hedge or show for fear of losing Griffin. Texas needs to play smart in these scenarios and show or hedge differently depending on the offensive player’s skillset. For instance, if Willie Warren is getting a ball screen from BG 30 feet from the basket and Dex is helping the screen, Dex has to know that the biggest threat is allowing Warren to turn the corner or split the hedge. Instead of worrying about Warren rising up and hitting a 25 footer, Dex needs to show for a count to stop penetration allowing Warren’s man to recover. That’s it. If Warren shoots the deep jumper it’s a win for Texas regardless of outcome.
If BG is setting a baseline screen to free up Johnson, BG’s man must show aggressively enough to chase Johnson off the 3 ball because Austin wants to catch and shoot instead of penetrating to the rack. The rest of the defense then needs to be prepared to help to Griffin who will almost assuredly be diving to the goal.
Two screening scenarios, one is helped aggressively and the other is not based on the offensive capabilities of the opposing players.
Bumping Cutters
With so much help and recover going on, sometimes the most dangerous player on the court is the player cutting on defensive help. Taylor Griffin has killed teams by cutting off of Blake’s interior double teams. Pattilo is new to the party, but he’s a player with great athletic ability that can thrive cutting to the goal. Texas’ rotation must realize that it simply isn’t enough to rotate to the pass out of the double team. Guards and the small forward off the ball need to know when a double is coming and then bump the OU cutter off his path to the goal. This is one of the most difficult assignments in defensive basketball because it requires anticipation of the rotation as well as the discipline to not be caught ball watching.
Use All 15 of Your Big Fouls
Griffin is a poor foul shooter who plays almost the entire game. Texas can take advantage of BG’s foul shooting and hopefully wear down the star forward giving Hill, Pittman, and Chapman the green light to be as physical as they can be for stretches in the game.
Pressure the Ball
If there’s one weakness on this Oklahoma club it’s their lack of having a true playmaking point guard. Johnson has performed admirably in this role for the better part of the season, but I’m still not sold on his ability to make plays for teammates, while protecting the basketball when faced with terrific ball pressure. I think Doge Balbay can really bother Austin and get him out of rhythm because Austin isn’t the low to the ground water bug that seems to give Balbay fits. Austin dribbles the ball relatively high, and doesn’t have the elite quickness or strength to dislodge Doge. If I’m Texas I’ve got to take my chances getting in Austin’s jock all 90 feet to keep ou out of their offense for as long as possible.
It should be a great game. A must win.
Thoughts?
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ponderos said:
February 21st, 2009 at 11:32 am
Blake actually passes the ball really well out of the post. Look for Taylor, Pattillo or Willie cutting to the basket if their man comes over to double-team.
You’re right that the double needs to come in a hurry if he gets the ball in the low blocks, though. If they delay, he can spin and be at the basket before his defender can get past the “what” in “what in the hell do I do now?”.
View from the other side at Tilting At Windmills.
NateHeupel said:
February 21st, 2009 at 11:48 am
This entire analysis is null and void if Austin Johnson gets hot. If that happens, it won’t be enough for a defender to “show aggressively enough to scare him” because once he knows he’s hitting 3’s, he’s taking them every chance he gets.
Griffin does a very good job passing out of the double team, and Austin Johnson is a nightmare beyond the arc if he gets on track early.
The good news for UT is that Johnson is painfully inconsistent as a shooter. The bad news is that I can say the same thing about pretty much the entire Longhorn roster on offense.
Work said:
February 21st, 2009 at 11:49 am
Ponderos,
Wish your write-up had a least a tad bit of objectivity to it in order to render it not completely useless.
Bob in Houston said:
February 21st, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Pardon me, Nate, but no analysis holds if one team goes off on threes, or the other team can’t make one. Johnson is shooting the team average… if he continues to make the shots that count, well, the hat will be tipped.
Unfortunately for Texas, this has been the story for them in the B12… they give up an even 40 percent, which is next to last. It has seemed like every team they’ve played the last three weeks could dial up a desperate three when they had to have it.
What’s really bad is that they’ve made on 29.6 percent. Only 50 in 11 B12 games, when the next worst is 60 (Colorado) and the league average without Texas is about 75.
Barnes appears to have been coaching mad for the last six to eight weeks, and it’s a little late to be the good cop and try to rebuild the outside shots of Mason and Atchley, which they desperately need.
It’s no surprise that when they made 7 of 15 threes against Oklahoma State that the inside game opened up and they won going away.
bighornfan32 said:
February 21st, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Yeah it doesn’t help your reputation when you just flat out make things up. But, hey what do you expect? At least he can string together coherent strands of words. Better than your average sooner.
Trips Right said:
February 21st, 2009 at 12:31 pm
ponderos, If you could read at a third grade level you’d understand that I addressed passing out of double teams. Do we need to start posting sooner translations on this site? My six year old usually finishes his homework early so I’d be happy to let him on here to decode the mysticism that is the English language for you.
Nate, so let me get this straight, you’re saying that if Austin Johnson doesn’t miss a shot and hits every 3 he takes, then my analysis is moot? Dude, that’s cutting edge. Manifest declarations such as this should be heralded from every corner of the globe. Jeezus.
Oh and by the way, Texas is favored in the game. That’s right, Vegas thinks Texas is going to win.
Scipio Tex said:
February 21st, 2009 at 12:33 pm
If Vegas is so smart, how come it’s in Vegas?
ftf said:
February 21st, 2009 at 1:29 pm
folks on this site sure do think about dick a lot
Church said:
February 21st, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Trips, for entertainment purposes only what do you think about the line?
Trips Right said:
February 21st, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Tough to invest in this Texas team in basically a pick ‘em game vs. the number 1 team in the country.
dedfischer said:
February 21st, 2009 at 4:25 pm
This is funny to me.
PB @ BON said:
February 21st, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Another excellent write up, Trips. Enjoyed it as always. I advocated dabbling in the early going with a different poison, and if you’re right about there being no way to live with B. Griffin in M2M without rampant fouling, the wrong one.
My concerns: I worry, in particular, about our handling well both rotations on the perimeter (a notable weakness of our small guard group), and secondarily about our discipline/effectiveness bumping cutters and denying lanes to force the ball back out and around. Whatever Rick Barnes’ reputation, his best defensive teams by far were squads with the personnel to play straight man. Finally, I worry about our annoying tendency to rack up fouls on the interior in every case — opponent, scheme, talent disparity be damned.
Even setting aside our own tendencies, watching OU this year, when teams try to double Griffin (almost always, if they don’t zone) the Sooners still shoot a million free throws. Blake still gets his when he’s got room to split or drop baseline (or the double’s just too slow), but Taylor Griffin, Willie Warren, and even Ryan Wright when he plays — all three live at the line, beneficiaries of weaknesses in the help defense. You’re definitely right that this is pick your poison, but — at least where fouls are concerned — the potential downsides aren’t much different no matter which fruit you bite.
We may both be proven fools, but I’m gonna be interested to see what Rick does to open the game. He likes to zig when the opponent is likely to assume a zag, and he’d prefer to play as much straight up man as he can get away with, anyway, where Texas can better control other key facets of the game at which OU normally excels…
Anyway, thanks for the good read. Gonna be fun to watch this one, and tense, given the must-win stakes on our side. Hook ‘em
PB @ BON said:
February 21st, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Rick tells Erin Andrews they will double. I’m the only insane one.
Trips Right said:
February 21st, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Peter, thanks, bro. In any event it was a big win.
I actually agree with your take on playing BG straight up. I think Pittman can handle BG inside. And I’m not overly concerned with BG shooting 15 footers over the top. Thankfully it’s something we won’t have to worry about again. Unless we play them in the conference tourney.