Spencer Hawes' inspired play late in game three and carried over into game four has been a pleasant surprise, and absolutely crucial to the Sixers 3-1 lead in their first round series with the Chicago Bulls, but the big theme, and the potentially unsolvable problem for Tom Thibodeau is the play of Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner, in tandem.
Jrue is averaging 19.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5 assists on 45.5% from the floor, 37.5% from three, and most importantly, over 4 free throw attempts per game through the first four. Evan Turner is at 14/6.3/3.8 and has gotten to the line over 5 times per game. The numbers are nice, but what they don't tell is the conundrum their play has caused for Thibodeau.
When Derrick Rose went down, the Bulls lost their streak-stopper on the offensive end. They lost the guy who could beat the best defense with an out-of-this-world move. His absence means the Bulls need to operate more like the Sixers on the offensive end. They need to create mismatches, they need to move the ball and run really crisp sets to get their shooters good looks. Quite often, that means they need to have five offensive players on the floor to be able to generate a good look, and against the Sixers even that doesn't work a lot of the time. The big problem here is that Chicago's best five offensive players are not their five best defensive players.
Which brings us right back to Jrue and Evan. C.J. Watson cannot guard Jrue. Flat out, in isolation, Jrue gets wherever he wants and gets whatever shot he wants when Watson is on him. It doesn't end with Watson, though. Lucas, CJ, Rip, Korver. None of those guys can guard Jrue. The same list applies to Turner. Put any of those guys on either Jrue or Turner and the Sixers have a mismatch. A mismatch that allows the Sixers' guards to penetrate either to get shots for themselves, get open looks for the bigs, get open drive-and-kick looks from three for Iguodala or the other guard, or to get to the line.
Yesterday's atrocious shooting in the first half by the guards wasn't nearly as troubling as you might think. Jrue and Turner kept shooting, yes, but they weren't just heaving up 20-footers off the dribble. Their misses were coming in the lane, at the rim. They were blowing by their men and getting to the hoop. The Bulls had to collapse, they had to collapse, they had to give and give and give until four guys were stacked in the paint, which meant wide open looks from the outside, offensive rebounds and a ton of trips to the line.
The Sixers have built their defense around stout perimeter defense. Stopping perimeter players before they can put pressure on the weak interior defense. What they're doing to the Bulls on the offensive end is the exact opposite. Continually applying pressure on the Bulls bigs - a group more capable than most of handling the assault - eventually leads to easy points. Easier shots than the Bulls are accustomed to yielding, offensive boards, trips to the line and foul trouble for the Chicago bigs.
Thibodeau has two perimeter defenders on his roster who may have a chance at slowing down Turner and Jrue. Luol Deng and Ronnie Brewer. At least, Deng can probably handle Turner, I don't think he's quick enough to stay with Jrue off the dribble. The big problem is Thibodeau really can't afford the luxury of playing a defensive specialist who doesn't contribute on the offensive end, not to mention the fact that his offense is completely sputtering even when he has his absolute best offensive five on the floor.
The luxury Doug Collins has at this point is he can put his best defensive unit out there, stymie the Bulls offense, and on the other end, even when the game gets ugly. Even when the Bulls are taking away their normal sets, he's got at least one playmaker with a mismatch. When all else fails, he can isolate Jrue with Watson on him, or Turner with Rip on him, and the Sixers are going to get a decent look, or better. It's kind of like the luxury the Bulls usually have with Rose, only Rose has that mismatch against everyone, not just guys like Korver and Rip.
Of course, none of this matters if Collins doesn't take advantage, something he's been unwilling to do most of the time this season, or maybe it's just that he thought Lou filled this role best in other matchups. Whatever the reason, he's ridden Jrue and Evan down the stretch over the past two games. He's let them abuse their mismatches and he's come away with two big, big wins. Now just do it again tomorrow night.
Monday practice video: Evan Turner and Lou Williams on trying to close out Chicago in Game 5 Tuesday:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/blogs/sports_columnists/tom_moore/sixers-turner-williams/youtube_6129132c-0bc1-5dc2-9e7b-f5c8196e3fff.html
Noah is officially out for tomorrow correct?
I haven't heard anything official, yet. Wouldn't surprise me if he tried to play, though I doubt he'd really be able to.
NBA Today (an ESPN podcast) said he was out for tomorrow's game (and they made it seem official). But I haven't seen it in print.
Coincidentally I received a text from ESPN alerts when I was reading this. Thiboadeau is quoted as saying that Noah is 'likely out' tomorrow.
Hey Brian, After watching Turner's first two seasons, how optimistic are you about his continued progress in the years to come, and what do you see as his ceiling? I think he has shown major strides this year but has also had problems with consistency. After seeing Jrue and Turner play well together in this series, I want to be very hopeful about the future of the Sixers' backcourt but at the same time stay somewhat realistic.
I'll have plenty about this when the season's over. For now, I just hope they continue to play this well together.
Suffice to say, the next round should assist in your realism.
Baron Davis another victim of the ACL/MCL double whammy, partial patella tendon tear - i'd guess his career is over
I was listening to an orthopedist the other day on 710 AM radio and though the Nike douche who bad mouthed Rose on Twitter for going with Adidas wasn't right that Nike wouldn't have hurt him - it's possible that newer technology on shoes might be an issue - there's no give in the shoes
How many guys messed up their ACL's in Chuck Taylors, all this fancy new technology might actually be bad for the guys when they cut if there's no give
I don't think it is the lack of give as much as it is a combination of additional traction and that all players are now weight lifters.
That's an odd fact that I've noticed. NBA players in the 80's didn't have much muscle tone. Just look at a picture of Larry Bird from the 80s. I wonder if that progression has made players more stiff.
Hah, Jrue is putting up great numbers. Just like what Iggy put up prior to his extension:
Iggy 2007/8:
19.9/5.4/4.8/2.1/0.456
Jrue 2012 playoffs:
19.8/5.8/5.0/1.0/0.455
Wonder what Jrue gets extended for? Does the plethora of big name PG's hurt or help him?
Great recap Brian - but as much as we rip on Doug for not being the great in-game coach, doesn't he deserve credit for keeping both of these guys on board with what he's trying to do?
Saw an interesting column today by Spike Eskin of all people who hit on that - how many other coaches, like say a certain one with braces who we have all completely forgotten about, would actually have lost one or both of these guys instead of getting them to both raise t heir games at exactly the right time?
@SpikeEskin - Here I write about the sudden development of Jrue and Evan, and living in Bizarro-#Sixers Land http://cbsloc.al/IHIysI
Spike- nothing like his dad.
Case in point, here is a quote you would bnever here from his dad:
"The truth is most likely somewhere in the middle. Which is a place in today’s sports talk and media atmosphere we’ve all forgotten, and I can be as guilty as anyone."
Jrue is about to become the 17th player in NBA history to acrue 1+ playoff win shares by age 21.
Here is a table of playoff stats for jigh WS/48 players ate age 21 who played regular minutes. Jrue's numbers are impressive.
http://bkref.com/tiny/s2fuV
...don't look now but Reggie Evans and Speezy are going at it in LA
It's almost certain that we'll be seeing the 6ers and C's go at it soon and I'm going to go ahead and ponder the match-up.
I think that the 6ers are built to beat a team like the Celtics in a series. Of their starters only Rondo can be considered to be in his prime. Outside of the expected contributions from Allen, Pierce, and Garnett, there's little they can count on. Bass is a strong and athletic guy who can hold position in the post but he lives and dies by his jump shot. After him there's who, Avery Bradley? A nice prospect to pencil in down the line, but we're talking about next week potentially.
I think a critical match up is Thaddeus and Bass. It isn't the decisive factor for the series, but on the road to the ECF, Thaddeus is going to need to contribute despite his match-up strength. We cannot discount his lack of contribution because of poor match-ups in Taj Gibson or Joel Anthony. He's good enough to impose his will in brief spurts and support that with hustle plays. That's going to have to come through or else he's just as expendable as the next guy.
Another question mark is Brand and whoever defensively. He's the only guy the 6ers have down low but he can't close out against Bass and Garnett. He just doesn't have the legs. It's one thing when you know it's coming from Boozer and nobody else. It's one thing when there's absolutely no pressure from the opposing point to put you on your heels. Spencer Hawes is in the same boat but anything from him defensively is just extra.
The last thing I'll mention is Iguodala's Achilles. Allen and Pierce are a deadly efficient duo. I have faith in Jrue limiting Allen's impact because he doesn't pose a threat on the drive and can be chased into limited effectiveness. Pierce is another sort of beast, and I would go so far as calling this the most critical factor of the series. Coming back around to the post topic, if Jrue and Evan can put the work in and let Iguodala focus only on negating Pierce (a la Afflalo vs. Kobe), or at least offsetting his efficiency, I think the ECF is a possibility.
We're a long way from Chicago in 6.
Semi long but great article about Joey Crawford in the NYTimes this weekend:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/sports/basketball/joey-crawford-sounds-off-on-35-years-as-an-nba-referee.html?_r=1
Interesting story, thanks for the link.