Forum Blue And Gold

A Lakers Blog. Thoughts, reflections, and the odd rant on the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA (even the Clippers).

Lakers/Jazz Preview: When the Jazz Have The Ball

by


Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz
The Lakers will go as far as their defense will take them.

That remains the mantra of this site, and for that reason we will start our preview of this first round series with what is going on when the Lakers are on defense. What the Jazz do is no secret around the league, Jerry Sloan has been running basically the same offense since the Bronze Age. The key is execution — in basketball if you execute and have guys who can shoot you are very difficult to stop. And few teams execute as well as the Jazz night in and night out.

That execution starts with one basic thing they do better as a team then anyone else in the league — set picks. Sloan is old-school and the Jazz set hard, old-school picks. Rule one on defense when dealing with picks is communication — let the man being screened know its there, and talk through it. The Lakers can get lazy about this; if they do in this series you will see a series of layups.

The most obvious place we will see this is on the high pick and roll. As the Lakers have struggled defending it at times, expect the Jazz to run it a lot until the Lakers stop it. Expect them to run it straight away, doing so makes the defensive assignments in the Lakers system less clear. Also, if you have a PG as good as Deron Williams, you should run it a lot, freeing him up to make decisions — score or set up teammates.

Darius walks us through how the Jazz like to use that play and how to defend it.

First off, this play is super dangerous just because it puts the ball in the hands of Deron and lets him create for the entire team. He has numerous options on the play and has found ways to make all of them work for successful offense from his team. So, here are some options that the Jazz run off this:

1). Williams loves to go away from the screen (usually to his left hand) and get into the lane to either score himself or set up a teammate. Normally, on the left hand sideline is their shooter (Korver, Miles) and Williams has a free path to the basket with only one helping big or the helper coming from the corner off the shooter. Williams obviously has the strength to finish inside and we don’t want to give up the uncontested corner 3, so we cannot let him go opposite the screen. This means proper communication between the guy guarding Deron and the man guarding the screener. Because we like to hedge/recover on the P&R, we need the defender on Deron to force him to the hedger to initiate our help situations in the manner we want to help. This should be fairly easy, but Williams changes directions so easily that we must stay on top of this. Tuesday night, he did this a couple of times and last year he did it repeatedly to Fisher and Farmar…We. Can’t. Let. This. Happen. Ever. He’s just too dangerous.

2). If we do force Williams to use the screen, we must hedge and recover and then rotate (when needed) effectively. When Okur sets the screen, he’ll mostly pop to the top of the key to shoot the three. This will be the hardest recovery for the big guarding him (as we’ve seen all season with ‘Sheed and Murphy and Hawes and Brad Miller and you get the point), so we have to do this well or create a rotation for another man to recover to Okur while the man originally guarding him recovers to the paint to guard a different player and defend the basket. If Boozer sets this screen he will also pop, but more to the FT line area where he can shoot his midrange J. This presents similar problems but is an easier rotation for both the recovery man and for another player who replaces in the help situation (as described in the Okur example). Boozer will also roll hard or slip the screen and we must be aware of these dives or Williams will have an easy passing lane between the man guarding him and the hedger. If we can contain the Pop/Roll man while still recovering to Williams we’ve done our job, only to have to do it all over again in 3 more seconds. Ha.

3). When Williams comes off the screen (assuming we do everything right in #2) he is still dangerous because he still has the ball in his hands and there are still other options at his disposal. In the right hand corner it’s usually AK47 or Brewer who love to cut behind their defender who is usually caught watching Deron as he comes off the screen. We have to be aware of this cut by these players because they get at least 2-3 layups a game running this action. We also must be aware of Okur (when it’s Boozer setting the initial screen) floating to the 3-point line where Williams will hit him with a pass after he collapses the D and gets into the lane. Usually the man guarding Okur is near the paint and will help on Deron’s drive, so at that point the man guarding the shooter in the opposite corner must be ready to rotate to Okur (while also being aware of his man – who *is* a shooter – in the corner) while another rotater goes to the man he left in the corner. Also, Williams can always split the screen and attack for himself like he did last night. Lots of options here, we must be ready. No one said it would be easy, right?

Williams is going to have to generate the bulk of the Jazz offense because they don’t have a good matchup anywhere else on the floor — Gasol’s length has long bothered Boozer, as has Bynum’s on Okur. I could go on but you get the idea.

Which brings us to matchups — the Lakers need to make Williams really work hard for his shots, which will be the key. And that means less of Fisher and more of Ariza or Kobe taking minutes on Deron. Off the bench, look for Shannon Brown. The bottom line is that Fisher is too slow and Farmar is not strong enough to really slow Williams. (Honestly, few are, he and Roy may be the strongest PGs in the NBA.) The Lakers need to vary the looks they give Deron, but look for the longer and stronger Ariza and Bryant to get the crunch time minutes on him.

The pick and roll is not all the Jazz run. Kwame a. breaks down some other sets.

Baseline Flex Screen: This is one of the initial actions of the Jazz offense. Okur (or Boozer), starting from the block will set a baseline flex screen for CJ Miles. If Miles is not open, he will clear through and set another baseline flex screen on the opposite side of the court for Brewer. To defend this the Lakers must 1) talk through the screens and 2) bump the cutter to allow the Laker getting screened timed to get through. Kobe cannot fall asleep on these cuts as he sometimes likes to look at the ball out top and this is where Brewer can get his points.

Downscreen for Okur: Another bread and butter play out of the Jazz offense. After D-Will makes his entry pass, he will set a hard down-screen for Okur near the block (who just set a flex screen for Miles). Sloan is a big proponent of hard screens and a big part of the Jazz offense is getting Okur free for 3’s. The Laker guards have to slow Okur down as he breaks to the top of the key and Phil Jackson has to harp about moving screens. Gasol and Odom will be given the task to shut down the perimeter exploits of the Turkish Delight.

Cross-Block Screen: If the ball is entered into the corner, the player on the strong-side block will set a cross screen for the player on the weakside block. Boozer and Milsap are very good at coming from the weak for the catch and score. If the Lakers overplay the player receiving the screen the Jazz wings (especially Kirelinko) are very good at finding the screener for a layup too. Boozer may not be 100%, but when he catches it from weak to strong with a defender on his back, he will score. Another way to limit the success of this play is to pressure the ball in the corner, making an entry pass less accessible.

Stagger-Screen for D-Will: One of the set plays the Jazz run (like the Lakers, the Jazz get most of their offense out of their basic set and are trained well to read and react to what the defense gives), is a double stagger screen for a 3. D-Will triggers the play by passing to a wing and cutting off a UCLA high-post screen from the 5 man. D-Will continues his cut away from the ball, towards the other side of the court where he receives a double staggered screen as he circles back to the opposite wing of the ball. The screen is usually set by Boozer and Brewer because if either of their players leave to get D-Will they pop (Boozer) or cut to the hole for a dunk (Brewer). The Jazz could also run this play for Korver.

One other obvious thing that I picked up after re-watching the Jazz destroy the Clippers last night (the things I do for this blog….):

The Jazz are not a running team, but they will do it off turnovers and they finish well. Deron, once he gets up a head of steam, is virtually unstoppable going to the hole. AK-47, Brewer, even Harpring can finish the break. Like any team, you need to limit the easy buckets to get the win, and simply that means taking care of the ball. Turnovers will hurt the Lakers.

Tomorrow, when the Lakers have the ball.


Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bill Bridges says

    In the Town Hall Phil described how they’ve already put together a scout team (presumeably D league players?)that has learned the Jazz sets and the Lakers are practicing defense against the sets described in this post.

    I think, much like last year, the set offense for the Jazz will become less and less effective as the Lakers defense starts anticipating the plays. The biggest risk for the Lakers is the basic pick and pop with Williams and Okur and that old chestnut, dribble penetration by Deron Williams.

  2. aubrey jones says

    Hey man I really like your site!! Very avid fan as you can see via twitter, myspace, facebook, etc. Will be in LA for game 2 so excited :)!! Anyways, just wanted to drop a line to say nice site and go lakers!!

    peace,
    aubrey a.k.a. snobrey (twitter)

  3. Gr8 Scott says

    Great post, as always. The D is the key. We’ve all said this in some way, shape or form for the whole season. Both teams will be rested and the Jazz know that getting game 1 can steal some of the momentum…but, that’s not likely to happen. This Lakers team wants to start the ball rolling forward and no team will stop it.

  4. onelove says

    Does anyone know where i can find a recent ad, in which Kobe makes a shot(a buzzerbeater, i believe) and marv albert is commenting. Different people are watching the game from cellphones, or regular tv etc…
    i believe it’s an espn ad.

  5. lil' pau says

    This preview is incredible. If there’s superior basketball writing to be found on the internet – lakers related or not – I don’t know where it may be hiding.

    Congratulations, a fantastic piece of work.

    Now if you can somehow eliminate the next 48 hours, I would appreciate that as well.

    Thanks again– extraordinary.

  6. pb says

    I’m just glad Stockton, who used to set screens while holding and sticking out legs and elbows, is not on Jazz team anymore. The current Jazz players aren’t as dirty as the old ones.

    I think the key for us is being aware of the direction of the screen. The angle is the key in going around the screen, and if we let the Jazz players get the proper spacing and angle, there’s no way to get around the screen, and we’ll be forced to switch. After which we are now vulnerable to their many options of attacks.

    Unless we start turning the ball over like crazy (Farmar and Walton-I’m looking at you), we should be able to pretty much outscore the Jazz. However, I would still like to see our team set a trend of solid defensive mindset from the get-go.

    I love having Ariza, Kobe, and Lamar as wing defenders with Pau and Drew providing lengthy help. We should be dominant defensively, too!

  8. Iggy says

    This is why Forum Blue & Gold remains the “gold standard” for Lakers blogs… quality analysis like this. Nice post Kurt

  9. wiseolgoat says

    onelove – it’s an NBA ad to get people to subscribe to NBA League Pass I believe.

  10. Mark Sigal says

    Great analysis. I think that it is a blessing in disguise for the Lakers to play such a physical, heavy pick-setting team in the first round:

    A) Should get the physicality mindset flowing vs. the Lakers get lulled into laziness, as might have been the case against Dallas.

    B) Defending Utah is all about communication and rotation, which is an area that the Lakers can sometimes lapse on (especially Kobe, when he is in overplay, steal mode). Again, better to work out early.

    What will be interesting to see, frankly, is how much of each game/series, the Lakers show true defensive intensity, as even in last game with Utah, lots of easy drives, kick outs for Williams until Lakers clamped down, which completely took Utah out of its offense.

    The gap between the L’s shutdown, rotating D and their “standard” D is pretty wide.

    Also, Okur, who did not play in last game, has some real potential to bother whoever is guarding him (Bynum, Gasol) by forcing them to work harder on D further out on the floor.

    Mark

  12. Snoopy2006 says

    Great X’s and O’s from Darius and Kwame, as always.

    I’d put Billups as stronger than Roy, and at least as strong as Deron Williams. Williams is more difficult to stop when he gets momentum though, he’s like a pit bull.

    Can Sunday get here fast enough?

  13. joem says

    This great post about Utah’s offense and, in particular, about Williams, got me thinking
    about a possible benefit to us from the playoff
    pairings. I’m not smart enough to know if this
    makes any sense, but might preparing for and
    playing against Williams help us with Roy?
    To me they represent similar threats. Do they
    really? Or is Portland’s offense completely
    different from Utah’s? I know Oden doesn’t
    have an outside shot, but what about the rest?

  14. Snoopy2006 says

    Is it legal for Mitch Kupchak to send a memo to the rest of the league saying that DJ Mbenga is a black belt in judo? I feel like this isn’t well-known enough. We have a secret enforcer, but no one’s afraid of him.

    Why am I bringing this up? Because I’m wondering who’s going to put Harpring in his place. I don’t know if that guy has realized what sport he’s playing, he may think he’s playing indoor football.

  16. Zephid says

    Great analysis by all the guys. I’m not sold on the Jazz. They’ve lost 7 of their last 9 games, and one of those wins came against the Clippers. I think now is when our coaching staff will really come through with some series-specific planning, especially against a team that relies so heavily on one player. They remind me a lot of Denver last year: an average defensive team with limited offensive firepower. And just like last year with Denver, I don’t think there’s any way the Jazz can keep up with the Lakers, offensively or defensively.

    Lakers in 4.

  17. Ryan O. says

    Others have already said it, but great, great work on this preview. I’m consistently amazed by the quality of analysis on this site, not just from Kurt but from the regulars as well.

    On top of that, the comments section is always great and (miraculously) a haven from typical internet comment board jackassery. Thanks Kurt and everyone at FB&G for making a fantastic Laker season even better.

  19. lil' pau says

    14, not a bad idea, but might be more useful to suggest he has telekinetic powers, as I fear that he will remain on the IR in place of AMMO, something I don’t understand in the slightest, esp. given Andrew’s propensity for foul trouble.

  20. PeanutButterSpread says

    Bad news for Jordie (as if there wasn’t before):

    Kevin Ding for the OC Register is reporting that Jordie’s dealing with tendinitis in right foot

    He has a foot sore and had to get it fully checked out today.

    Farmar saw foot specialist Phil Kwong — and X-rays, an MRI and a CT scan all showed no significant damage. The Lakers believe the problem is tendinitis.

    I wonder if this was the same foot that he had his surgery during the early part of the season?

  21. sT says

    It’s Post’s like this one that set FB&G apart from the rest. Talk about in-depth detailed analysis of the next team we will meet in the first playoff series of this year. I am sure the Laker staff is going over the same. As I remember last year it just gets better and better the farther we go.

    ‘You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.’ – Plato

  22. Psuedohoax says

    Finally – someone who is not completely overlooking Utah and talking about the finals!
    The Lakers need to take this matchup very seriously. Yea, virtually everyone is picking L.A. to win this series. But at what cost? The Lakers need to put their game faces on RIGHT NOW, and focus only on Utah. After all, Utah DID beat L.A. this year – and without Boozer and Kirilenko I might add.

    Thanks for bringing to light the beautiful precise intricate basketball that Utah is playing (or at least attempting to play, lately).

  25. wondahbap says

    Great job guys.

    Deron is going to get his. As long as the Lakers prevent the easy buckets that Millsap and Brewer score. It should be a walk. latley they score 20-30 pts between them, point blank. it the only way they can score, and it usually comes from our lack of hustle or focus.