There has been a recent increase in the amount of criticism in regard to our guards' defense - specifically Rondo and Bradley - and their inability to stop dribble penetration (common in game threads). This criticism is unwarranted (or was, in Rondo's case), and eventually what is going to happen is people are going to start calling Smart an overrated defender as well. What these critics don't understand is Steven's defensive philosophy when it comes to defending the pick and roll (PnR).
Earlier this year, Kevin O'Connor wrote a great series of six articles that goes in depth about defending the PnR.
This is a must read for all of you who have been overly critical of Rondo's and Bradley's (and soon to be Smart's) defense. Read all six articles.
http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/2/27/5452558/assessing-the-boston-celtics-pick-and-roll-defense-advanced-sloan-analytics-stats-part-one-nba/in/5228575http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/2/28/5456144/assessing-the-boston-celtics-pick-and-roll-defense-part-two-advanced-analytics-sloan-nba-iceWhen asked about his team's defensive philosophy, Brad Stevens said, "We ice most of the time, our ideal is to ice as much of the time as possible." Coach isn't lying; in fact, during the month of February, the C's iced on 325 of the 441 pick and rolls run against them, which means they ice nearly 75 percent of the time.
But what does it mean if a team "ices" the pick and roll? To put it simply, the on-ball defender angles the ball-handler into the big man defender on "middle" pick and rolls. The big then sags down near the free throw line, which is meant to invite the offense into taking a low percentage mid-range jumper.
On "side" pick and rolls, the on-ball defender is supposed to angle the ball-handler towards the baseline, where the big man is there to corral him. Again, this is meant to force the ball-handler into trying a mid-range jump shot as opposed to a layup or a pass to an open teammate.
People who are whining that "Rondo or Bradley can no longer stay in front of their man" clearly do not understand what "icing" the PnR is. If you looked at the way they would angle their bodies when a pick was coming, it was dead obvious that they weren't trying to lock the opposing guard down on the perimeter. The dribble penetration to the mid-range area of the floor is by design, and ideally that is where the penetration is
supposed to be contained. Anyway, if you read Part 2, this should be clear.
Whether or not using "ice" is the best strategy to defend the PnR is the real question, and I gladly open this up for debate. For our team, I believe it is because our bigs are so slow-footed. The only person with the ability to "hedge" the PnR is consistently is Bass (and hedging was common under Doc), but even then it puts pressure on our young team to make the correct reads and rotations. I've seen Green hedge the PnR a few times, which is perfectly fine if the other team is doing a 1:3 PnR.
KG was a PnR defensive
god and there's no surprise we've had a huge defensive dropoff following his deparature. We were spoiled. Our defensive struggles are primarily due to the fact that we do not have a quality defensive bigs. Sully and KO are both subpar, and Bass and Zeller are mediocre at best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LroHhntL0Cc
On almost every example in the video above, the Celtics big man icing the pick and roll gets beat badly by the ball-handler. Occasionally, like the first and second plays, no teammates off the ball help on the drive. This is where the C's allow layups, which is the worst-case scenario when playing ice.
LOL at KO at 0:21 in the video above - not picking on him specifically, but that was bad. So until we upgrade these positions defensively, we will never be a strong defensive team. Wright could help us, but it's unclear whether he's in our long term plans.
The resources have been provided to you. Stop whining about our guards allowing dribble penetration.