[ad_1]
The Los Angeles Lakers nearly edged the Denver Nuggets in Tuesday’s third game of the Western Conference finals, reducing a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter to three in less than five minutes of play. It was amazing to watch and it was eerily reminiscent of the Los Angeles Clippers meltdowns that Denver started the last series. The difference, however, was that Jamal Murray came to the rescue, frustrating the Lakers to walk away with a 114-106 victory to reduce the Lakers’ series lead to 2-1.
One of the main reasons the Lakers were able to mount their comeback so quickly was that coach Frank Vogel employed an unusual zone defense, which clearly confused the Nuggets’ offense. From the 8:43 mark to the 6:34 mark in the fourth quarter, Denver committed six consecutive turnovers, three of which were steals by Rajon Rondo, while the Lakers cut the lead to three:
Watching the Nuggets approach self-destruction as they take on zone defense raises an obvious question: Why aren’t the Lakers playing in the zone more often? We’ve seen it work in other series this postseason, namely the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat against the Boston Celtics, so why wouldn’t the Lakers make it a main part of their defensive game plan to advance against the Nuggets? Against a pick-and-roll duo as devastating as Murray and Nikola Jokic, a zone can eliminate the mismatches and scrambles that often lead to easy looks.
Vogel broached the idea of playing more zone Wednesday and made it clear that he doesn’t think it’s something the Lakers can rely on for long periods of time.
“We just launched a garbage defense. I don’t know if that’s something that’s really sustainable,” Vogel said. “A lot of times when a team has a big advantage, you can make a run throwing a junk defense. It worked in a short burst there. But we have to be better with who we are, with our base defense, base coverage and executing better offensively. “.
During the regular season, the Lakers zoned two percent of their defensive possessions, according to Synergy Sports Technology, good for 12th in the league (the Heat led the NBA by far at 11.6 percent). In the playoffs, the Lakers have played in the zone 1.9 percent of the time, and Vogel explained why.
“Most areas in the NBA are not very good; they have a lot of holes and can be easily exploited,” Vogel said. “It doesn’t always happen, but that’s why most of the league doesn’t play in the zone for long periods.”
For most NBA teams, the zone acts like a game changer in baseball. It can be incredibly effective from time to time to offset the fastball, but if you throw nothing but swings, the element of surprise is removed and it becomes easier to hit. Add this to the fact that the Nuggets were the NBA’s best offensive team against zone defense during the regular season with 1,213 points per possession, according to Synergy, and it makes sense that Vogel wants to use it sparingly against a passing team. and cuts as well as Denver.
“I would say it was unexpected, it forced us to lose a lot of losses at the beginning. I think it surprised us, it took us by surprise,” Nuggets forward Torrey Craig said Wednesday of the Lakers’ zone defense. “We were a little nervous, but we calmed down. Once we calmed down and saw some shots come in, we were fine.”
With the Lakers zone “hit” factor now off the table, you shouldn’t expect to see much of him, if any, in Game 4 on Thursday despite his late Game 3 effectiveness. Another point to consider: Vogel said he only considered using the zone because they were down by a lot of points, which doesn’t happen to the Lakers very often.
“Junk defense is usually not as good as his base defense,” Vogel said. “And if you are winning with your base defense, why would you go with a defense that is not as good as the one you are using?”
[ad_2]
