Final Possession: Defense

Rowsey is taking the blame in the final defensive possession but, I would not put the total blame on him for that. In fact, it impresses me that he took the blame on national television for it, but he does not deserve that. It was obvious that Strus was lighting us up at that point. He had just made an amazing three in the possession before. In a well designed play, they set a staggered screen for Strus. Anim, knowing that Strus was hot, needs to be tighter on him. When they set the staggered screen for Strus, which basically just means that they set a screen for him at the block, and another at the elbow, Anim needs to piggyback him. That means he needs to get right on his back and follow him tight through the screens. Instead, Anim did not really fight too hard through the screens and left space between Strus and himself.

Now, the person who is defending the second screener or the person at the elbow needs to hedge and bump that screen. I do not remember who was the screen defender, but I believe that was Heldt. There are a couple of reasons why Heldt needs to hedge in this situation. First, he needs to slow down the cutter, which was Strus. Even if he is just standing there early and showing, this will cause Strus to slow down a little and cut higher. Strus would not be able to run off the screen, shoulder to shoulder, like so many grade school coaches try to teach their players. Instead, Strus would have to cut further away from the screen which allows Anim to get through the screen easier. Also, It's Heldt's job to help on the curl. Since Anim is instructed to piggyback the cutter, if Strus uses the screen by curling to the hoop instead, that will leave him open for a pass and a layup. So, Heldt needs to prevent that by showing early and allowing Anim space to cut of the curl as well.

Now, the disadvantage about Heldt hedging is that the person he is guarding, the screener, might slip the screen and cut to the hoop. The person with the ball would pass it to him for a layup. Perhaps Heldt did not hedge because he was worrying about the slip. However, it is the job of the person guarding the first screener, or the person who set the screen on the block, to be the help defender in that situation. So, his job is to guard the slip.

In an end of game situation like that, as a coach, you tell the defenders that they should switch all ball screens. That is basketball 101. However, since Anim was trailing so far, both because of his lack of effort in getting through the screen and because Heldt did not hedge, when the ball screen was coming and Anim yelled switch, if Rowsey would have switched immediately, he would have been leaving the ball. You do not leave the ball unguarded. Not only that, but a ball screen was not even set. It was obvious that Leitao instructed Strus to slip that screen. That means he should fake setting a ball screen and instead of setting it, he should cut to get open instead. Knowing that coaches instruct their players to switch ball screens at the end of the game, coaches will instruct people to slip screens instead because those are the counters.

So, because Anim was so far away it would have been tough for Rowsey to switch off. The reason why I am posting this is because I believe it's admirable for Rowsey to take the blame although not seeing any film, he may have really believed he was at fault. However, there were other players that need to take the blame and some more so.