Can a defense move faster than the ball?? | NBA Finals Game 2 analysis

In Game 1, the Pacers put up an incredible 66 points in the second half to finish with a 1-10 offensive rating. And in Game 2, the Pacers put up 66 points in the second half to finish with a 1-09 offensive rating. We'll get to OKC's offense in a bit, but despite the wildly different results, lots of Game 1 and Game 2 bleed together for the Pacers trying to attack this defense. Step one to choking off Indiana is to take away Tyrese Halliburton's downhill attacks. And since Lou Dort gets through screens like they aren't even there, Hallie's had a hard time finding space. Great help and recover by Alex Caruso there, and then Dort with the reach-in for the turnover, and that's what OKC does. When Dort is actually screened, they just switch and Alex Caruso, another All League defender, kills any advantage. And they don't abandon their help principles here and still switch back behind the play. Dort gets around another pick, and the ball never touches the paint on this entire possession. In Game 2, at least six different OKC defenders switched on to Halliburton. Chet Holmgren used his length and took beautiful angles to shut that off and lead to a turnover. We know Alex Caruso can harass him as a primary defender and pushes him into an uncharacteristic backcourt violation. Jalen Williams isn't quite as quick as the OKC guards on the outside, but on this offensive rebound, he basically mirrors Halliburton everywhere he goes, eating up the clock and leading to this difficult attempt. And even Isaiah Joe ended up holding his own, with a little help from this amazing Caruso stunt, jabbing at Halliburton, then retreating. And that was enough to slow down Tyrese and keep Joe in good guarding position on that drive. It's almost unfair, but Kaysen Wallace can help Caruso in transition. Then on the pass, Isaiah Hartenstein steps in front of Halle, and suddenly Wallace is back on the ball, stays with the drive, and Halliburton just loses it. And, of course, the Dortcher chamber's the primary Halliburton stopper. Chasing him around screens, making passes scary, and just generally flying around doing Lew Dort things, like staying connected on so many picks that he finally draws a moving screen violation, with maybe a little embellishment at the end. But, Dorts contain Halliburton's penetration so well, fighting through the first pick here, getting ready to go around a second pick, then staying with the crossover perfectly to keep Halliburton out of the paint, where he averaged 13 paint touches per game in the playoffs, but is at just 8 per night in this series, according to Second Spectrum. Here's Dort in Game 1, glued to Halliburton off the ball, he stays with him on the cut, there's help everywhere, so he aborts early, but the spacing's crammed so it goes nowhere. And this is key. On the reset, Dort is still ready to leave Halli, and that's an amazing help steal. And what's even more amazing is that when Halli ran pick and roll early in Game 2, Wallace made the exact same rotation to steal it from Myles Turner again. So, as always, it's a five-man collective effort for this OKC defense. They want to keep Holmgren near the hoop, so Kaysen switches onto a center, Turner goes right to the post then, but J-Dub is helping on the front, and Obi Toppin wisely drives at the front to use it like a screen, only Wallace just releases to switch back, and this is the most connected defense we have ever seen. This one's even more incredible, where they switch the ball screen again, and then instead of just switching this flare screen with Chet jumping out to the shooter, Wallace calls for the long-distance triple switch where Dort comes off the corner to take the roll man, Kaysen goes all the way to that corner, and that means no one's open and Dort can gobble up the interior pass. At least when Shay's on him, Halliburton can get places, so he beats him with the crossover, collapses the defense, but SGA picks his pocket from behind. And in Game 2, he went after Shay a few times on this sequence, they finally switch, and it's a great head fake to lose SGA, but Shay still peels him from behind again, takes off the other way, and that turns into some free throws. And as we discussed at the beginning of the year, this is the best collection of hands ever. And I thought Tyrese was a little flustered by this Alcatraz-level lockdown, forcing a few shots he otherwise wouldn't have taken, and even discombobulating him on one play where he uncharacteristically forgot to dribble. The pressure might also influence a play like this, where he normally hits the corner shooter, I think, but instead probes a little deeper and nothing materializes as the defense resets, and of course it turns into another deflection and near-steal. And then even on the inbounds, it's a pacer special, with Toppen rolling to the rim only to pop out at the last second, but that extra Caruso pressure from behind tips the pass, and it's a much harder shot. I thought Halle had two really good passes in the first quarter, upfaking against Dort, anticipating Williams' help, but Jadob somehow recovers with the ball, and it ends up in a Turner-contested midranger. And this was the same pass, only headed downhill and into a much tighter window, where Matherin spits out this crazy jumper. Now, the other key to stopping Indiana is getting back quickly, and the Thunder Transition defense was insane in Game 2. This is where OKC's speed is such kryptonite for Indiana. There are three Thunder down under the rim, but they start sprinting back, and there's just enough air on that pass for the entire team to recover, and there's no advantage. And we've seen this defense recover on the flight of the ball, especially if the pass is slightly off, and that's just case-in-Wallace magic. In transition, look at how they communicate to plug any holes. Shea stays with his man, Dort immediately jumps on Halliburton, Caruso has the ball coming up the wing, tells Isaiah Hartenstein to take Toppin, Joe is calling out Halliburton, and in three seconds, there's absolutely no advantage, and then they can switch any weaknesses behind the play. Same thing in Game 2. Hartenstein's already retreating, calls out Halliburton as being open, Dort goes over to Tyrese, Wiggins takes the trailer, and they're all plugged up. Shea just switches this pistol screen, and throwing entry passes against OKC is not Dr. Recommended, and it's their versatility that allows them to run back like this. JW is matched up with Siakam, but he sees two teammates on that side, and heads over to Aaron Neesmith instead. Caruso can guard anybody, apparently. Dort can help and still recover to Halliburton, and the Pacers just struggle to generate any early advantages by pushing the pace, which usually breaks down defenses. Great individual defenders help too. JW stonewalls the ball in space here, it's nearly a steal, and then they just switch and recover as needed, with Eihart wisely sagging off to Speedy McConnell and daring him to shoot. And after an SGA miss, he immediately jumps on Halliburton, Joe steps up to help, that leaves Mathren open but Caruso's coming anyway, so Hallie nearly spins into another turnover. They do create a small advantage against a recovering Eihart, but oh yeah, Chad Holmgren is very, very tall. So speed, communication, versatility, and sometimes just hustle have really taken away Indiana's early offense in these two games. We've also seen a variety of defenders stifle Tyrese Halliburton's normal attacks, and in Game 2, SGA and the Thunder really found a way to stress the Indiana defense. Stuff like going early on screens caught certain defenders off guard, or hunting Halliburton in pick and roll, and then cutting back when he jumped in front of the ball to split the two defenders. Or even sending Shea down to the post a bunch, and asking Indiana if they wanted to guard him straight up, or if they were going to send a double, and I'm not sure either were really good defensive options in this game for the Pacers. And of course, on the possessions where they left SGA out on an island, he had a personal cookout at his free throw line office. So the Indiana offense has been held nearly 10 points per 100 below their playoff efficiency, and that's probably going to have to improve for them to win this series. But in Game 2, the Thunder put on another defensive masterclass, and clamped down Tyrese Halliburton and the Pacers to tie the finals at 1-1. To support this channel, patreon.com slash thinkingbasketball. That's where we have proprietary stats on teams and players throughout the year. We also have a Discord community, and you can get all of our extra video content over there, or sign up on YouTube as a member, where we also livestream the podcast. Thanks for watching all the way to the end on this one. Hope you enjoyed it, and that you are having a great day.