Mike Brown’s Defense
by Leo
The NBA schedule was released on Aug. 4th, and the opening matchup is a must watch: Celtics vs. Cavaliers. Two of the Eastern Conferences best teams open their seasons against each other. There are a lot of storylines in this one: there’s the organic, budding rivalry that comes from being the two best teams in a conference, there’s the fact that it’s the last season in LeBron’s current contract, there’s the return of a healthy KG and Rondo, and there’s Rasheed Walace, Anthony Parker, Jarmario Moon, and Shaq taking their respective sides in this battle. *
Both of these teams are considered among the best defensive teams in the League but it is Mike Brown’s defensive scheme that is most highly regarded. I wanted to take a look at why that is.
When we look at defense, we need to keep a couple of points in mind. Defense in the NBA is different than it is in a pickup game. The hand-checking rule and overabundance of “ticky-tacky” fouls called means that it is impossible to “lock down” a superstar, or even a popular player for that matter. If Kobe decides to take it to the paint, it’s a guaranteed trip to the foul line unless the defense moves aside and lets him go untouched. The best a defender can do is to contest every shot – by keeping his hands up – and putting his body between the defender and the basket. This way, you try to force players into uncomfortable situations where they rush awkward shots. There was a good article about this idea by Michael Lewis. It details how Shane Battier defended Kobe by forcing him into his low percentage areas on the court.
Mike Brown’s defensive scheme, which might be the best in the NBA, relies on those few keys: hands in the face of shooters on the perimeter and bodies in between the dribbler and the basket. The area’s he emphasizes are shutting down the three-pointer and closeing off the paint. These are all simple, basic, hustle defensive plays. There’s not a lot of ball-pressure, there’s not much gambling in the passing lanes, and there’s not a big-time shot-blocker patrolling the paint.
In an interview with Cavs News, Brown said this about what stats are important to him
Brown: “Opponent’s field goal percentage, first, and then opponent’s points, second, but the opponent’s field goal percentage is a big thing for me.”
What this tells me is that the focus of Brown’s scheme is to lower the opponent’s field goal percentage. All of his principles – contesting shots, staying between the ball and the basket, and not gambling on steals – work to lower that number
I’m not privy to the X’s and O’s of the defense, but the success of a defense has a lot to do with matchups and execution. This is similar to what Kobe said about the Triangle Offense – it’s all about the execution.
We saw this scheme fall apart in last year’s conference final against the Magic. The series against the Magic exposed the Cavalier’s defensive weaknesses – namely size. They could not guard Dwight Howard because they were too small.
As coach Brown said when reflecting on the loss to the Magic,
”We tried to play him straight,” Brown said. ”We tried to double him on the pass and on the dribble, and from different areas. He just got into a nice rhythm.
”If we did not double him, he went right through us. If we did, he kicked the ball out to shooters.”
If you read the article, other matchups were a problem as well but, Dwight Howard was the dragon they could not slay.
It’ll be interesting to see how Shaq affects the defense. He’s still good enough to dominate normal centers, but superstars like Dwight Howard may be too much for him. Will he provide the size to get the Cavs over the hump? We start getting answers October 27th.
APPLYING TO YOUR GAME
Keep your hands up and put yourself between the ball and the basket.
The fuel that powers good defense is energy. If you want to play good defense, you need to have a lot of energy. You need to stay in his face, out-work your man to the ball to play lockdown defense. But a way to channel your energy is by applying principles of Brown’s defense: put yourself between the ball and the basket and contest every shot. If you do these things, your defense will be solid. It may not be as sexy as getting steals and creating turnovers, but your man will never embarrass you on the court either.
*Just as an aside, I know this isn’t a blog with NBA analysis – yet – but the Celtics starting lineup is just scary. Garnett, Wallace, Allen, Pierce, and Rondo. That’s an All-Star team.
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Comments
Not true.
Ben Wallace defended Howard better than any other Cav defender, and Wallace is 6′9. Varajao is 6′10 and Z is 7′4.
They lost because neither of them had the foot speed to keep up with Dwight. If he gets you off balance just a tad, he’s too strong to stop and it’s an easy two for him.