Draymond Green, the player, saw his season end against the Minnesota Timberwolves after a Game 5 loss in the second round last week. Draymond Green, the podcaster and talking head, however, is now dealing with a massive uptick in workload as his offseason begins. On the most recent episode of The Draymond Green Show, the forward focused on the Indiana Pacers and their highly effective defensive strategy against New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson.
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As one of the best defensive minds in NBA history, Green won Defensive Player of the Year in 2017 and has made an all-defensive team nine separate times. Despite all of these accolades, Draymond is underrated as a defender.
Pacers HC Rick Carlisle was a long-time opponent of Green when the former coached the Dallas Mavericks. With such familiarity, Green can intuit Carlisle’s choices. Draymond broke down the scheme and pinpointed the adjustments the Knicks need to make in order for Brunson to return to form.
“Brunson, obviously the Clutch Player of the Year … teams all year have had to watch Jalen Brunson dominate the fourth quarter, and I thought Rick Carlisle did one good thing, and it was alarming to me,“ started Green. “In the fourth quarter and overtime, he started trapping Jalen Brunson, and I don’t think he’s seen traps all year.”
A trap, or a blitz, is a pick and roll coverage in which the defensive team tries to contain the ball handler by sending an aggressive double team to prevent said guard from turning the quarter. Usually, the emphasis is on forcing other players — be that the screener or any other off-ball options — to make quick choices while the help defender rushes back into position.
It seems especially worth noting that the same strategies the Pacers are using on Brunson were also frequently used against Draymond’s MVP teammate Stephen Curry. Brunson managed to completely take over the fourth quarter all season long, something Steph did as well, but has been generally quiet to end games in this series, including an air-ball three to end Game 1.
“Unfortunately for the Knicks, the Pacers get to make all the adjustments that they know lost them the game, but they won the game. So I think Rick Carlisle is like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna start blitzing them next game,'” continued Green. The series now sits at 2-0 for the Pacers.
Before finishing his point, Green emphasized the need for a strategic change from Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau and a change in approach from Brunson as well.
“Every time the blitz came, he put his head down … he went down … he threw some of the passes [away], he jumped out of bounds … every fourth quarter, I’m trapping him because OG Anunoby, none of those guys have been in these positions much to take over a game down the stretch.”
After losing the first two games at home, the Knicks are in dire straits as they head to Indiana, playing for their lives. The Pacers, on the other hand, could split their two games as hosts and still claim a commanding 3-1 lead. Game 3 will start Sunday at 8 p.m. EST.
