LeBron James and JJ Redick promised to talk about the essence of the game, especially from a tactical perspective, and they delivered on the second episode of their new joint podcast, “Mind The Game.”
Obviously recorded at the beginning of March, the conversation this time focuses on the most difficult actions to defend in the current NBA. The two men of course talk about the Warriors, and their systems with Draymond Green in the low post, or the Nuggets, with the reverse pick-and-roll between Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
But the most interesting point of the discussion perhaps concerns the adaptation of attacks to “defensive switches” with in particular what LeBron James calls “hip tapping”, or “touching the hip”…
The “King” thus explains that even against the weak Wizards, the Lakers had difficulty defending Kyle Kuzma at the end of the match, yet with a “lineup” capable of changing on almost all screens. For what ? Because Washington's power forward was touching Austin Reaves instead of setting a screen, and confusing the entire defense.
Overloading the defender with conflicting information
JJ Redick and LeBron James then discuss the problem this “hip trap” poses.
JR: Let’s say we “switch” on defense. If a guy swipes on the screen (so he doesn't really put it down), my job is to follow him…
LJ: Yes, you have to say: 'Square, square' or 'Slip, slip'.
JR: But the attackers, when they come for the screen, they touch the hip of the guy (the one defending on the ball carrier). We are supposed to change when there is contact, when we feel contact. And when we feel this contact, we think we have to “switch” and the other thinks he is doing his job because he slipped and is following him. That's why it's hard.
LJ: That’s why it’s hard.
JR: In real time, you can have all these rules, but you have to be able to apply them in real time.
This discussion starts around the 29th minute and is particularly interesting because it illustrates all the little tricks that attackers use to disrupt defenders.
While the latter must take very rapid discussions, which also depend on good communication with their teammates, to contain the attackers, the latter overload them with information, sometimes contradictory, precisely to prevent them from making the right choice urgently. This is what this “hip trap” is for, which makes a defender think that there is contact, and therefore a screen to come, and that it is therefore necessary to “switch”, while the another defender sees clearly that it is a false screen. If there is not perfect and rapid communication between the two teammates, this contradiction, although basic, opens enormous gaps.
