chris paul will get the switch he wants & the suns' amazing ball movement
you (a big man who can't defend in space) can run but you can't hide
before we get to the chris paul play that i want to break down in this piece, i'd be remiss if i didn't at least acknowledge this play from the phoenix suns in game 2 of the nba finals against the milwaukee bucks:
beautiful ball movement from the suns, equally impressive defensive rotations and defensive activity from the bucks.
it feels like phoenix has a few of these every game - they're just a team that plays together and trusts each other and it's wonderful. like this possession from game 3:
what's also cool to point out is on the very next possession, as the suns were about to go swing swing swing around the perimeter again, giannis antetokounmpo said "hell no" to that and rotated to the passing lane instead of to the shooter:
it looks bad if you isolate it, but it was probably a smart move making cameron payne attempt an off-the-dribble 3 off of a pass fake instead of letting jae crowder shoot another catch-and-shoot 3 from the spot he had just made one from. i always love watching how teams and players adjust on the fly possession to possession.
alright, now to chris paul.
there was a podcast episode last year when jj redick and damian lillard talked about how chris is one of the few guys in the league who "try to manipulate every single play":
and it's true. cp is a master of finding advantages - whether it be a matchup, an angle on a screen-and-roll, a foul call - whatever he can or has to do to get one, he'll probably do it.
this is most obvious when he's hunting for matchups. in this suns-bucks series, that's usually brook lopez or bobby portis - two guys that struggle to defend pick-and-rolls in space.
here's a possession where chris calls for multiple screens in attempt to get brook involved:
brilliant play from both the suns and the bucks here; it's an ~18 second chess match. let's break it down:
phoenix pushes the ball up in transition and the bucks are crossmatched. brook is left picking up chris paul. brook and jrue holiday quickly scram switch before the ball finds chris.
chris catches the ball with 15 seconds on the shot clock. milwaukee is now matched up properly: jrue on cp, giannis on jae crowder, brook on cam johnson.
chris obviously doesn't want jrue on him; crowder gives him a screen to switch giannis onto him, then sprints to the corner to get brook's man (johnson) to come up for another screen.
jrue and brook sniff out what phoenix is trying to do, so they scram switch again. on johnson's screen, chris is immediately picked back up by holiday. no good.
but now cam clears and takes giannis with him. that isolates jrue and brook on one side of the floor, and chris immediately attacks it. he and jae run a little pitch/slip screen/pop.
jrue has to stick with chris because they don't want brook isolated on him, brook has to drop at first to prevent the drive, and it allows crowder to get open for a wide open 3. splash.
that's three screens and four switches in just nine seconds. milwaukee did about as well as they could, but chris paul and the suns were simply a little bit better.
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