Raptors: Turnovers Continue to Undermine Transition Defence
By Demar Grant
The Raptors are undermining their efforts at slitting the upstart Bucks wild transition offence by failing to squeeze the orange.
Basketball is almost a different sport in the playoffs than the regular season. Sure the rules are the same but the behaviours are different.
The whistle gets looser, the crowds get louder and the game gets a bit slower. Half court sets dominate the playoffs, every possession is so valuable that you can’t risk pushing the ball up court for quick shots.
No sirree, running transition is only for the regular season. Patient offence conquers all when it really counts, in the playoffs… Unless you’re the Raptors or Bucks.
Credit to Dwane Casey and the Raptors, the half court offence of the Bucks has devolved into contested mid-rangers, tough layups and Giannis Antetoukmnpo jumpshots. Shots with hands in the face are common place and even open shots that fans typically cheer for are now cringers. And now that the Bucks can’t reliably manufacture offence in the half court, transition is where this series is won and lost.
The Bucks love the open floor. Antetokounmpo was their primary assailant during the regular season and it hasn’t change at all during the post season, or else we wouldn’t have clips like this:
Dwane Casey, Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker have made it hellish to even get a shot up when the Malcolm Brogdon and the Antlers cross the time line, so they’ve been emphasizing pushing the ball at all costs. Getting out in transition before the defence sets, the Bucks can at least create a mismatch if they can’t score.
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Do you like Antetokunmpo post ups on Kyle Lowry with his bad back? No, so that means slowing down the Bucks right when the basketball changes hands is paramount.
The shot goes up, every one goes back, nothing easy. It’s a simple strategy in theory, but it’s proving more and more difficult for the Raptors to follow through on it. They’re undermine their efforts at slitting the upstart Bucks wild transition offence, by failing to squeeze the orange.
The Raptors are serving up 14.2 tasty turnovers per game in this series and they aren’t harmless. Jason Kidd‘s defence is designed to swarm ball handlers who use screens to break free and when that big comes to set the pick, the defence is trapping more than Migos out the bando.
Ball pressure means sloppy passes, and sloppy passes mean dunk classes. Those live ball turnovers are lethal and with the guards as the nexus of the offence, the ball tends to hover around the tip of the arc. It doesn’t matter how much you game plan, getting back on defence to slow transition when every fastbreak is a three-on-one leading to an alley oop to a 6-foot-11 behemoth.
The Bucks play like their namesake, young, spry and athletic. Maestro’s in open floor, they’re feasting on the Raptors mistakes by averaging 18.8 points per game (fourth in the playoffs) off turnovers alone.
The Raptors keep exhibiting symptoms of a team that cannot deal with length and intensity of the defence, by consistently getting passes picked off in flight:
The Bucks force teams to make the right decision every time in the pick and roll, but even then their length can cover the difference. Make a mistake and pay the iron price.
Two points off the turnovers are a killer for numerous empirical reasons. You lose possession without a shot attempt, the opponents scores in short order and you slow down your offence, because the Drakes have to start from getting the ball out of the basket.
However, the most heinous punishment for the points off turnovers is the momentum shift. A 12-point lead cut to 10 never feels like a slimmer lead than when it’s shrunk on a reverse dunk.
Despite their mature play so far this series, this is a young Bucks squad. Every point scored is a confidence booster, every steal a positive reinforcer and every dunk a battle cry to boost morale.
Next: Raptors vs. Bucks: NBA Playoffs Two-Man Game
Just like a burgeoning rapper, the more opportunities you give them to stunt, the less they think their stunting, and they’re really that dude they rap about. If the Raptors are trying to avoid Antetokounmpo and companies’ latest rendition of Comeback season, they’ll take care of the precious basketball they’ve been dedicating their entire lives to.