The Hardest Actions to Guard in Basketball | LeBron James and JJ Redick | Mind the Game

you're 84 too I'm 84 yes sir yeah we got

bad vintages for oh it's one of the

worst oh thank you thank you have you

spent any time with Mark dagel by the

way no bro

he's he's ridiculous he's so good no

he's yeah he's on his

[ __ ] he's Young Too is he younger than

user yeah he's 30 38 I think he's 38

yeah's I think he was I think he's an 85

I looked it up the other day he's

definitely younger enough smidge yeah

like that all right cool we're already

rolling so you guys wow oh we already

rolling this is what we do this is what

we do have

[Music]

fun welcome to episode two of mind the

game podcast with LeBron James and JJ

reck Pres Ed by uninterrupted and 342

Productions first of all just wanted to

say thank you for all of you who

listened and watch to episode one we

greatly appreciate uh the positive

response from all of the stuff that we

talked about there's a lot more of xn0

stuff in episode two the title of

episode two is simply the hardest

actions to guard in the NBA no not

necessarily the hardest play players to

guard but some of the best players in

the world are involved directly in these

actions as you will see when we break it

down and two of the actions that we

focus primarily on in this episode are

the Golden State split screens and

inverted pick and rolls all right before

we get to the plays that we're going to

cover I want to go over some of the key

terminology all right the first two

words are tilt and Fire I want to be

clear here every team in the NBA has a

code word or a word for a double team a

lot of teams I played on we had a color

scheme so blue was a double team from

the nail green was a double team from

the Baseline side in this case tilt and

fire represent those colors tilt means

in a postup a double team from the

Baseline Side Fire means in a postup a

double team from the nail and of course

we covered what the nail was in episode

one next two terms are hedge and Blitz

so these are common terms in pick and

roll coverage now in the NBA right now

not a lot of teams hedge in pick and

rolls a hedge is simply when the

screener Defender jumps out past the

screener and tries to reroute the ball

handler around the scen screener

Defender and then the screener Defender

will Retreat back to the screener again

not a lot of teams do that primarily

because everybody can shoot the

basketball sometimes

in inverted pick and rolls or sometimes

as teams are targeting

matchups certain players will hedge so

for instance if LeBron James is being

guarded by Jonathan

kaminga and he wants to get a switch for

Steph Curry he will have whoever is

guarding Steph Curry come set a pick and

roll and more times than not Steph Curry

will hedge reroute LeBron and then

return to his man that is what a hedge

is a blitz is simply a double team on a

pick and roll all right a ghost screen

or as LeBron calls it a bluff screen a

ghost screen is simply when you run into

set a pick and roll and you essentially

don't stop but you just run past the

pick and roll and you either go to the

three-point line or you slip to the

basket that's essentially what a ghost

screen is it's a ghost screen because

you're not really there you're

essentially just trying to create

confusion for the two Defenders involved

in what looks like a pick and roll but

is actually just a ghost screen tag and

29 go hand in hand we have a defensive 3

second rule in the NBA so as a Defender

you're only allowed to be in the paint

for 3 seconds without guarding anyone

there's two ways around this you can tag

a cutter which simply means touching a

cutter as he goes through the paint 29

is simply a game of cat and mouse how

long can you be in the paint in a help

position while not guarding anyone but

not get a 3second violation 1 1000 2

1000 you're trying to be in and out in

2.9 seconds that's what we mean by 29 so

when you're watching a game and you see

a player with one foot in the paint one

foot out of the paint one foot in the

paint one foot out of the paint almost

like a tap dance he's 2 ning a couple

other simple terms backside weak side

strong

side strong side is simply the side of

the floor where the ball is so if a

player is on the right wing the right

side of the floor is the strong side if

a player's position in the corner while

that player has the ball on the right

wing then the player in the corner is on

the strong side of the floor if a player

is in the left corner opposite the ball

the other side of the Court he's in the

weak side

backside is a little bit interchangeable

with weak side backside is also a play

where a player starts in a corner

opposite the ball let's say the point

guard passes to the fivan at the top of

the key the player in the corner then

receives a pin down and comes along the

three-point line and gets a dribble

handoff from the fiveman that's backside

think Manu job in San Antonio or even

better think JJ reic in

Philadelphia all right I want to go over

what is called a verou screen a verou

screen is actually named after LeBron's

teammate in Cleveland Anderson verou and

all a Veria screen is is when a screener

flips the side and angle of the screen

let me show you in this case the X's are

the offensive players the O's are the

defensive players so in this case the

big man would run into this pick and

roll the defender would follow and as he

gets to the screen instead of setting

the screen on this side where the

defense the offensive player would get

to his right hand he simply flips the

angle on the screen side and Vera

it and the offensive player gets to

drive away from the defense because most

of the time this defender of the

screener has followed and is Assuming

he's going to provide help defense on

this side be out chaos ensues okay Blind

Pig is something that we reference Blind

Pig is a triangle offense

concept uh I had to guard this concept

playing against the Lakers Pal Gasol and

Kobe Bryant would oftentimes be the two

players involved in this and then

against the Knicks oftentimes it could

be Carmelo Anthony involved Raymond

Felton Jeremy Lynn essentially what

Blind Pig is the ball is right here with

this play player here is your offensive

player the X right here O's are the

defensive player the x is being denied

this is Kobe Bryant in this year this is

Jaylen

Brunson Isaiah hartenstein will flash to

the Elbow the ball then goes to Isaiah

hartenstein right here Jaylen Brunson

who is being denied then has a clear

path to go receive the ball ball or get

a drop off pass dribble handoff whatever

turn the corner create Havoc Blind Pig

all right Golden State Post spits a big

part of this episode we have so much

visual component to this you guys

hopefully will understand this at the

end uh again this is another triangle

concept um let's do a two-man post spit

to start how about that so here's the

ball the ball goes into the post now

this pass for golden state is not to

score this pass is to get Steph Curry

and Klay Thompson into the action so

Steph can split with Klay Thompson clay

can back cut towards the basket he can

curl towards the basket or he can come

pop for three and that's only one option

there are many options in this offense

let's say cavon Looney wants to get

involved here they throw it in to

Draymond green Steph goes towards Klay

Thompson maybe Klay Thompson curls to

the

basket cavon Looney then cleans up

Steph ball comes out to Steph that's

post

spits it's impossible to guard the other

thing I just wanted to tell you guys on

this episode for these

drawings MAV Drew these I did not draw

these courts this clip went out on

social America's play Baseline out of

bounds pick the Picker whatever you want

to call it this guy underneath the

basket on a baseline out of bounds play

Bo o Baseline out of bounds there should

be an extra o but who cares it's just

boob this guy right here that's the

shooter this is Kyle corver this is

Steph Curry this is Ray Allen this is

Duncan Robinson he's going to set a back

screen right here a rip screen for a

bigger Wing

usually Maybe you get a switch maybe you

don't maybe you get a layup here

underneath the basket this guy in the

corner over here this is Bam this is

DeAndre Jordan with me this is Joel

embiid with me this big guy then goes

and sets a screen for the shooter to

come off towards the three-point line so

if you don't get a layup you might get a

three in the corner America's play pick

the Picker the other concept that we

talk a lot about this episode is Inver

did pick and roll pick and roll as most

basketball fans know it is simply a ball

handler usually a point guard getting a

ball screen so a live ball dribble from

a big guy a fiveman right a center think

Kenny Smith and aim alaguan think John

Stockton and Carl Malone think Kobi and

sha right it's a pick and roll a normal

pick and roll the smaller player has the

ball the bigger player sets a screen for

him inverted pick and roll is simply

when you invert that in this case a

bigger player has the ball and a smaller

player often times a really good shooter

sets a ball screen for the bigger player

very rare that big guys can do this but

certainly a lot of them can Joel embiid

nicolea yic Anthony Davis Giannis of

course bigger Wings will also run

inverted pick and rolls so so this is

Duncan Robinson setting a pick and roll

for Jimmy Butler this is me setting a

screen for Ben Simmons that is an

inverted pick and roll we actually had a

call in Philadelphia it was called 12

rub

rifle so 12 was just a onew pick and

roll I'm the Twan Ben was the oneman rub

was our name for a high pick and roll

which means in the center of the Court

rifle I'll get to that in a second so an

inverted pick and roll would be the

smaller player setting a screen for Ben

Simmons right if I set a good screen Ben

could get all the way the basket

sometimes I would slip to three though

in that case Ben would throw me the ball

and sometimes like against San Antonio

Spurs late in the game I would make the

shot and get fouled and have a

four-point play to hit a game winner but

other times this would be Joel embiid

this is the rifle part the rifle just

means Chase action sometimes the

definition of a concept is in the word

if I said go chase the ball what are you

going to do you're going to pass the

ball and run after it so 12 rub rifle is

a inverted High pick and roll followed

by Chase action so if I didn't have a

shot I would throw the ball to Joel

embiid and we'd go right into Chase

dribble handoff 12 rub rifle Miami Heat

game four 2018

playoffs dagger

[Music]

do you look at

basketball uh as a

puzzle in some ways I was with Missoula

in September he said competition is a

puzzle and you have to approach it

through intellect and what I what I find

when I talk to you or when I talk to CP

or I listen to you guys brondo of course

who we had on the Pod um last year it's

like it's

exploitation I used the word

manipulation once with Chris and he did

not like that word so I'm going to use a

different word today it's

exploitation you're exploiting and some

sometimes it's maybe basketball IQ

sometimes you're maybe exploiting a

matchup I know that I was exploited a

lot at the at the end of my career

because by that time it was about Target

hunting and oftentimes when I was on the

court I was the target it is like pick

white pick on the white guy huh [ __ ]

man I don't like that man it it bothered

me so much I mean I remember dude when I

was with Philly and like we ended up not

playing you guys in the playoffs but

like that first year in Philly because I

was guarding point guards that year

because Ben wasn't good enough on the

ball yet right they had him guarding

bigger wings so I had to guard point

guards first time in my career so like

all of a sudden I'm navigating a pickup

point with Damen Lillard people never

understand that either by the way yeah

people people that just watch casual

basketball would never understand if

you've been guarding two guards or small

fours or whatever your whole career and

then one year you have to make the shift

to now guarding point guards it's a

whole

different your your intent is is now

like it was so different screens were

coming you're not used to getting hit

with screens you know like it's a whole

different the big don't talk to you get

cracked you like what the [ __ ] are you

guys doing back there and nine times out

of 10 most bigs are not going to talk

anym no I remember there's a game with

like with Charlotte and kemell Walker

you know he's a Shifty [ __ ]

[ __ ] not he's doing that little

left drop move I'm like come on man like

what am I supposed to do but we were I

remember we played you guys a few times

that year and I'm I'm on a point guard

and you're just like come here every

time [ __ ] you [ __ ] you

bra man no that's not me my B Bo IQ is

not that good but I think I think part

of it it's not for me at least as a as a

as like a when I played of course but

also as a as an observer now yeah part

of the matchup thing so if I go switch

on you right you've now got a favorable

matchup part of it is not just so that

you can get a shot part of it like

basketball boils down to can you put two

on the ball yeah and now you create the

413 on the backside yeah I don't think

many people know

that you know why because everyone now

it's a narrative of this thing called I

have a

bag or he doesn't have a bag it bothers

the [ __ ] out of

me everyone thinks just because you get

a favorable matchup that it means it's

one onone time let's play ones that's

all you hear the kids talk about now you

want to play ones you want to play ones

what what the [ __ ] is this we're this is

not a this is not Jordan vers bird

Nintendo

like we're this it's five on

five and yes if you have an opportunity

to have a favorable matchup and you can

beat your man but realize

something most great

teams are going to send help and can you

make the right

reads can you make the right reads can

you instill confidence in your teammates

to when you've scored twice on that

favorable

matchup do you know that the double is

coming and you have to see it either

coming from the tilt on the baseline or

from the fire from the nail you have to

be ready for that like and it takes time

for guys and some guys don't want to

learn and won't learn because they just

want to play ones they I've had guys on

the court that literally said to me

before why y'all doubling me stop

doubling me let me play ones you have

40 no no you have 40 we're going to

W not because not only because you're

great but also I know none of your

teammates have been in the Rhythm all

game and we're going to see if they can

make a shot and if they do Derek Jeter

salute cap to you two things on that I

think the Clippers game the other night

was a great example of that so first of

all they're one of the most switch heavy

teams in the NBA so it wasn't abnormal

that you got going in the fourth quarter

and they were switching Daniel tys on to

you that is their normal defense right

so you hit a couple shots on him then

they start doubling right and then

you're making the read um there's like a

there's a there's a downhill or like a

Snowball Effect going down a hill to

this right it's like one thing leads to

another so I think in some ways the the

player has to establish that he can

score in that matchup correct and then

the next part is he has to establish

he's going to then make the right read

if you double correct then all of a

sudden if you're the offensive team all

bets are off you're going to get

whatever you want you're get whatever

you want then cuz the the defense has no

choice there's nothing they can do then

they they're not only are they off

balance they just like oh [ __ ] we it's

nothing we can do because not only is

the guy that's been dominating the

one-on-one matchup making the right

reason individually in that matchup he's

been scoring he's been getting fouled

he's been drawing attention but now you

in the double and now his teammates are

making shots too and the momentum

shifts the the offensive team there's

nothing they there's nothing they can do

wrong do you think teams concede the

switch too much like do you think teams

switch too much yes do you think more

teams should just if you if you're

Atlanta should you just hedge with Trey

young absolutely absolutely we we it's

fun you say that in the Clipper game we

had a

uh we had

switching built in vers kawhai and vers

James and whatever the case may be and I

vetoed it in in the second half because

I know I know

T more than any other player that's ever

been with tou and I know he plays Target

ball too and it got to a point where I

knew order for us to get back into the

game switching anybody else into Kawai

it's not it's not favorable for us might

as we just get ready for get ready for

the Wizards so I vetoed

it are you able to to do that on a

nightly basis though like take that that

match

up asking a lot LeBron it's asking a lot

at

39 with with I think I saw it the other

day I think I have like 70,000 minutes I

was I was explaining to my wife the

other day she asked me how am I feeling

when I came home after a

game I said

babe just imagine buying a

2003

Escalade and it's

2024 and you never change the

tires so rub my feet

please and I've never changed the tires

these are the same tires

from

2003 so can I do it every

night I don't want to say I could do it

for a whole game I mean I can't I'll

take the challenge for sure but that's

just I'm a competitor I was born that

way I was taught that way I [ __ ] I'll

die on the court because I just love it

so

much am I am I being realistic I got to

pick my spots definitely got to pick my

spots you've also picked your spots

though on the offense Ben

like I was talking with Darin about this

and and I've spoken with Austin too

there's there's

definitely a a stronger ability I don't

know if ability is the right word but a

stronger ability like to just let DLo

run the offense to let Austin run the

offense and I know you had that at

different points in your career with

different guys but it seems like you're

more content at this stage in your

career to like I'm going to pick and

choose my spots about when I'm the

primary Creator yeah for sure I mean I I

I yeah it comes with trust it comes with

trust too um obviously last year in the

Memphis

series um

AR um gained a lot of trust for

me um but also had trust in him to make

the plays I believe it was game three

maybe or game two I think they had home

court yeah they had home court so it was

either game one or game two where in the

fourth quarter I you know just was like

AR let's go win it for us you know and I

want to see like it's I play a lot of

Chess not in real life I I've actually

know a lot of people have told me you

should look you should play chess

because you'll be great I've never

played chess but in my in my mind in

theory I feel like I play chess on the

floor and I feel like if I

could get AR and steal AR and that

confidence in that fourth quarter to

make plays and win that game it is going

to pay dividends for the rest of my time

with him and the rest of his time when

I'm not with him you know I I I I love

seeing the success of my

teammates more than anything like and so

to have the ability now to be just like

I pick my spots hey DLo you got it you

know AR you got it you know um you know

it means a lot not not only for me but

for our ball

Club all right I'm gonna go over these

Blitz numbers because we're talking

about two on the ball and this is I this

is interesting so this year top five uh

players that have been blitzed and pick

and roll Luca by a lot by far almost 200

more blitzes uh and then everybody the

next four guys are bunched together it's

Brunson Anthony Simons Dame and and book

top five by ISO Giannis Kawai Julius

Randall Anthony Davis and Ben Caro those

are the top guys it's interesting I

looked up your your Blitz numbers in the

tracking era and you were first ISO

doubles in 13 and 14 uh second in 1516

and top 10 in 1718 and 1920 you've never

actually been in the top 20 in blitzes

against pick and rolls why do you think

that

is because I make all the right reads I

think it's it's that simple you're right

it's that simple team know they can't

Blitz me in to pick a roll but there's

what's interesting about Luca I think

he's one of a handful of guys in this

era that can make any pass against the

devil team any James is one of them yep

you you are for sure Luc is one of them

yep so why are you blitzing him I don't

understand it especially with the

shooting they they surround too it

doesn't make sense um like I get the

Brun the Brunson thing has been since

randle's out the uptick and Blitz has G

yeah they don't have I get that yeah for

sure sure I get that as well you know

you you have to he's he's a onead

monster right now with the Knicks and

they blitzing him and making other guys

beat him I saw Golden State do it a lot

last night um as well before our game um

but yeah it

doesn't because he's gonna make every

read

and when Tim Tim Hardway is hitting six

or seven threes you're done yeah Kyrie's

gonna get what Kyrie's gonna do what

Kyrie does yeah Luca is gonna do what he

does when you get Tim Hardway hitting

six or seven threes and in our game

earlier this year we Blitz Luca and

Dante exam hit five right

63s yeah that

that I I I I guess what's interesting to

me with great players because everybody

always talks about mixing it up you got

to mix up the coverage pick and roll you

got to mix up how you double when you

double all that stuff right so for

example when just so we're clear on this

when you double what by that what I mean

is a guys's in the mid Post in isolation

against the mismatch is it on the

dribbles is it on the drible

exactly how you double is it as you said

tilt is it coming from the baseline or

is it coming from the nail you have to

you have to talk about all those things

I just think with spacing and with

shooting there's just no good answer so

if people want explanations about why

we're having all these scoring outputs

it's because there's not a good [ __ ]

answer Atlanta Blitz is the most in the

NBA they decided not to Blitz LCA donic

because they were worried about the

consequences and he had 73 and he has 73

right there's just not good answers for

the best players right now no and it's

the it goes back to the three-point

shooting as you said teams are afraid of

teams hitting six or seven or eight

threes in the game right now so there

that's this is where all the switching

occurs now everyone's saying okay let's

get to the

switches at least we will keep everybody

home but then you realize when you

switch a nonfavorable

defender on a great player if that great

player know it's going to make the reads

they're going to get threes anyways

because they're going to drive there's

going to be a help and then there's

going to be a numbers game so it doesn't

matter so it it has to come to a point

it's like what are we what are we

willing to give up not what are we