Portland Trail Blazers Preview: Phoenix Suns

Don’t get too rowdy Blazer fans. It was just one game out of the 82. Still it was pretty awesome to watch C.J. McCollum do his thing and the whole Blazers team humiliate a disastrous Pelicans defense.

Next on the Blazers’ hit list are the Phoenix Suns, who they play both Friday and Saturday (since they are playing them in back to back games I will be doing one preview for the both of them).  The Suns have the opposite record of the Blazers at 0-1 with an embarrassing home opener loss against an aging Mavericks team. There were not many bright spots in the game, however young players Archie Goodwin and Devin Booker scored a respectable 12 and 14 points in what was mostly garbage time.

It is hard to say who is the better team between the Pelicans and Suns because both teams have struggled mightily as of late. The Suns are virtually opposite of the Pelicans with unbelievably no injuries on their team. Everyone that suited up last night played and may be a key factor for Friday’s game if the Blazers intend  to run as much as they did against the Pelicans.

Both teams love to run in transition but do it in very different ways. For the Suns they like to bring the ball up with either their speedy shooting guard Brandon Knight or their bruising point guard Eric Bledsoe. Both players rely on screens from the top of the key from center Tyson Chandler and the offense works from their, usually resulting in a bad shot early in the shot clock. The Blazers do not usually use high screens but use the drive and kick approach. Either point guard Damian Lillard or shooting guard C.J. McCollum will bring the ball up the court forcing the other team to stop ball and run back on defense. This leads to a lot of easy buckets since the big is usually not back in transition yet, leaving no shot blocker at the rim.

When the Suns do try to run offense it still consists of Bledsoe and Knight trying to attack the basket off of screens but in more of a controlled environment. Also they try to give the ball to Markieff Morris in the post, something the Blazers should not be worried about and almost welcoming the Suns to do it.

In the Suns basic offensive motion set the point guard usually brings the ball up the court. Here Ronnie Price brings the ball to the free throw line extended for a handoff to P.J. Tucker. After Tucker gets the ball he swings it to Sonny Weems coming off a down screen from opposite big man Markief Morris. Weems gets the ball and immediately passes it to center Jon Leuer. Leuer makese a quick move to the basket and gets fouled.

In the next version of their motion the point guard does not do a direct dribble handoff to the shooting guard but a simple chest pass. After he receives the pass he still gets a screen but from the opposite big. While Weems is getting a screen set for him, the center Leuer is going to the opposite elbow while Morris is going to the block to post up. Weems passes it to Leuer at the elbow and the big throws a skip pass back to Knight. Knight sees Morris has position and feeds him the ball. Morris has an opening but muffs the ball and turns it over.

As always there is a counter to all offensive basketball plays. If a team decides to overplay one part of a play, there is always an opening to it. In the Suns motion offense it is a backdoor pass. While they were trying to do a dribble handoff in the corner, Weems went for a backdoor cut and thankfully for the Rockets, Knight didn’t hit him with the pass. The Suns did however run their play through but instead of Leuer rolling to the elbow after the screen he rolled to the short corner that was inhabited due to the back door cut.

I’ve also noticed that there are different variations of motion and that it is not always a handoff to the other guard or a big screen. This limits what the passing guard can do. For instance, in this play after Knight passes to Weems then goes to the elbow and sets an off ball screen for Morris. If he did a handoff, it would automatically send him to the corner and make him less effective. Anyways, after Knight sets the pick he comes to the top of the key and gets a screen from Leuer. Leuer does a bad job of cutting to the basket, which could have been a dunk for him, and puts Knight in a bad position. Knight dribbles along the baseline and finds Morris in the corner for a wide open jumper, which he misses.

The next video may be the best time the Suns have run their offense out of what I saw because of their patience and not wanting to throw up a bad shot. After the ball goes to the corner for the handoff and the screen is set as usual, Weems throws the ball to Tucker who promptly gets the ball to Leuer who looks to see if he has anything to work with. He figures he has nothing and hits Knight with a dribble handoff who just came off a Tucker down screen. This is essentially a double screen and leaves Knight with 1) a wide open jumper or 2) a driving lane to the basket. Knight chooses the former and it pays off.

In the last video I have for motion, it is literally ran the same way as the video above except Tucker goes away from the ball after he passes it. What this does is set up a stagger screen for Bledsoe. Morris has to read what the defense gives him and what Bledsoe does coming off the screen. Bledsoe decides to fade away from the stagger as his defender, Danny Green, tries to go under both screens. Good defense by Kawhi Leonard snubs the play but without Leonard being there the play would have gone for two. If Bledsoe would have followed the stagger and Green didn’t cheat, Bledsoe would have had the same options Knight did as he came off the screens.

In another set, with a lot of player motion, the same thing generally happens but with starting center Tyson Chandler. The ball is brought up by Knight and passed to Bledsoe at the free throw line extended. Knight sets a cross screen for Morris to post up on the ball side block. Morris sees if he has anything, he doesn’t (he never does), and passes it to Knight, who after set the screen for Morris got a stagger screen from Chandler and Bledsoe. After Chandler sets the screen he goes down on the block for a quick second then goes back to the high post. Once he gets the ball he drives and scores.

This is the basis of what the Suns want to do. Have their bigs at the elbows and make something happen at the basket.

For the Blazers to win this game they have to play a different style of basketball then they did against the Pelicans. In case you haven’t noticed, an NBA player hasn’t averaged 37 points in a season in a while. C.J. McCollum will continue to do well but probably won’t have the explosion he experienced Wednesday. In that case the team will have to play better defense in order to make up for the loss of points.

This means getting back on defense and stopping the ball before the ball gets across half court. If the Blazers can force the Suns to run their offense that will be in their favor.

I think that the Blazers can split this series, probably winning the game on Saturday in their place. However I won’t be surprised if they sweep, because of the mess of a game the Suns produced against the Mavericks. The Blazers are an alright team but probably not going to dismantle Phoenix twice in one sitting.