Defense and Hustle Tracking: 2023 - 24 season

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

So more JJ and OO.

 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Orlando

2/25

 

Defense

https://www.nba.com/game/orl-vs-atl-0022300821/box-score?type=defense

 

 

With Trae out, it looks like the target was Bogi, who contested a lot of shots ( which will show in the Hustle stats ), but still got scored on frequently.  But we had 4 stellar defensive performances last night in DJ, JJ, Bruno, and Kobe Bufkin.  The energy those 4 brought, specifically Bruno and Kobe, was infectious in that 3rd quarter.  They were the guys that, defensively, enabled us to stretch out the lead when Murray got hot in the 3rd quarter.  But the impact that Bruno and Kobe had in a very short amount of time, was amazing.

 

Hustle

https://www.nba.com/game/orl-vs-atl-0022300821/box-score?type=hustle

 

 

DJ looked like his San Antonio self, with the activity he brought last night.  The effort from him was definitely on a higher level than normal.  But the story to me is Kobe.  The activity he was bringing on defense really sparked the Hawks in that 3rd quarter.

And we contested 51 shots last night.  That has to be a season high.  I can't remember in any of these breakdowns, where we contested 51 shots.

51/84 = 60.7% Contested shot %

That's outstanding.

 

Let's see if they can do it again against a Utah team that has guards that like to run and gun, and bigs who can make life difficult for us around the rim.

Don't mess things up Quin.  Play the people who are making the most impact in the game.  Don't be committed to giving certain guys X amount of minutes, no matter how they're playing.

[theheroatl]

13 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Orlando

2/25

 

Defense

https://www.nba.com/game/orl-vs-atl-0022300821/box-score?type=defense

 

 

With Trae out, it looks like the target was Bogi, who contested a lot of shots ( which will show in the Hustle stats ), but still got scored on frequently.  But we had 4 stellar defensive performances last night in DJ, JJ, Bruno, and Kobe Bufkin.  The energy those 4 brought, specifically Bruno and Kobe, was infectious in that 3rd quarter.  They were the guys that, defensively, enabled us to stretch out the lead when Murray got hot in the 3rd quarter.  But the impact that Bruno and Kobe had in a very short amount of time, was amazing.

 

Hustle

https://www.nba.com/game/orl-vs-atl-0022300821/box-score?type=hustle

 

 

DJ looked like his San Antonio self, with the activity he brought last night.  The effort from him was definitely on a higher level than normal.  But the story to me is Kobe.  The activity he was bringing on defense really sparked the Hawks in that 3rd quarter.

And we contested 51 shots last night.  That has to be a season high.  I can't remember in any of these breakdowns, where we contested 51 shots.

51/84 = 60.7% Contested shot %

That's outstanding.

 

Let's see if they can do it again against a Utah team that has guards that like to run and gun, and bigs who can make life difficult for us around the rim.

Don't mess things up Quin.  Play the people who are making the most impact in the game.  Don't be committed to giving certain guys X amount of minutes, no matter how they're playing.

I’m excited by this.. if we can find a group that plays defense like this consistently that can be a good path forward.

[AHF]

Orlando without Banchero is a pretty bad offense but it was still a good game from the team.  I want to see it against better offenses and some degree of consistency.

[Diesel]

9 hours ago, AHF said:

Orlando without Banchero is a pretty bad offense but it was still a good game from the team.  I want to see it against better offenses and some degree of consistency.

They still have Wagner and Suggs.   They are one of the top defenses in the land and in the previous games (Detroit and Cleveland) it's hard to find places where Banchero was cooking to the place where they had to have him to be competitive. I think what we will learn in this stint is that we truly are a running team.   Pace is our friend.   When we play with Pace, we will be hard to stop.   And hopefully, Trae will see that as he watches... because he's the one who controls the pace. 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Brooklyn

2/29

 

Defense

https://www.nba.com/game/atl-vs-bkn-0022300851/box-score?type=defense

 

JJ, Bogi, and DJ really struggled on the defensive end last night.  Brooklyn did make a lot of tough, contested 3s, but they also had way too many wide open looks.  Even our young rookie Bufkin struggled last night on the defensive end. 

Bey and Hunter were bright spots on the defensive end, which is rare for both to be good defensively at the same time.  But our guards and wings got torched.

Looks like the defensive narrative died after just 2 games.

 

Hustle

https://www.nba.com/game/atl-vs-bkn-0022300851/box-score?type=hustle

 

 

A lot of contested shots defended by Bogi, but Brooklyn still knocked them down.  Kind of shocked at the inactivity from DJ in this game.  He gave up 14 points to Dennis Schröder alone.  Only 2 deflections for DJ, something that is normally high when he's active defensively.

Only 38 contested shots this game.   38/90 = 42% contested shots

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Brooklyn

3/2

 

Defense

https://www.nba.com/game/atl-vs-bkn-0022300866/box-score?type=defense&period=All

 

 

Bruno's defense was A-level yesterday.  Not just from a blocked shot perspective, but by just challenging any shot attempt that got into the paint.  He showed the ability to stay with or trail guards to deter their shots in the paint, and he stood tall vs Claxton and Sharpe.  Jalen did a great job challenging 3 point shots. The effort was definitely there from him.  He and Bruno get an A for their defense yesterday.

Bey didn't stop anyone yesterday.  He had no chance vs Bridges.  And when he guards in the paint, he's not big enough to deter taller PFs and Cs from easily scoring at the rim.  This hurts the Hawks tremendously, whenever we play small and aren't scoring on the other end.  Capela wasn't much better.  He started out well, but progressively got worse as the game went on.  He got exposed a bit trying to guard Bridges and Schröder.  Then Claxton had his way with Clint in the 2nd half.

 

Hustle

https://www.nba.com/game/atl-vs-bkn-0022300866/box-score?type=hustle&period=All

 

 

Once again, the effort from Bruno cannot be understated.  To challenge 11 shot attempts in 18 minutes of playing time, is outstanding.   An unusual stat that stands out, is the number of times Capela boxed out in the game.  9 box outs by him, and 17 for the team total, is easily the largest number I've seen so far this season.  The Nets, unfortunately, still pulled down 12 offensive rebounds, but at least the Hawks tried to put a body on someone to get a rebound.

50/88 contested shots = 57% contested shots

I'll take that every game.  Just have to secure the miss once we get a good shot contest.

Edited March 3 by TheNorthCydeRises

[theheroatl]

I was thinking about this and decided to run the numbers... 

 

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense-dash-overall?DateFrom=11%2F01%2F2023&DateTo=02%2F24%2F2024

 

vs.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense-dash-overall?DateFrom=02%2F24%2F2024&DateTo=03%2F08%2F2024

 

 

Defensive FG % went from 50.3% to 43%

 

It is what it is. Not saying anything just looking things up.

Edited March 9 by theheroatl

[REHawksFan]

2 hours ago, theheroatl said:

I was thinking about this and decided to run the numbers... 

 

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense-dash-overall?DateFrom=11%2F01%2F2023&DateTo=02%2F24%2F2024

 

vs.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense-dash-overall?DateFrom=02%2F24%2F2024&DateTo=03%2F08%2F2024

 

 

Defensive FG % went from 50.3% to 43%

 

It is what it is. Not saying anything just looking things up.

Facts are facts. No disputing that. But facts without context are, well, kinda hard to glean much from. 

[theheroatl]

34 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

Facts are facts. No disputing that. But facts without context are, well, kinda hard to glean much from. 

I’m just glad we are playing really good defense

[REHawksFan]

7 minutes ago, theheroatl said:

I’m just glad we are playing really good defense

Are we? How can you tell?

[REHawksFan]

16 minutes ago, theheroatl said:

I’m just glad we are playing really good defense

The only team the Hawks have played with generally the same roster before and after the "random" date you chose is Brooklyn. 

BKN (2 games before) 46.8%

BKN (2 games after) 48.9%

Every other team we've played has had a shell of their normal roster. I just don't see how you can tell one way or the other. Obviously the numbers look good. I get that. Just not sure how you draw conclusions about it. I guess I'll believe they are actually playing better defense when they play a full NBA roster and play well defensively. 

[NBASupes]

16 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

Are we? How can you tell?

We are. It's clear that we force a lot of contested looks and we aren't overly turnover prone. With Murray at the 1, we tend to be good in transition defense too. We still give up too many points in the paint but we seem to adjust late, especially Clint

2 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

The only team the Hawks have played with generally the same roster before and after the "random" date you chose is Brooklyn. 

BKN (2 games before) 46.8%

BKN (2 games after) 48.9%

Every other team we've played has had a shell of their normal roster. I just don't see how you can tell one way or the other. Obviously the numbers look good. I get that. Just not sure how you draw conclusions about it. I guess I'll believe they are actually playing better defense when they play a full NBA roster and play well defensively. 

Its the NBA, no one is really healthy at this point but yeah, we are playing much better D

[REHawksFan]

5 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

We are. It's clear that we force a lot of contested looks and we aren't overly turnover prone. With Murray at the 1, we tend to be good in transition defense too. We still give up too many points in the paint but we seem to adjust late, especially Clint

Its the NBA, no one is really healthy at this point but yeah, we are playing much better D

That's fine. But you gotta admit playing teams like Memphis with a bunch of g-leaguers or playing NY without Brunson and Randle makes it easier to defend, no? 

I mean, it's not like they are holding Boston or Denver to 100 points just because Trae is out. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Memphis

3/8

 

Defense

https://www.nba.com/game/atl-vs-mem-0022300913/box-score?type=defense

 

 

Pretty stellar defense from everyone with the exception of Murray, and Capela in the 1st quarter on JJJ.  Murray got caught ball watching at times on some of the 3s he gave up, and on a baseline pass to a big who was behind him. 

Capela got smoked by JJ in that first half, with JJ going 6 - 7 FG.  In the 2nd half Capela locked him down, and held him to 1 - 8 FG.  So while JJJ shot a respectable 7 - 15 FG vs Capela, it was a tale of 2 halves.

Vit and Bruno are the unsung heroes of the game defensively.  Their activity in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, in my opinion, set the tone defensively for the team.

Bogi was a ROCK on defense, holding his man to 2 - 10 FG, with 2 blocks and helping to force 4 other turnovers via steals or help defense.

Hunter defended 7 different players who took shots while he was on them, and held them to 3 - 13 FG and 0 - 6 from the 3 point line.  A very nice on ball defensive game from him.

 

Hustle

https://www.nba.com/game/atl-vs-mem-0022300913/box-score?dir=D&sort=oppTeamTricode&type=hustle

 

 

A very good game from a contested shot standpoint, although the way I'm calculating it may be wrong.  Still, when you have 41 contested shot stats on 74 shot attempts by the Griz, that's a good sign that the defense wasn't giving up wide open looks to people.

As noted in the defensive section, Capela did his work contesting shots.  The 1st half, JJJ was making everything over him.  The 2nd half, Capela kept contesting his shot and shut him down.

Dejounte, despite his inability to stop people, did deflect a bunch of passes.  The team as a whole had 16 deflections, which is very good for them.

I need to start paying attention to contested 3 point shots.  I would say that a team that is connected well defensively, should be contesting at least 60% - 70% of 3 point attempts.   Last night we contested 16 out of 26 three point shots = 61.5% of shots.  Memphis only made 10 threes.

Edited March 9 by TheNorthCydeRises

[TheNorthCydeRises]

14 hours ago, REHawksFan said:

That's fine. But you gotta admit playing teams like Memphis with a bunch of g-leaguers or playing NY without Brunson and Randle makes it easier to defend, no? 

I mean, it's not like they are holding Boston or Denver to 100 points just because Trae is out. 

People only focus on Trae being out, but OO is out as well.

I'm going to be VERY INTERESTED to see how the team is functioning on the frontline, if and when OO comes back, and Bruno's playing time gets cut to zero. 

Quin isn't going to commit to playing big on the frontline, with Bruno still playing spot minutes at the 5, and OO getting 10+ minutes a game at the 4.

[terrell]

37 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

People only focus on Trae being out, but OO is out as well.

I'm going to be VERY INTERESTED to see how the team is functioning on the frontline, if and when OO comes back, and Bruno's playing time gets cut to zero. 

Quin isn't going to commit to playing big on the frontline, with Bruno still playing spot minutes at the 5, and OO getting 10+ minutes a game at the 4.

Trae and OO Both are bigger problems on D than people will admit.... But whatever....

Bruno has been holding it down as backup..  Setting good screens, passing, and Staying in passing lanes on D....He plays with a toughness OO lacks and this team needs...

But now fans want to act like we usually Dominate Bad teams when they play.......lol

 

Edited March 9 by terrell

[NBASupes]

56 minutes ago, terrell said:

Trae and OO Both are bigger problems on D than people will admit.... But whatever....

Bruno has been holding it down as backup..  Setting good screens, passing, and Staying in passing lanes on D....He plays with a toughness OO lacks and this team needs...

But now fans want to act like we usually Dominate Bad teams when they play.......lol

 

His defensive RAPTOR went up .2. He's .3 points away from tying JJ at #1. Sadly, his offense went down .3. Hard for Bruno to play with a weaker offensive cast. That said, possession by possession, he's shown some bright marks. 

1 hour ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

People only focus on Trae being out, but OO is out as well.

I'm going to be VERY INTERESTED to see how the team is functioning on the frontline, if and when OO comes back, and Bruno's playing time gets cut to zero. 

Quin isn't going to commit to playing big on the frontline, with Bruno still playing spot minutes at the 5, and OO getting 10+ minutes a game at the 4.

He should. Bruno isn't bad in space defensively. May help OO at the 4.