[Please join us in welcoming new contributor Avi Freeman to the site. This is his first post for 8p9s.]
Going into the playoffs I expected Roy Hibbert to go off offensively and average over 20 points per game against a Dwight Howard-less Magic team. He didn’t do that, but what he did do was become a defensive monster. Against a team missing Dwight Howard, Roy Hibbert played like Dwight Howard defensively. He took ownership over the paint and didn’t allow anyone inside “Painted Area 55” without making sure they left with no intentions of returning.
It wasn’t just the 3.8 blocks he averaged per game, it was the presence he had whenever any Magic player attempted entering the paint. He made sure anyone entering the paint knew they would have to fight if they wanted any chance of scoring. He didn’t give up on plays and was just a dominant force defensively.
In Game Five the Pacers held a 46-22 lead in points in the paint. Roy Hibbert was the main reason. It is probably no coincidence that Hibbert’s most impressive block of the series came in the third quarter of this game, when Glen Davis appeared to have a wide open dunk until Roy swatted it away.
As of right now, Roy Hibbert is leading the NBA in defensive rating during this season’s playoffs. And I know we’ve only (mostly) completed one round of the playoffs, but his 86.3 rating currently stands fourth all time in single season defensive rating during the playoffs.
| Def Rating – ’12 Playoffs | ||
| 1. | Roy Hibbert, IND | 86.3 |
| 2. | Kevin Garnett, BOS | 87.3 |
| 3. | Tim Duncan, SAS | 88.4 |
| 4. | Rajon Rondo, BOS | 89.5 |
| 5. | Dwyane Wade, MIA | 92.1 |
Roy has also been great at grabbing down rebounds, averaging over 10.8 per game. He has stepped up his defensive rebounding in particular thus far. With a 24.7 defensive rebound rate (the percent of available boards he has grabbed during his time on the court while playing defense), he grabbed nearly a quarter of all the shots the Magic missed in the first round. This is a big jump from the 20.7% he brought down in the regular season (and a huge leap from his 18.4%.)
| Block Pct – ’12 Playoffs | ||
| 1. | Roy Hibbert, IND | 12.0 |
| 2. | Serge Ibaka, OKC | 9.3 |
| 3. | DeAndre Jordan, LAC | 8.4 |
| 4. | JaVale McGee, DEN | 8.0 |
| 5. | Andrew Bynum, LAL | 6.7 |
Now that Roy has shown that he can be a beast defensively, he has to find a way to work that in along with his offense. In the Magic series, while he only had 11 points per game, he shot 53% from the field. This was also an improvement from the regular season, during which he shot 49.7%.
This shows that he probably wasn’t getting enough touches. In Game Four we saw David West starting to demand the ball, and he scored 26 points while doing so.
| Blocks – ’12 Playoffs | ||
| 1. | Andrew Bynum, LAL | 22 |
| 2. | Roy Hibbert, IND | 19 |
| 3. | JaVale McGee, DEN | 17 |
| 4. | Elton Brand, PHI | 15 |
| 5. | Serge Ibaka, OKC | 13 |
| Pau Gasol, LAL | 13 | |
Roy Hibbert needs to learn that sometimes he, too, needs to demand the ball and not be so passive offensively.
He was widely criticized for his disappearing act in the first round in last year’s playoffs against the Bulls. In that five-game series, he took 45 shots (and 17 free throws). In five games aginst the Magic, he took just 43 (and only 14 free throws).
His defensive dominance means that nobody should be criticizing his overall performance against Orlando — which, it must be noted, did use defensive schemes that specifically tried to keep the Pacers from working them over in the post. But it is hard to see the Pacers thriving against a team as good, and soft inside, as Miami if Hibbert cannot produce more on the offensive end.
I believe will Roy Hibbert start consistently playing above expectations on both offense and defense. If he can, in the spotlight of aplayoff series against the Heat, he will certainly take a few steps forward in the conversation of the best centers in the league. And as a restricted free agent this summer, he will also likely make a lot more money in his next contract.
{ 6 comments }
Series Preview, Part 2: Offensive Rebounding Will Be Critical for the Pacers to Beat the Heat
by Tim Donahue on May 11, 2012 at 6:46 pm · 3 comments
The Pacers are an odd rebounding team. They’re spotty on the defensive glass. A lot of it is driven by how the defense plays. If the opposing offense can get the defense to start rotating then the Pacers tend to lose contact with rebounders. This tends to happen in flurries, like in Game Two against the Magic, when the Pacers allowed a ton of second-chance points and watched an early lead disappear.
In some ways, those flaws are reflective of the team’s individual players’ weaknesses in rebounding. Roy Hibbert is slow and doesn’t have great hands. It’s not uncommon during these stretches to see him get his hand on rebounds that he doesn’t control. David West also lacks footspeed, but really is just more of a “block-out” guy. His default instinct is to control his man, as opposed to trying to chase down rebounds. He can help settle things down and keep an opposing player from getting a ton of boards, but he can’t himself control the glass. Danny Granger is just a sub-par rebounder for his position, averaging just 5.2 rebounds per game in high minutes for his career. Luol Deng, Carmelo Anthony, Andre Igoudala, by contract, have averaged 6.5, 6.3 and 5.8 per game, respectively. Paul George could be — and often is — a pretty good wing rebounder, but he is also the team’s primary wing defender, so rebounding isn’t his priority.
All this might be problematic against the Heat, a team no defense can survive against if they’re giving up multiple shots on too many possessions. But Miami is only a middling offensive rebounding team. They get their fair share of Sportscenter put-back dunks, but they only hauled down 26.6% of their own misses this regular season, which ranks them 18th in the NBA in terms of offensive rebounding rate (ORR).
So it’s actually the offensive end that will likely be more important for the Pacers when it comes to rebounding. This side of the backboard battle is a much larger focus for coach Frank Vogel. And it shows. During the regular season, the Pacers were the 5th best offensive rebouding team in the league, grabbing nearly 3 out of ever 10 misses (29.5%). Between the coach’s strategic focus on always crashing two bigs to the glass, and the fact that offensive rebounding is a strength for guys like Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough, and Lou Amundson, this isn’t a complete shock.
In the regular season, the Heat were the 10th best defensive rebounding team, so they will certainly enter the series confident that they can keep the Pacers from getting too many second-chance points, regardless of Indy’s prowess in this area. And they have first-hand evidence that shows they can.
As Miami crushed Indy in the first two games — both prior to the All-Star break — the Pacers only managed about an 18% ORR in the two games. The two post-All-Star-break games, however, were much more competitive. In their overtime loss at Miami, Indiana had an 33% ORR. Then, in the Pacers’ 15-point home win, they pushed it up to about 37%.
This could simply be coincidental. But I doubt it. The Pacers were at their best all year when they were pounding the offensive glass, and they will have to get plenty of second-chance points if they want to beat the Heat.
Related Topics: 2012 Playoffs, Miami Heat
{ 3 comments }