Since entering 2022, the best defensive team in the league has not been the Warriors or the Suns, but the Lone Rangers. Relax the time a little more, from Last December to the present, the league's defensive number one team is still the Lone Ranger. The Lone Rangers are 4th in the league in defensive efficiency of the season, and their opponents' three-point shooting rate of 34.1% is a low but not outrageous level, which can basically rule out the interference of luck factors. The Lone Ranger's defense relies on strength.
The game picture is more telling, as long as the team that has played against the Lone Ranger should all recognize this - the Lone Ranger's current defensive discipline is at least in the top 3 in the league. Although the Lone Ranger has shown a good rotation ability in the past, neither the actual effect nor the visual impact can be compared with the present. The Lone Ranger has changed, from a top offensive team in the league to a defensive team, although compared to the past two years, the net win score of 100 rounds is still in place, but the team's offense is mainly stuck in the core personal state and the overall projection state, this part still has room to warm up. In the absence of a change in the core rotation, it is a good thing to be able to carry out the defense in the long run.
So, what's so good about lone ranger defense?
Kidd's coaching in the late Bucks left a bad impression of a brainless pinch, and it was difficult to identify his contribution to the team during the Lakers' assistant teaching period. Coupled with the early days of the Lone Rangers, the team's offensive decline, Doncic's personal performance is bad, and the predecessor is also too loud, Kidd's transformation of the team is more difficult to be noticed.
The progress of the Lone Ranger's defense is a team victory, and the Lone Ranger does not rely on some extreme way to do a good job of defending, they like to put pressure on the ball, but by no means a brainless pinch, they are at the top of the defensive league at the three-point line, but they are by no means outside the line. From the Lone Ranger, you can see a lot of the shadow of the 20 Lakers, or so to speak, similar to the 20 Lakers, improve the defensive shortcomings, try to do a good job in all aspects of the defensive team is increasing, the Lone Ranger is so, the Warriors, the Sun also have similar characteristics. Taking the Lone Ranger vs. Grizzlies as an example, let's talk about the Lone Ranger's defense.
The Lone Ranger limits opponents to 6th in the league in three-point frequency and 5th in the league in terms of opponent three-point shooting percentage, but they defend against the Grizzlies, and it's clear that the strategy is to properly let go of unreliable shooters outside the three-point line. With Bane, Dillon and Jones not playing, the Grizzlies have limited outside threats, the Lone Rangers can keep the defense very small, and Zaire Williams' 1-of-8 three-pointer is an important reason for the Grizzlies to dig a big hole in the first half.
But if a team's defense is all about emptying, it is far from good, and the key is to combine things other than emptying. Take a look at the Lone Ranger this turn:
In the middle of the defense, the electric fan (Finney Smith) and Powell delayed Morant and prevented him from speeding up. When Adams came over to cover outside the three-point line, Powell lifted the delay, and the two wings of Hardaway and Bronson contracted to prevent Adams from going down and Morant's forced breakthrough, while Powell changed defenses against Morant, electric fans took over Adams, and finally only Zaire Williams was left with a ball point for Morant, and Hardaway pounced to try to interfere. The process was so smooth and silky that Morant fell into the trap steadily.
Let's look at another round, divided into two parts, first:
Adams arced at the top of the arc, the electric fan first defended a wave of Morant to catch the ball, so the Grizzlies transferred the ball to the weak side of Melton to initiate, Adams down to get the misalignment, Bronson around the front stuck. To avoid Adams catching the ball, the electric fan was recycled, but he stood in a position that could be juggled on both sides, and Melton fed The Ball to Adams at risk of error.
So Melton cautiously chose to return the ball to Morant, and the electric fan was very calm to take over. At this time, doncic on the weak side took over Adams, Bronson stayed on Morant's breakthrough route, making it difficult to cut into the paint area, and the Grizzlies' only chance was to appear here in Aldama on the weak side, but it required Morant to pass diagonally across the line - the bottom corner Of Aldama people could not be seen in the picture, which showed how far away it was.
So Melton could only support Morant in an empty space, And Bronson immediately took over, and swiped the card to force Morant to combine the ball, so that the whole round finally evolved into a hasty breakthrough after Melton received the ball and then took a back-up shot.
Electric Fan and Bronson did a few small things to sabotage the Grizzlies' tactical launch, and this kind of round does not even require the weak side bottom corner to be Aldama, and even a more deadly shooter will make tactical objectives difficult to achieve because of the Lone Ranger's multiple quality defenses of core catches, misalignment protection, and breakthrough route interference. These small details are not as eye-catching as guarding the basket and steals, but the accumulated contribution to the defense cannot be ignored, and they reflect the lone ranger's correct understanding of "how to defend". You can see a lot of similar rounds, such as when defending Melton from blocking, Green and Kleber focus on Melton feeding Tillman down, or Green letting go of Melton cutting the ball when the player catches the ball with his back to himself, etc. - Melton's shooting threat is not enough and how to use it correctly is two things, and the Lone Ranger obviously has a correct understanding of both things.
Even if the opponent's master can change the formation, there is still a chance that he will not return, which is also one of the Lone Ranger's most powerful defensive weapons this season - super rotation ability. In the race between man and ball, although the ball is always faster than the person, the person is more stable than the ball, the pass is a little off, and the rotation wins. The Lone Ranger's rotation is basically error-free, can Morant guarantee that his shots are foolproof? There is no need to form a steal directly, as long as the ball is not too stable, the Lone Ranger can make up for a small vacancy.
Another of the Lone Rangers' super defensive weapons is their defensive assistance, the timing of the pinch, and the amount of advance of subsequent substitutions. The following round is very well represented:
Powell's defensive position remained very good, Morant could not get up, and could not get rid of him one step at a time, so Morant cut laterally into the middle of the road, at this time the Lone Ranger had completely tightened the defense line, the paint area was filled, Kleber assisted the defense jumped up, and together with Powell blocked Morant's route to the inside line, so Morant could only give Williams in the bottom corner, because the distance was not far, the Lone Ranger had time to rotate completely.
At this time, Morant re-attacked, and Bullock immediately clipped the attack, pointed at Conchar, and signaled his teammates to make up. After Morant took the ball, it was finally given to Aldama in the bottom corner, and Kléber turned into position to interfere with the shot.
The timing of this ball is very "Lakers", the capture is that the Grizzlies attack time is not enough, can only do simple processing, and Bullock's active pinch and teammate rotation are basically synchronized, which is also a feature of the Lone Ranger this season, the pinch and rotation synchronization, making it possible for people to run to win the ball, the opponent's conduction ball along the route designed by the Lone Ranger.
The Lone Ranger's airtight set of defensive details magnified the Grizzlies' current lack of shooters by a factor of 100. So the question is, as a team with a "violent" style of play, the Grizzlies are not too demanding of three-point performance, and they have an absolute athletic talent advantage over the Lone Ranger, can they directly crush the Lone Ranger?
In fact, the Grizzlies, relying on the league's most explosive frontcourt rebounding ability and fast-attack ability, have already breathed a sigh of relief from the difficult offense of this game. But most of that comes from the second half, and even more in the fourth quarter, where the point difference is already very large. In the first half, when the gap between the two sides was even greater, the Lone Ranger was also very restrictive in both aspects.
The Lone Ranger also has two abilities, one is the third in the league in defensive rebounding rate (of course, in front of the top interior line, this data is not necessarily related to the opponent's blowing up their paint), they are the team that plays the position, does not push fast attacks, and has the capital to recover and protect the rebounds. The other is excellent in defending against fast attacks. The Lone Rangers themselves are teams with few mistakes, playing very slowly, and it is not easy to run with them. And because the overall body shape is good, the big man is always active in the arc top area, and the quality of the defense is very high. These two characteristics are actually the types that grizzly bears don't like very much.
The Lone Ranger's defense may be a bit restrained by the Grizzlies?
In fact, it is not only the Grizzlies, but also a team with some flaws on the offensive end, and it is not easy to play when encountering lone rangers. The Warriors' offensive crotch this season is still the least offensive efficiency of the season, and Curry's SPR of 10.4 is a career night. After the game, Kerr said that in view of the way the opponent defends Curry, Klay will get a lot of opportunities after his return, but the Lone Ranger defense of Curry is by no means a brainless pinch, there is a precise target for the Warriors' limited supporting roles, and the timing of the pinch is also very clever, with Curry's current slump, it is easy to crack. In addition to Curry's own normal level, I am afraid that it is necessary for supporting roles to play some tough performances, such as being able to score against the auxiliary defense, or grasping the small vacancy fixed point.
The huge progress of the Lone Ranger's defense has to make people sigh, as long as they are willing to work hard, the defense can give the hard work of the team in return. The requirements of the offense for talent are too high, the system is nothing more than a lubricant built on talent, in the final analysis, the fight is the ability of the players, people can't do it, the system is just a mirror flower. But the defensive teams that have emerged in the past two years have increasingly shown the characteristics of "civilianization", and the sun and the lone ranger have not had too thick defensive thighs.
The lack of original talent has always been the defensive bottleneck of the Lone Rangers in the past, and if they have any advantages, it is that most of the rotation, especially the internal rotation mobility is good, and can often put out the No. 2 position to start the tall lineup, which has the basis for changing defense and rapid rotation, which is better defensive than the team that often swings five small. But with a team that "although everyone is not the top, at least not bad", it is definitely not easy to get the defense to this point. Everyone is involved in contributing, and the result of removing the shortcomings is that the defense produces excellent chemistry, which is better than a team like the Jazz, which is highly dependent on a defensive thigh.
Therefore, "defense wins the championship", although it is only half the truth, but defense is a more controllable part of the team, how to emphasize can not be overemphasized. No team or star can guarantee that the feel is always on the line, and you can appreciate it better when you can still win the game in 13.