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NBA offenses have become a video game



The Indiana Pacers have by far the most efficient offense in NBA history after the first month of the season, and combined for 309 points with the Hawks in a recent NBA Cup game. This detailed film breakdown & scouting report explores how Tyrese Haliburton uses shooting, passing, pace, along with Rick Carlisle’s tactics, to lead the league’s offensive explosion.

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Stats courtesy:
http://www.pbpstats.com @bballport
https://www.basketball-reference.com
https://stats.nba.com
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Footage in this video is owned by the NBA and its partners. It is intended for critique and education.

Music by Elision (Batman) and Fairlight (Detour in Velour)

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29 Comments

  1. Several weeks ago i said to myself "i'm gonna watch Pacers games". I never thought i would even think that post pg13.

  2. 1. You don't have to actually dribble these days. When you can palm the ball, take extra steps, etc against an already neutered defense, what can they do?

    Offensive fouls barely exist anymore either. Especially for star players like LeBron.

    2. No hand checking. Also have to allow space. Teams are afraid of the 4 point play, so they are careful not to foul.

    Shooters know they can let it fly without worry of being hit.

    3. No bigs in the paint due to 3 second rule, and bigs are often smaller due to the emphasis on 3pt shooting.

    So there is even more emphasis on the 3, as it spreads people out and makes it so easy to either find the open guy or pick and roll or drive to the hoop.

  3. Nope. NBA defense has become a joke. Players don't tend to concentrate on that part of their game and most players don't work as hard as those in the past did. Players are more athletic today, but they are much more stupid and immature as well.

  4. pacers really did a splendid rebuild. I remember the times when their stars like roy hibbert are remembered for defense, now look at that unending offense.

  5. Okay here's an revolutionary idea guys. How about we have a goalie. A guy who can't leave his defensive end, is allowed to stay in the key the entire time and can goaltend off the rim lol that would give guys like Bol Bol, Tacko Fall and Boban more uses lol

  6. This is how u beat 7 footer defense. Off ball movement and pace. This is just Goldenstate Offense v3.0.

  7. There's no handchecking and the lane is wide open now since every offense puts all 5 players outside the 3 point line spotting up to jack up a million of them. It's no surprise that it's easier to score 30 points in this era than at any point in history and that's why Lefraud is still effective since his entire game is inside 3 feet from the rim. He's completely ineffective outside of that shooting only 37% for his career and 31% in the playoffs.

  8. do a video on the magic's defense, it would be a good contrast to this offensive focused video and would be very interesting to see broken down

  9. Casual viewers prefer easy higher scoring games. Personally, I think players, even high schoolers, have gotten so skilled these days, offenses dont need extra help from the rules/interpretation of the day. If they can make contested 3s and contort their body in such elegant coordinated ways in mid air with contact, then they dont need to be able to travel, carry, and be given the benefit of the doubt regarding fouls.

  10. " As someone who did enjoy the early 2000s style of play, honestly watching the games today, I can't even "blame" the refs and the league. Sure, certain physicality has been taken away, but coaches and players are just figuring out better ways to get the ball up and down the court, better ways to get people open for certain shots, and getting players who are more effective at putting the ball in the basket in identified key areas.

    People can bark at the league all they want, but a lot of the plays in that video are just pushing the tempo as much as possible or having the personnel to be able to hit previously thought ridiculous shots. Look at the 3s that Hali or Trae were putting up. What can you do from a reffing stand point to stop a guy from shooting near the logo, or 5 feet behind the line? What can you do to stop Indiana from going full sprint off every rebound or inbound besides playing actual good transition defense?

    Certain calls and hand checking may have played a small factor, but it's just the changing of the guard that's really brought in the current scoring increase. We have 7 footers shooting off the dribble or diving into the lane like how Maggette used to, but now it's Giannis at a much different athletic profile. We have Jokic who is one of the greatest passers and offensive engines ever at the 5 spot. We have Trae/Hali/Lillard/Curry/etc who demand to be guarded from half court damn near at this point.

    The league is just full of a lot of oddities and unique talents compared to before, and a lot of that is just due to development and coaching being much more open to working on a players skills and talent rather than pigeon holing them into a predefined role based on their size. It also becomes much harder to scheme on defense when each one of these talents requires a specific gameplan that might only really work in that particular case. In a vacuum, guys like Carter/McGrady/Kobe/etc played a similar way, and the big men that came up in the same era followed the same trends (KG/Webber/Dirk/etc all came from similar molds). But how do you transfer your defensive game plan from Durant to Jokic, or Jokic to Giannis, or Giannis to Embiid, Embiid to Luka, Luka to Booker, Booker to Curry, etc. It's just become a more complex game IMO, even though the execution seems simpler.

  11. My only problem with the nba today is how unforgiving foul calls are. Especially offensive. The league said it wouls crack down on players who throw themselves into defenders but I see that happen at least twice a game and the offender gets the call!? Why!?

    Defensive players should be the ones who have priority in most cases since they are the ones who have to react more and sometimes even be proactive when they're defending against a certain type of player, lkke Shaq or Curry, or against a certain type of scheme, like the Kings' pacing and spacin offence.

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