Post Entry Pass Study — Duke vs. Belmont
Leading up to the start of this season, the Duke coaching staff and players took every opportunity to make the point that the Blue Devils would be a much more post-oriented basketball team this year. Ryan Kelly and Miles Plumlee were Duke’s representatives for ACC Operation Basketball, the annual media day in Greensboro before the season begins.
“In our program, the big guys have been the backbone of the defense,” Miles Plumlee said, “and having experience there is going to be huge.”
With Mason and Miles Plumlee as the only post-oriented big men (though not back to the basket big men) on the team, I thought it would be interesting to track post entry passes throughout the year and pay attention to a few things. First, I wanted to see who caught the entry pass and what happened to the defense immediately afterwards. Would they honor the ability of these big men or stay with the passer, choosing to respect Duke’s traditionally potent perimeter shooters? Second, I am paying attention to the result of the play, whether this resulted in a kick out to a perimeter player, another interior pass, or a move to he basket. Third, and I think most important because it helps to provide some context to what’s going on in the play and not just that it was an entry pass, I am recording whether the pass was made in a half-court set or in transition.
This is my first time doing offensive charting, so bear with me as I work out the kinks. Going through each offensive play, possession by possession is tedious work, but it’s something I’ve always been interested in. Knowing what to look for and what to pay attention as I gain experience will undoubtedly make this job easier and I’ll be able to pick up on more things because the tedious part will become second nature.
The chart below represents my findings from the first game of the year against Belmont. There are some very interesting conclusions that can be drawn from going back through the games, which I’ll present below. First, a look inside my methodology:
- I will only count plays where the player caught the ball in the painted area that put the player in a position to make a “scoring move”. If a player caught the ball as he was cutting through the lane, bringing him out to the perimeter, this will not count as a post entry pass.
- If a player catches the ball just outside the paint, but then turns to make a post move, I will list it but make a note that the ball was caught somewhere besides the paint.
- Most plays will be considered as occurring “Out of half-court set” as Duke has made the post entry pass much more of a part of their offense this year. I sometimes will note how the player presents himself for the pass but not always.
- Please provide any suggestions in the comment boxes below as I’m new at this and would love to crowd-source more concepts to examine.
Now on to the conclusions. There are a number of things that can be looked at based on the results of these specific types of plays, but I will be concentrating on those I listed above. If you want me to look at others, just let me know.
- 58% (14 out of 24) of the entry passes were destined for Mason Plumlee. I’m assuming this will be a trend as the year goes on for Mason is Duke’s best big man (and debatably Duke’s best player).
- 17% of the passes were thrown by Mason. He is involved in the offense in a number of ways, one is at the high-post spot where he often finds one of his fellow big man or a cutting guard alone down low. In this game, Mason looked for Austin on a cut (the ball was kicked away) and found Ryan streaking to the basket in transition after beating the press by himself off the dribble (something the coaching staff probably wasn’t crazy about).
- Of Mason’s 14 received post entry passes: 5 were thrown by Seth, 5 were thrown by Ryan, 2 were thrown by Quinn, 1 was thrown by Andre, and 1 was thrown by Miles.
- Mason made four baskets(29%) on six shots (43%) out of his 14 receptions.
- Miles received the next most entry passes at 5. Three of those were sent in by other bigs. (2 by Mason, 1 by Ryan)
- The elder Plumlee only took one shot of the five chances he got down low, notching and And1 on a layup.
- Ryan Kelly caught four passes on the blocks and as usual for such a smart basketball player, he did the right thing every time.
- On the two entry passes where he was double-teamed, he kicked the ball back out to an open teammate on the perimeter.
- The two times he received the ball in a scoring opportunity, he made the basket and went to the foul line. Ryan didn’t miss a free throw all game.
I haven’t done any of the other games yet, so I have nothing to compare these numbers to but I’m interested to see if any other Blue Devils besides the three bigs get the chance to take their guy down on the blocks for some inverted offense. It didn’t happen in this game.
| Time of Game | Thrown By | Caught By | Guarded? | Scenario | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:25 1st Half | Mason | Miles | Yes | Out of half-court set | Pass out to Rivers |
| 19:13 | Seth | Mason | Yes | Off an offensive rebound | Reverse Dunk |
| 16:03 | Andre | Mason | No | Out of half-court set | Mason made jumper from elbow |
| 15:09 | Mason | Ryan | Doubled | Out of half-court set | Kick out to Tyler |
| 15:02 | Tyler | Ryan | Doubled | Out of half-court set | Pass to Mason |
| 11:12 | Seth | Mason | Yes | Out of half-court set | Pass out to Austin |
| 10:46 | Quinn | Mason | Yes | Out of half-court set | Ball knocked out of bounds |
| 10:13 | Mason | Intended for Austin | Yes | Backdoor cut | Ball kicked -- Pass not completed |
| 9:02 | Ryan | Mason | Yes | Out of half-court set | Mason walk |
| 7:41 | Ryan | Miles | Doubled | Out of half-court set | And1 on a layup |
| 4:09 | Quinn | Mason | Yes | Out of half-court set | Mason had ball stolen by help defender |
| 2:59 | Quinn | Miles | Yes | Out of half-court set | Ball blocked out of bounds |
| 2:49 | Ryan | Miles | Yes | Out of half-court set | Ball caught but pushed out to perimeter |
| 2:14 | Ryan | Mason | Yes | Out of half-court set | Mason made jump hook |
| 1:29 | Ryan | Mason | Yes | Out of half-court set | Kick out to Austin |
| 19:54 2nd Half | Seth | Mason | Tripled | Out of half-court set | Kick out to Andre, Missed 3 |
| 18:08 | Miles | Mason | Doubled | Out of half-court set | Missed Jump Hook |
| 15:30 | Tyler | Ryan | No | Drive, Draw & Dish | And1 |
| 13:44 | Seth | Mason | Yes | Out of half-court set | Kick out to Austin |
| 12:02 | Austin | Miles | Doubled | Miles presents off cross court curl | Steal By Help Defender |
| 10:06 | Seth | Mason | Yes | Out of half-court set | Missed Spin Hook |
| 9:11 | Ryan | Mason | Yes | Ball caught on wing (outside paint). Not sure if this counts. | Made Lefty Sky Hook |
| 7:31 | Ryan | Mason | Yes | Ball caught on wing (outside paint). Not sure if this counts. | Kick out to Andre, Missed 3 |
| 6:11 | Mason | Ryan | Yes | Mason broke press w/ dribble, found Ryan running towards basket | And1 on a dunk |
For a couple of reasons, Duke didn’t have an entry pass to the post for the last 6 minutes and 11 seconds of the game. That was by far the longest stretch of game time with no looks inside (the next longest was from 15:02 left in the first half to 11:12). And honestly, that wasn’t technically a “post-entry pass” as Mason found Ryan on a fast break so you could say they went the last 7 minutes and 31 seconds without one. Duke was only up by one point at the time (61-60). Let’s look at the possessions that came after the 7:31 mark in the game.
- Tyler Thornton comes into the game for Andre Dawkins, who had just committed a foul. The lineup is Thornton, Rivers, Curry, Kelly, and Mason.
- 7:12 Near turnover as Tyler Thornton’s pass is deflected. Seth Curry ends up with the loose ball and is fouled, shooting one and one. There was no offensive set, thus no chance to make a post entry pass.
- 6:46 Tyler Thornton comes down with an offensive rebound and is immediately fouled. Goes to the foul line, same result as before.
- And1 to from Mason to Ryan on the fast break.
- 5:45 Possession ends in a missed Seth Curry layup. Both bigs in the game, Mason and Ryan, were spread wide on the perimeter. Looked like a designed play to isolate Seth.
- Just to give you some more information here, Belmont has been pressing Duke since about the 14 minute mark in the second half. Tyler Thornton has been the main ballhandler bringing the ball up the court.
- 4:45 Austin Rivers’ pseudo alley-oop to Mason Plumlee (Rivers threw it up off the glass but it was clearly a pass.
- 4:18 Austin Rivers trips and loses the ball to Belmont.
- 4:06 Tyler Thornton steals the ball right back, throwing ahead to Rivers who gets a breakaway dunk.
- 3:40 Tyler Thornton drives for a layup. He’s brought the ball up the court every time there was not a breakdown due to the press.
- 3:05 Austin Rivers drives and commits his third foul, a charge. Had an opportunity to drive and dish to Mason there.
- 2:18 Seth actually brings the ball up the court and passes to Mason, but he was at the three-point line so I didn’t count it. He did however drive to the rim, missing his layup attempt.
- 1:43 Seth Curry drives and he also commits his third foul, a charge. Mason was available on the right side of the blocks. If Seth had been a little more under control he would have seen him.
- 1:23 Tyler Thornton fouled before the inbounds pass gets in. Shooting two free throws, but no chance for a halfcourt set.
- Lineup has not changed. Duke up four.
- 1:06 Seth takes the ball and Duke looks to spread the floor but he sees an opening to drive and does. He lost the ball on the way in, had opportunities to pass to any number of guys.
- Tyler Thornton fouls out on the other end. Andre Dawkins comes in.
- Rivers breaks the press and the Duke offense stalls as Mason picks up his dribble at the top of the key. 23 seconds left and Duke calls a timeout.
- Andre Dawkins hits a three from two feet past the NBA line after sitting on the bench for nearly 7 minutes.
- :09 Ryan Kelly fouled in the backcourt. No more offensive sets for Duke.
So, of the 20 possessions, really only two were missed opportunities for post entry passes. There were a couple of fast breaks, a few turnovers, and a few fouls. I really think most of the reasoning for the lack of looks inside towards the end of the game was due to Belmont forcing Duke to speed up their offense with the full court press. It’s not that Duke really went away from their bigs, more that Belmont forced them out of it. As the Blue Devils continue to grow into a more mature team, they will be the ones dictating the pace of the game.
I hope you enjoyed this look at post entry passes. I’ll be looking at the rest of the games in the upcoming weeks and presented a similar report. If there’s something else you want me to look at, please leave me a comment down below, tweet me @DukeHoopBlog, or write to me on Facebook.
Nice work. Would love to see you chart the Davidson game in like manner. Especially the 2nd half.
Mark, that one is coming up soon. Now that I know what to look for, things should go a lot quicker.