01-14-2019, 03:12 PM
The gamut of defense could run from "Never guarded" to "never able to get the ball or bottled up if gets the ball". Obviously we or any one else has not had her at either end of that scale. I suspect we did a better job at making her work for the ball than other teams. But, as I saw it, when she wanted the ball, she got away from her defender usually with the help of screens.
As far as controlling what Aari did, I did notice Lacie guarded her high (away from the endline) when she was on the baseline. That makes sense to me as the most devastating (to us) screens where she would go around a high screen and take a sharp turn to the basket. The longer runs across the lane (near the endline) gave Aari some space (with the help of a screen or two) but she would be going away from the basket. Slowing down & turning would cost time that offers us a chance to catch up or someone to shift on her. (Now that I think about it, couldn't the defender of the screener step out on the far side to make it a longer path (like posts so often do) and to defend if she stops & shoots, allowing Aari's defender to go under the screen? I guess that must be vulnerable to a break to the basket by the screener or something.)
I was sorta surprised at how often Aari stayed out of the play entirely. When she's on the move, she adds chaos to the rest of the court.
(It hasn't worked for me before, but I'm trying to attach my spreadsheet of all the possession when she was on the court. Seems not to work for me. Drop me a PM if you want it.)
As far as controlling what Aari did, I did notice Lacie guarded her high (away from the endline) when she was on the baseline. That makes sense to me as the most devastating (to us) screens where she would go around a high screen and take a sharp turn to the basket. The longer runs across the lane (near the endline) gave Aari some space (with the help of a screen or two) but she would be going away from the basket. Slowing down & turning would cost time that offers us a chance to catch up or someone to shift on her. (Now that I think about it, couldn't the defender of the screener step out on the far side to make it a longer path (like posts so often do) and to defend if she stops & shoots, allowing Aari's defender to go under the screen? I guess that must be vulnerable to a break to the basket by the screener or something.)
I was sorta surprised at how often Aari stayed out of the play entirely. When she's on the move, she adds chaos to the rest of the court.
(It hasn't worked for me before, but I'm trying to attach my spreadsheet of all the possession when she was on the court. Seems not to work for me. Drop me a PM if you want it.)