Surviving the Playoffs: Aaron Gordon’s Non-Shooter Strategy

In the NBA playoffs in the past few years, many players who lack shooting ability will often be slapped on defense, so they will be abandoned in this kind of hand-to-hand game. However, Aaron Gordon showed everyone in the 2023 playoffs how to survive the adversity and function.

The trend in the 2023 playoffs is that the defense will deliberately let go of players with poor shooting ability and put more troops on the inside. The logic is simple. If there are no outside players holding the ball, then it is better to shrink inward to protect and score points. Simple insider.

For example, the Knicks can beat the Cavaliers in the playoffs this season, largely because the Knicks abandoned Isaac Okoro and Evan Mobley, who were holding the ball on the outside, and focused their energy on protecting the penalty area.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this defensive strategy, and it’s the one the Lakers planned to use against Gordon in the Western Conference Finals in an attempt to free up Anthony Davis to roam around the paint to help.

The Lakers’ defensive strategy was quite effective. Gordon only scored 9.7 points and a true shooting percentage of 51.3% in the first three games, which was far lower than the 16.3 points and 61.7% true shooting percentage of the regular season. In the fourth quarter of the third game, he was directly defeated by Jeff Green replaced and benched the entire quarter.

But Gordon responded with the best performance of the series in the fourth game, scoring 22 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and a true shooting percentage of 71.8% in a single game, finding a survival mode for non-shooters in the playoffs.

overcome psychological barriers

There is one element that we often overlook in professional sports: the human element. Basketball is also made of people, and imagining that we are talking to someone, but he completely ignores you when you talk, it will feel very uncomfortable. This situation is a bit like a deliberate abandonment on defense. It must be expected to be watched by defenders on the court, so when it is ignored, it is likely to disrupt the offensive rhythm.

In this case, players have to overcome psychological barriers. Former NBA coach Mark Jackson believes that players must continue to take shots on the court to maintain the smoothness of the offense. If the shots are not good enough for the team, the coach should be replaced. But the players themselves must have the courage to make shots, and they cannot give up on themselves because of psychological retreat.

Gordon listened, and when the Lakers gave him an opening in Game 4, he took a shot, and the basketball gods also gave him some goals due to his outstanding guts. But this kind of big gap will still miss some, so you must have some other offensive means to attack your opponent.

Gordon Proves There’s More to Basketball than Shooting

Gordon did more to pressure the defense. One of the methods is to put Gordon in charge of organizing the offense. This has two effects. First, he can make the opponent have to send someone to guard and can’t miss him; , stay in the team offense.

In the video below, Gordon is in charge of directing the offense and running on the field, making it impossible for Davis to get the ball inside, which is equivalent to blocking one of the Lakers’ defensive lifelines. In addition, Gordon can pick and roll with Jokic, allowing Jokic to get better offensive angles and opportunities against Davis when he is down.

Then there is the air cut. When the defender retreats too much to help, it will give Gordon the cutting space. In addition, his physical fitness, jumping and explosive power are all top in the league, so he can use the cutting attack to score.

In the last video, Gordon combined organization and cutting. He dribbled the ball first, passed the ball to Jokic, and found that Davis was going to help defend.

The common point of these actions is being active. Unlike the previous three games, Gordon was particularly active in the fourth game, trying his best to join the team’s offense. He played a full 8 minutes in the fourth quarter of the fourth game.

Gordon’s challenge remains, though, and the Heat are looking at the footage to find ways to take advantage of his inaccuracies from the perimeter, but at least Gordon has shown he’s willing to do anything to stay on the court and help the team.

[Special editor Liang Xiaoyuan/Responsible editor Xie Yiqian]

This article is compiled for reference:Aaron Gordon showed us how a non-shooter can stay on the floor

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