billyshelby
Well-Known Member
At first I couldn't understand why Hollins didn't shift Allen to Hayward so Gay could have the night off on defense. Then I saw his genius. Allen literally didn't guard Bell. He'd make a token effort to run at Bell and make a loud sound if he was going to shoot, but he mostly played the paint. He even got tagged with a defensive 3 seconds! This had 2 very noticeable effects:
1. On defense, his presence down low was able to deter entry passes. He also stuffed a Harris drive and picked up several rebounds.
2. On offense, he was murder in transition. He abused Bell on the perimeter a few times, but because he was not actually defending Bell, he was able to get out on the break without anybody to slow him down.
Also very interesting: Hollins subbed out Allen in the 1st and 3rd EXACTLY when Ty replaced Bell. In other words, this was all a very designed strategy. And it worked beautifully. When Bell was taken out in the first, we were down 6. In the 3rd, we went down a net of 6. In BOTH cases, after Bell was taken out, we went on runs.
1. On defense, his presence down low was able to deter entry passes. He also stuffed a Harris drive and picked up several rebounds.
2. On offense, he was murder in transition. He abused Bell on the perimeter a few times, but because he was not actually defending Bell, he was able to get out on the break without anybody to slow him down.
Also very interesting: Hollins subbed out Allen in the 1st and 3rd EXACTLY when Ty replaced Bell. In other words, this was all a very designed strategy. And it worked beautifully. When Bell was taken out in the first, we were down 6. In the 3rd, we went down a net of 6. In BOTH cases, after Bell was taken out, we went on runs.