Each night we are learning more and more about who Enes Kanter can be as a player. Last night he showed the outside shooting touch for the first time. The night before it was the post defense on LaMarcus Aldridge that helped the Jazz to a hard fought win over the Blazers.
The play that stood out to me the post last night was when he got asked on one possession to curtail the drive of both Billiups and Mo Williams. He showed great athelticsm, he showed super basketball IQ and he played the system Tyrone Corbin wants perfectly.
The play starts with a pick and roll with Billups off Reggie Evans. The first part here is the intelligence of Kanter. Evans is a non offensive player so he plays back and doesn't worry about Evans. This is how playing teams a second and third time helps the younger players. Kanter hangs back as Billups comes off the pick and eliminates his driving lane.
At the correct moment Kanter stepped forward and blocks off the path of Billups forcing him to curl back out to the top and reset the play. He uses the sideline as a defender and leaves Billups no where to go. He also fully commits to Billups leaving Evans who is a non offensive player open but also trusting rotation.
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Now the Clippers re-set the pick and roll on the other side with Mo Williams and Reggie Evans. Kanter shades to the correct side knowing the defense is going to push the pick and roll to the side rather than the middle.
Evans picks off Jamal Tinsley and it forces Kanter to guard Mo Williams drive. Kanter slides his feet and cuts off Williams. In addition, Kanter is aggressive enough the he continues to force Mo Williams laterally never allowing him to get a head of steam or head toward the rim.
Kanter completely cuts off Williams drive and prevents him from making in roads to the rim. By this time Tinsley is able to recover and Williams next move is an attempt to swirl back to the middle and he steps out of bounds. Turnover Clips and amazing defensive sequence by Enes Kanter. 19 and learning every play
