Can Zone Defense Help Utah Get in the Zone for the Playoffs?

At times during the Utah Jazz’s three games in the NBA Restart, a player has appeared to be guarding an empty spot on the floor. For example, during the fourth quarter of their matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder last weekend, Jordan Clarkson is several feet away from the nearest opposing player. At first, this might be confusing, but it’s a tell-tale sign that a team is employing a zone defense.

(Game still)

So why go with a zone? Well, aside from the fact that the Jazz were getting their butts kicked all night long, there was a specific play that the Thunder were having repeated success with, and the zone’s goal was to mitigate that.

The play that the Thunder were running has actually been a common play among most, if not all, NBA teams in the last year. Considering this, as well as the Jazz having a high chance of meeting OKC in the first round of the playoffs, the impetus was on the coaching staff to experiment and find a solution for breaking up this effective combination of actions. It can also be a good time for experimentation when a game is out of reach anyway, which felt like the case at this point in Saturday’s contest.

There are two parts to this common play. First, there is a sideline pick-and-roll, where the pick setter is facing the opposite side of the floor to create a driving lane for the ball handler along the sideline. What the offense does next is determined by what the defense does. This action will often force a switch, and that’s exactly what it did during the first half to the Jazz.

However, the switch wasn’t the largest problem for the Jazz. After the screen is set, the screener will relocate to the opposite corner. This note is important because the offensive player relocating means that his man has to follow him to that corner — at least in man-to-man defense.

This action then flows into another pick-and-roll, but this time a center such as Steven Adams as the screener, and with the ball handler going towards the middle of the floor rather than down the sideline. Since the first screener relocated to the corner, and his defender followed him, that defender is not in a position to defend the big man’s roll.

Let’s take a look at four versions of this play – two in the first half that went successfully for the Thunder against the Jazz’s man defense, and two in the fourth quarter that the Jazz successfully stopped with their zone.

In this first clip, the Jazz switch the first action, and then on the second pick-and-roll, Rudy Gobert has to stay closer to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander than he does to most guards, which leaves him out of position to defend Adams’ layup. Donovan Mitchell relocates to the opposite corner since he is on Luguentz Dort, so he is also out of position to help on Adams. Adams gets an easy layup.

This second clip is almost the exact same, except Adams finishes the play with a baby hook rather than a layup. Clearly the Jazz need to find an answer for this soft spot in the defense that occurs due to the strong side corner being empty. That’s when they tried employing the zone so that OKC couldn’t completely empty that area of the floor.

This is the first play in which the Jazz started using a zone defense – which explains why Clarkson is guarding an ’empty spot’ on the floor at times. The Thunder run their sideline pick-and-roll action again, and it looks like the Jazz switch the action again, except Clarkson does not follow his man to the weak side since he’s assigned to that area of the floor and not specifically to follow Check Diallo, the sideline screener.

So now Clarkson is actually in a position to bump Adams on his roll, and you see just that on this play. What’s important about this, is it allows Gobert to be where he is effective on the floor, without Adams being unguarded. The downside is that there’s always going to be an open man as long as the offense is spaced well, but the Jazz rotate well to get back to shooters.

Since the zone was successful at blowing up this play, the Jazz went back to it later in the quarter.

On this last clip, the first action is the same, with Clarkson camping out in his zone. The Thunder now recognize this counter, so this time they abandon the play and instead pitch the ball to Adams for a post isolation play that goes nowhere.

If given enough time to prepare, the Thunder will have better counters to the Jazz zone. However, it’s extremely encouraging for Jazz fans to know that Quin Snyder and the coaching staff are willing to be experimental during the rest of the seeding games, in order to be well prepared for a potential playoff matchup against the Thunder and other potential opponents.