Round 1 Adjustments

[Jommybone]

Luka certainly makes Kidd’s job easier. But I wanted to ask about moves and countermoves you all have noticed in the series. 

Number 1 on my list is Bogdanovic’s defense. He’s turned into their primary point-of-attack defender. And especially in game 4, he’s had success in that. But at what cost? His shooting seems to decline proportionately as his defensive responsibilities increase. 

Kidd seemed to respond in game 5 by ratcheting up the first-half pace. I thought they had Bogdanovic dragging by the second Q, and he never made a shot all game. Remember all those post-ups he converted early in the series against smaller defenders? All gone. And his shooting percentages have fallen off a cliff. Check out the regression in his series shooting stats below.

Bogdanovic FGs (reg season 46%):
Game 1: 11/20 (55%)
Game 2: 9/15 (60%)
Game 3: 8/12 (67%)

Game 4: 4/10 (40%)
Game 5: 0/9 (0%)


Bogdanovic from deep (reg season 39%):
Game 1: 2/6 (33%)
Game 2: 1/4 (25%)
Game 3: 4/7 (57%)
Game 4: 1/5 (20%)
Game 5: 0/5 (0%)


Bogdanovic from the charity stripe (reg season 86%):
Game 1: 2/2 (100%)
Game 2: 6/7 (86%)
Game 3: 4/4 (100%)
Game 4: 3/4 (75%)
Game 5: 2/3 (67%)


Or let’s compare Bogdanovic’s shooting in Games 1-3 to his Game 4 & 5 performance:
Games 1-3: 28/47 (60%), 7/17 (41%), 12/13 (92%)
Games 3-5: 4/19 (21%), 1/10 (10%), 5/7 (71%)

My take? Using Bojan as a point-of-attack defender was a colossal mistake, despite his obvious success in that role compared to Utah’s other options.