Keeping Tyrese Haliburton out of the hunt

On the defensive techniques the Pacers are deploying to protect mismatches

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper 

More often than not, late-game and late-season offense tends to hinge around mismatch hunting -- especially when the player being hunted leads the league in points created from assists, not only for this season but also since the beginning of the tracking data-era. On Saturday, however, the Celtics got the ball rolling early, jumping out to a 29-17 lead at the end of the first quarter while also getting a jump on targeting Tyrese Haliburton.

On three straight possessions, Boston spammed the same play out of horns, entering the ball to one elbow or the other, with the ball-handler then engaging in a two-man, off-ball screening action at the opposite slot. The first time, Haliburton got caught on the screen at the same time as Mathurin was attempting to deny the pass to Jayson Tatum, which allowed Derrick White to shake loose, streaking down the lane. Then, when Jalen Smith slid over to take the cut, Mathurin lost his place finding the corner, resulting in an open three. Less than a minute later, Haliburton attempted to cheat the off-ball screen, with White fading behind the arc for yet another three. On the third trip, the Pacers finally decided to switch, with Mathurin covering White and Haliburton responsible for Tatum, who very swiftly generated separation for a drive-and-kick three to White. In less than two minutes, Boston made three threes.

And that was just the beginning. Before the end of the first quarter, Jaylen Brown also got in on the fun, calling for a screen to go directly at Haliburton before also dribbling off his side of a double ball-screen and eventually just not requiring a screen at all.

Needless to say, for a player who is typically assigned to low-usage wings away from the action, the Celtics were very determined to force him to defend within the action -- as though the start of the game was the end of the game. Meanwhile, the Pacers finished the frame with fewer than 20 points for the first time this season, with Haliburton starting 0-of-4 from the field. Coincidence? Maybe, Boston was also forcing him left as much as possible, but there's certainly reason for opponents to test the theory that testing his defense might have a draining effect on his offense, particularly in lineups when he's the most likely to get overpowered.

For that reason, the Pacers likewise need to test if they have solutions for how to protect him in those mismatches, both for this match-up, when the early offense was very similar to late-game offense, as well as to assess their late-season viability. Here's some of what they tried.

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According to Second Spectrum, Haliburton has shown on 27.2 percent of the picks he's defended as the screener this season, compared to 15.3 percent last season. Overall, as turned out to be the case as this game progressed, there has been more of an effort to avoid giving up the mismatch in the first place. The only problem is, while Aaron Nesmith is certainly a stouter on-ball defender, he isn't that much taller -- which means bigger wings can still shoot over the top.

In that regard, it certainly didn't help that the Pacers were down by both Andrew Nembhard and Bruce Brown on that end of the floor, but Tatum did most of his damage on hellacious jump-shots, rising up over smaller defenders while also finding pockets of breathing room on the perimeter against Jalen Smith and Myles Turner. Even if the Pacers manage to play keep away with Haliburton, they still may need to think more seriously about blitzing more of Tatum's isolations and doubling when he's walking the ball into the post -- at least if he starts and stays hot, again.

Switch and Shrink

Of course, as the Haliburton-less Pacers found out in November, when they got outscored by 45 points from three, that's easier said than done against a team like the Celtics, who lead the league in three-point attempt rate. Granted, seeing as how they also rank 27th in drives per 100 possessions, Boston has a tendency to settle at times from deep; however, if the Pacers are going to switch and then pack in around Haliburton, they won't exactly be settling.

Unless Toppin is going to rotate up to the wing to cover for Nesmith, that strategy may need to be more opponent specific, deployed mainly against teams with fewer quick trigger shooters.

Tag Switch

Once Haliburton started showing on ball screens, avoiding the mismatch by hedging a step above the screen and then recovering to his original assignment, the Celtics countered by slipping out of the screen and darting toward the rim -- even when the screener was a guard.

In response, the Pacers answered by having the tagger or next nearest defender on the weak-side jump switch onto the slipping screener with Haliburton peeling off to the perimeter.

Remember, Haliburton generally guards low-usage wings so that he can play aerial ace, sticking his arms in passing lanes. By tag switching on the slip, the Pacers are effectively kicking him out of the action, while taking advantage of his skills for thinking ahead.

Scram switch

In contrast to the first half, when Jaylen Brown was dribbling off Haliburton's side of the double ball screen out of horns, the Pacers were more proactive looking for opportunities to switch away from the ball. Here, after Jrue Holiday drags out the ball screen toward the sideline (with Haliburton switching onto the ball), before pivoting and using the second ball-screen to come back middle (with Haliburton then switching onto Brown as the screener), Obi Toppin seizes the chance to scram Haliburton out of the high-post mismatch with Brown.

Of course, the reason why the window is available for Toppin to make that switch is because Nesmith cuts off the drive, and Toppin also removed the cork he put on Brown by jumping on the pump fake, but at least there's a timely attempt to blunt the bully ball against Haliburton.

Allowing the big to call an audible

To take things full circle, here is the same horns play with the two-man, off-ball screening action from the first quarter, in which the Pacers surrendered three-straight threes with Haliburton and Mathurin getting tied up in knots. This time, they guard against the off-ball screening action, but Haliburton is switched onto the bigger wing, as was the case with Tatum on the third of the three aforementioned breakdowns. To that point, Boston probably should've tried to repeat history and just let Brown attack without a screen, but Luke Kornet sets the pick, which provides the opportunity for Isaiah Jackson to pounce.

Lately, the Pacers have unleashed him to pounce on ball-screens, either putting his hand to the stove or jumping out above the level on the screen.

Jackson covers ground quickly and can shuffle his feet parallel to the sideline, even to the point of inducing negative dribbles and hang-time passes, so allowing him to be more proactive, at least in spots, brings the added potential benefit of masking for the screen navigation of players who aren't named Andrew Nembhard or sometimes Bruce Brown.

Per Second Spectrum, ball-handlers have committed five turnovers this season with Jackson showing or blitzing -- a mark which leads the team among bigs.

All of which is to say that, the Pacers probably won't shoot 5-of-27 on wide open threes very often, like they did on Saturday, and not every team is going to be able to go from applying full-court pressure and face-guarding Haliburton at the logo to weaking him to his left with picture perfect drop coverage and morphing from zone to man mid-possession, but the Celtics also augmented their defense by starting early with late-game offense.

That much, as far as hunting Haliburton early and often will be replicable, what the Pacers need to determine is whether the techniques they tried for protecting mismatches as the game progressed can also be replicable or more effective -- at least with the roster as currently constructed, when one mismatch is often exchanged for another.