How the Indiana Pacers Should Use Thaddeus Young on Defense

Thaddeus Young does plenty of things well, but the Indiana Pacers must use him carefully on defense if they want to win the series.

Saturday night, the the Indiana Pacers finally got to get their shaky at best regular season behind them and start the playoffs. The nerves were out and the players were ready, and the team was finally ready to execute the offense and defense they had been practicing for this series.

Up went the tip, and the Cleveland Cavaliers came down with it, so the defense would be executing first. It did not take long at all for the Cavs to ruin the Pacers plans by revealing their early game offensive strategy: attack Thaddeus Young.

On the first possession of the game, the Cavs fed Kevin Love the ball in the post. He immediately backed down Young before drawing a foul, and making both free throws. 2 possessions later, the Cavs once again targeted Young, running a hammer play to get an open 3 for Kevin Love, which he nailed. The next time down the court, you guessed it, Kyrie threw it to Kevin Love, who scored in the lane.

Mike Prada tweeted what I, along with many viewers, were thinking, and he was right. The Cavs did not thinking highly of Thad Young’s post defense, and they made that clear from the jump. Kevin Love scored 10 of his 17 points in the first 6 minutes, with Thad Young guarding him, and forced the Pacers made an adjustment.

Alright, maybe Game 2 will be better. Well, not exactly. McMillan decided to put Thad on LeBron more than he did in game 1. This strategy wasn’t terrible. As our own Will Furr put it:

“He actually looks like an oddly good matchup on LeBron. He only seems to be giving up a bit of speed, and forces LeBron into tough shots. That’s about all I noticed positively, but it’s definitely weird and helpful.”

For what it is worth, no one was guarding Kevin Love very well when the Cavaliers went off in the third quarter.

While true, it still presents a bigger mismatch than putting someone else, who is potentially better at defending, on LeBron. Coming into Bankers Life, it is clear the Pacers need to make a defensive adjustment.

The Adjustment

The game 1-game 2 adjustments were semi-successful, putting Thad on LeBron for many of the possessions when both were in the game.

Thad had some moments while guarding LeBron but, as expected, LeBron is pretty hard to contain. He’s able to get a small half-step advantage on Thad, which gives him plenty of view to be able to make those LeBron passes that carve up a defense.

One could imagine in the future that the Cavs would attack this matchup if they are presented with it again. So how can the Pacers hide Thad on defense?

The Solution

Put him on Tristan Thompson, or whoever is in at center.

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Thad, while athletic, lacks the awareness to guard a stretch forward and isn’t quite strong enough to guard anyone in the post. Thankfully, the Cavs hardly ever run plays for TT. Putting Thad on him, and putting Turner on Love (much better interior defender and just as good on the perimeter), would essentially only give Thad one task on D, box out.TT has few post moves, most of his points come from lobs and put backs, and most of his offensive impact is snagging offensive rebounds.

If Thad can just box out and take that away from him, that may be a more effective place to put him on D.

I can’t imagine LeBron not eventually finding success with Thad guarding him, even though McMillan clearly doesn’t want PG on him for long stretches so he can save PG for offense. The Cavs are a tough team to hide Thad against, given the starting lineup used in game one, so another way to aide Thad on the defensive end would be starting CJ Miles. CJ can guard LeBron much better than Monta Ellis or Thad could. This would allow PG to guard JR Smith, and more importantly, allow Thad to stay on TT most possessions.

Additionally Worth Noting

It’s the Cavs. They have 3 of the most prolific offensive players in the league. It is going to be hard to guard them, no matter what personnel is in the game for the Pacers. To potentially mitigate the problems that every team has guarding LBJ and co, the Pacers need to do many little things well. Calling out screens and recognizing plays (which will naturally happen more frequently as the series progresses) will help mask some of the matchup problems the Pacers have.

I would also be a fan of at least trying to go under the screen on all LeBron James screens, and NEVER switching on these screens, not matter the matchup. The Pacers were clearly trying to do that on Saturday at points, less so on Monday, but not every single time.

LeBron, while having a career 3pt shooting year, isn’t the greatest jump shooter. Forcing him to pull up is a shot the Pacers should be okay with allowing, as it is better than most other Cavaliers taking a pull up jumper. Lastly worth noting in this department is that the Cavs often try to get a switch to get the matchup they want for an isolation play.

Next: 3 Keys for The Pacers to Take the Series

Going under and not switching these screens would force the Cavs to read and react, and quick decisions can frequently lead to turnovers.Putting in these wrinkles on D may or may not work, but the Pacers cannot count on the Cavs missing 13 free throws (game 1) or 18 3s (game 2) every game of the series. Adjustments need to be made in order to stop these guys, and getting Thad in the right matchup is the first step in the adjustment process.