Detroit Pistons replay center: How Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond feed off each other

Griffin-Drummond pick-and-roll

Attacking early makes all actions harder to defend. The threat to drive is even greater early in the clock and defenders are backpedaling and most of them will concede open 3-point shots and go under the drag screen. Punishing the defense in those situations goes a long way to open up the other parts of their game.

Griffin displayed enough ability in that area that defenders started going over the screen in those scenarios, a coverage we’ll see more often as he proves himself even more as a shooter. Then Griffin will have even more opportunities to drive the ball and get to the rim.

That coverage creates a 2-on-1 scenario between Griffin, Drummond and the opposing center where Drummond can use his speed to get behind his man while Griffin has his attention, making himself available for passes like this.

Situations where Griffin can use his quick decision making and passing ability to create easy points.

And that attention also frees Drummond to crush the board once the shot goes up. Griffin just has to throw it over the rim protector and an offensive rebound is a highly likely outcome.

To avoid that, teams that feel comfortable with the versatility of their big men will switch, creating a whole other category of opportunities for the Pistons. On the next play, Marc Gasol steps up in fear of Griffin’s jumper and Drummond can slip to the basket using his physical advantages over Jaren Jackson Jr to finish down low.

Staying with Drummond on that action, in fear of his roll to the rim is what makes Nurkic late to contest Griffin’s shot. Simultaneously, the switch allows the center to get a good position for the offensive rebound as the shot goes up. You can already see how difficult this action is to defend without committing additional help.

And help defense becomes that much more difficult when you got your two biggest guys already guarding the ball. Teams have to send significantly smaller defenders to help. But with Griffin’s precision and Drummond’s hands, even a tall defender like Kaminsky is can’t disrupt plays like this.

Griffin was comfortable all year attacking centers off the dribble after switches. He can use his array of dribble moves and head fakes to get by slower bigger defenders and finish near the rim. And even when some recover from behind he has the skill to draw fouls.

He always had that type of ability but this year he also showed major promise in his pull up game, drawing bigger slower defenders further from the basket. Those kinds of shots will always be there for Griffin to take. Against bigger guys, he can easily set them up because they are more inclined to give him enough space.

In fact…

Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond are already a force to be reckoned with in the NBA. The amazing thing is that they still have lots of room to grow as players and as a duo. Griffin ought to improve his shooting, drawing defenders further away from the basket. Drummond ought to improve finishing around the rim and drawing more fouls.

Both should show improvement in their chemistry together, timing and accuracy of their movement and passes. And if they truly want to capitalize on their gifts they should push the ball even more.