Against Atlanta
In his first defensive possession, he had to guard the Trae Young, Jabari Parker pick & roll. Dropping low against Young is a recipe for disaster as he has the shooting touch to make these floaters all night. Dwane Casey likes this coverage but an adjustment was imminent.
Next time around, Maker is much more active, showing this time. However, Young is too good of a ball-handler and passer not to find Parker on the roll. The question becomes why Andre Drummond doesn’t follow the roll man, especially since he’s guarding rookie big man, Bruno Fernando.
Young requires much more effort to stop which is why the Pistons started blitzing him soon after. The Hawks run the same play but the young guard rejects the screen and swiftly crosses Bruce Brown up to get to the rim. Maker reads the situation early and rotates but inexplicably stops to get back to his man.
That’s the last thing a defender should do in that situation. You either commit or you don’t when there’s so much space between your man and the ball. Maker couldn’t possibly recover 24 feet of no man’s land if Young made the pass. He just had to trust that Kennard would rotate to closeout on Parker.
As the first quarter was coming to an end, we watched Maker perform a terrible closeout to an unproven shooter. Biting on pump fakes is probably his most distinctive quality and Fernando easily blows by him with an impeccable lack of a first step.
However, Maker displays the reason he was picked in the top 10 of the draft, his quick feet. He quickly reacts to the fake while he’s on the air, splits his feet and recovers to block the shot. Don’t be fooled though. Most other players will use the advantage, protect the ball with their body and finish through the contact.
Once a big man gets by Maker it’s pretty easy to get him out of the play with either a bump or another fake. Fernando just makes it too easy here. Overreacting is Maker’s second nature and it shows on the next clip where he contests a shot he has no chance of blocking leaving his man wide open under the basket. What did he think was going to happen?
Another high pick & roll for Young and the Pistons do a poor job of blitzing. Maker is guarding the worst shooter on the floor, so he should be the one to help on Collins’ roll. He falls asleep momentarily and Rose has to help off the strong corner which is a big no-no for the defense.
Fortunately, Collins misses both Vince Carter in the corner and the bunny. Unfortunately, Maker’s timing on this play is so bad that he’s a non-factor on the shot contest and on the glass. First of all, he should have been there when Collins caught the ball, while Kennard guards the space in between the two weak side players.
That would have given time for Morris to recover and for the defense to reset. Timing is key and while all Pistons players make mistakes in this play, Maker plays a key role in disrupting it. Taking away the short roll is priority number one and Collins shouldn’t have the space to even take one dribble.
Given that Maker is not on the court for his offense, he doesn’t have leeway to make many mistakes like this one. The Hawks run the same play again and this time, the Pistons’ reaction is even worse. On the blitz, they just have to make Young’s job a lot harder than this and force him towards the sideline.
Regardless of his teammate’s inadequacy, Maker once again finds himself in no man’s land, which is probably his home address. It’s clear that he should have gravitated towards Parker to take away the paint. It’s not like Fernando is a three-point marksman nor a great play maker but Maker’s positioning just makes the pass too easy.
Thankfully, third time’s the charm and Maker follows the roll man, still worrying about his man while doing it. Parker misses this more than Maker stops him but, nonetheless, this is the right play even if not perfectly executed.
If you think that Maker redeemed himself on that play, don’t be too hasty. He quickly runs the floor right after, calls for the ball and shoots a contested three in semi-transition, an attempt he should never take. Then gets the offensive rebound only to lose the ball again. A great attempt to reassure nihilists of their beliefs.
End of the third and Young is out of the game. The Hawks run a side pick & roll with Collins and Rose does enough of standing in the way to give Maker time to recover and make a huge block. This is the first play that Wood, legitimately wouldn’t make.
In the fourth quarter, Pistons go back to blitzing Young and Maker finally does a good job of tagging the roller and recovering to his man. His closeout still leaves a lot to be desired but Alex Len doesn’t take advantage.
Maker wants to force Len baseline here, but in order to do that, he needs to plant his outside foot, above Len’s left foot, not between his feet. Len could have easily attacked here.
Final play and I really have no clue what Maker is doing here. Fortunately, the refs call a traveling violation they don’t usually call but that’s not the point. The point is that Maker doesn’t know what he’s doing on the floor half the time. That’s a reaction that justifies an immediate substitution.
Maker has to make up for his offensive inefficiencies on the defensive side on the floor and one huge block doesn’t justify playing time. So, why was Dwane Casey so adamant about not putting Wood on the floor?