September 18, 2020 1:46 PMThere are a lot of things about life in 2020 that a younger you would not believe. Maybe one of those is that zone defense is playing a big role in the NBA playoffs.A year after Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse broke out a “janky” box-and-one in the NBA Finals, zone defense remains more than just a gimmick to get a stop or two. And if the Miami Heat make it to this year’s Finals, we may point to 20 minutes of zone defense on Thursday as a big reason why.The Boston Celtics’ own defense was good enough in the conference semifinals to get past Nurse’s Raptors,...…September 18, 2020 1:46 PMThere are a lot of things about life in 2020 that a younger you would not believe. Maybe one of those is that zone defense is playing a big role in the NBA playoffs.A year after Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse broke out a “janky” box-and-one in the NBA Finals, zone defense remains more than just a gimmick to get a stop or two. And if the Miami Heat make it to this year’s Finals, we may point to 20 minutes of zone defense on Thursday as a big reason why.The Boston Celtics’ own defense was good enough in the conference semifinals to get past Nurse’s Raptors,...WW…

May 27, 2020 4:08 PMIf the 2019-20 season returns at the end of this hiatus, we may head straight to playoff basketball. And given the strangeness of this season, playoff basketball may be determined by matchups more than ever.Matchups obviously aren’t just about who’s guarding whom at the start of a possession. Especially in the playoffs, the offense will try to dictate matchups themselves, setting screens to pit their most potent scorer against the opponent’s most vulnerable defender.At the same time, if every other offensive player isn’t a threat to score, the defense can ignore the one...…May 27, 2020 4:08 PMIf the 2019-20 season returns at the end of this hiatus, we may head straight to playoff basketball. And given the strangeness of this season, playoff basketball may be determined by matchups more than ever.Matchups obviously aren’t just about who’s guarding whom at the start of a possession. Especially in the playoffs, the offense will try to dictate matchups themselves, setting screens to pit their most potent scorer against the opponent’s most vulnerable defender.At the same time, if every other offensive player isn’t a threat to score, the defense can ignore the one...WW…