Kerr: Moody’s “on-ball defense is top of the league against pick-and-roll”
[DEN-GSW videos/interviews/transcripts]
That might have been one of the quietest 23-7-5 performances in recent memory — as a barometer, the career averages LeBron James are 22-6-7 — but what struck me most about Moses Moody is something Steve Kerr said postgame:
He’s shooting the lights out. The confidence, he’s maybe been our most consistent performer. His on-ball defense is top of the league against pick-and-roll and he’s such a great teammate. He’s there for you every night, the way he works. He’s so poised it’s really fun to watch Moses blossom and have such a good season. And there was a stretch in there for a month or so, maybe in December, where he cooled off, but I think this is the guy, who he is. He’s really a good shooter and good defender and somebody you can count on every night.
On-ball defense is top of the league against pick-and-roll. Wow! I went to go look up pick-and-roll defense on the NBA website, but I couldn’t find Moody’s name on the first page of any of the results as I sorted by a variety of columns.
I’m not even sure if you can really tie numbers to acumen that, to me, is more of an art than science. You just kind of know you’ve got the respect of the ball-handler or not, when you’re out there guarding him.
And so I don’t have anything to offer on Moody’s defense statistically, but I will say that anecdotally, the pick-and-roll defense seems to pass the eye test.
Certainly the offense is there. If you look at bkref.com and his last five games, I count 16-for-41 on threes and those five games are all double-digits in scoring, bookended by 25- and 23-point performances.
But yeah, the defensive barometer for a bonafide two-way wing is whether he can be the Number One point-of-attack defender against the other team’s primary playmaker and I’d say the torch has been passed from Andrew Wiggins to Moody adequately.
Now, I still have my little bouts of frustration on 1v1 point-of-attack (non-pick-and-roll), as you might know from our Watch Parties, but thinking back, I believe a lot of those are transition-related and Moses does not have the chase-down ability of Andrew that made Wiggs really special, even when beaten on the first step — guys in this era and pace tend to get beaten on the first step, anyways, so it’s kinda not as big a deal these days.
But bothering the pick-and-roll? Yeah, I can see Mo being effective on that, on the regular. Something to look out for, a nuance to digest during games, going forward.
Quickie related thing: At age 13, Moody had the same wingspan as Al Horford 🤯
After Rona Moody, Mo’s mom, tweeted the above, here was Horford’s response:
Below are all the videos and transcripts from postgame Denver. Wish I had more time to talk about other stuff, such as Brandin Podziemski’s near-triple-double, or the side-to-side passing that Gui Santos mentioned at practice and subsequently executed to a T versus the Nuggets:
We’ll see if I can be more efficient postgame Monday after the New Orleans game…
00:00 How would you describe the fourth quarter that Brandin had?
00:11 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME DEN-GSW: Oh, it was phenomenal. I think he had eight rebounds in the quarter, hit a couple big shots. He was brilliant and we needed it because, obviously, third quarter they took it to us, but we felt good about our chance to make another run in the fourth. This was their third game, basically three and a half days with the 12:30 start, three different cities, brutal schedule and coming out of the All-Star Break, so our whole game plan going in was just keep the pressure on them, try to wear them down, keep running and I think that that was definitely a factor. We were rested and they were not, but we’ll take it. We’ve been on the other end of that too.
00:59 Jokic had three points and one rebound that fourth quarter. What was kind of the key to keeping him off balance late in the game?
01:04 I just thought we did a good job of getting them out of their sets on a few key possessions where they weren’t in rhythm and so he didn’t get the ball in the usual spots and we forced him away from the hoop a little bit further. And it was just enough to maybe disrupt things, but again, I think fatigue for them was a big issue.
01:31 How big a factor was — over here — Al Horford? He hit six threes. It seemed like part of that game plan was stretching Jokic out.
01:39 Yeah, Al was fantastic and the the spacing, obviously, with him popping and knocking down shots early, I thought that really set a good tone. I think we hit 15 threes in the first half. Then we went cold in the third, but the spacing and the ball movement was really good. And Al was a big part of that.
02:03 Coach, seven players in double figures — here. From a coaching perspective, with the top dogs out how do you cope with a game like that? How do you, when it comes to play calling, how, who you run the plays for with so many players having a great game?
02:20 Yeah, the biggest thing we try to think of when we have guys out is what are the best five-man combinations? Who plays well with whom? What’s our substitution pattern? Keep it simple. Offensively, not too many play calls, but as long as we’re spaced and running the floor, moving the ball, we know we’re gonna get some good looks to add on this.
02:42 Especially in the clutch when you see so many players having a great game like today, is it tricky for you to — ?
02:47 No, no, because we’re not really calling a ton of plays. It’s mostly spreading the floor and bringing in certain guys into pick-and-roll just to try to create an advantage. And so it’s not like I have to call a bunch of plays. It’s more just simple concepts and play basketball.
03:11 Steve, what’s the update on Draymond and do you think he’ll be okay for the upcoming road trip?
03:16 I hope so. He was gonna play and he went out to warm up and his lower back tightened up. And so we obviously scratched him at that point and with the back-to-back coming up, we’ll see. I don’t have an update at this point, but hopefully he’ll be all right.
03:39 Any further clarity on Kristaps?
03:40 No.
03:44 Steve, you mentioned Brandin and, obviously, he was contributing in a lot of different areas, but he was really struggling offensively going into the fourth. What do you think got him going into rhythm late when you needed it?
03:56 I think just seeing the ball go through the hoop. He does so many things for us out there. The rebounding can almost see him getting a little confidence from getting a long rebound and racing the ball up the floor and making a play, but it always helps when you see that first one go in. And so he was, he’s a really confident guy. He wants the ball, he wants the big shot, but like every player, he needs the rhythm. He needs the flow of the game and he can help himself. It’s one of the things we’re trying to teach him. He can help himself by actually getting off the ball earlier in a possession and then getting it back. And at times, he wants to make the play from the outset. And that’s a lot, to do that, so he’s still learning and growing, but that was a fantastic night for him.
04:55 How do you look at his season, kind of in the bigger picture, and probably what he may be envisioning, to what it has been, but also a night like tonight you want to get — ?
05:05 Well, it’s been up and down, for sure, but our season has been up and down as a whole. And sometimes a team’s struggles impacts the individuals, but we know what he can do. For the last couple years he’s been one of our highest plus-minus players. He’s a very versatile player. The rebounding is what attracted us to him in the first place, coming out of Santa Clara, and when a guy rebounds like that, he has great anticipation, so it’s really more a matter of finding that sweet spot that we’re trying to get him to, where he’s making plays, but he’s not dominating the ball. And that’s his next step. And you can see tonight, there was a little of both and he got himself in trouble a couple times, but when he gets off it and then the ball starts moving, then he gets it back, it’s totally different. The defense is closing out on him. He can use that leverage to get past people, make a pass, score a layup, so he’s a really unique player, but he’s still finding his way.
06:17 Moses, another steady game with 23 points. How have you kind of seen him adjust without playing with guys like Steph and Jimmy in the last couple weeks?
06:25 You’re talking about who?
06:26 Moses.
06:26 Moses. Moses has been brilliant for six weeks. He’s shooting the lights out. The confidence, he’s maybe been our most consistent performer. His on-ball defense is top of the league against pick-and-roll and he’s such a great teammate. He’s there for you every night, the way he works. He’s so poised it’s really fun to watch Moses blossom and have such a good season. And there was a stretch in there for a month or so, maybe in December, where he cooled off, but I think this is the guy, who he is. He’s really a good shooter and good defender and somebody you can count on every night.
07:11 Are there things that you’ve seen him grow from this year compared to last year?
07:16 I think he’s quicker and stronger. You saw the baseline move where he dunked it, rip through. I think it’s a natural progression for a young guy after three, four years to grow into your body and get a little stronger, a little quicker, so I see getting past people more now than in the past. Alright, thanks.
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07:43 Hey Brandin, what was working in that fourth quarter? 15 fourth quarter points and kind of closed out Denver all by yourself.
07:49 BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Made some shots, felt a little bit in the flow state there, and I think as a whole, we just found some confidence. We didn’t make a three, I don’t think, in a third quarter. Saw a few. I think Moses maybe hit the first one in the fourth. Gary hit a few, so just confidence all the way around and it translated in both ends.
08:09 Brandin, Steve talked about sometimes it’s just that first one going down. What does that first one going down do for you, mentally? And then you can ride that?
08:17 I mean, I try not to let it affect me either way, if I make it or I miss it. I think I started probably 1-for-10, I think, so I just keep shooting, whatever the game calls for, do what the game says and it usually rewards you. So just kept at it.
08:33 When you talk about kind of do whatever the game calls for, could you feel that you needed to be assertive and aggressive in that fourth quarter? Al used the word assertive a lot about you tonight.
08:42 Yeah, I mean, I think it was just me and Melt out there, just kind of taking turns doing that and I think fortunate enough we got some easy ones off transition from turnovers, stops. So, I mean, yeah I’m point guard, so usually I get to dictate what happens, so just try to do what was right in the moment.
09:02 What does the flow state feel like and when did you know that you were in it?
09:06 What does it feel like? Just everything feels slow motion, kind of. I think those last two threes that I shot, just everything felt so slow, really, the last three jump shots I had, just felt really slow and in slow motion. And so the goal is to always try to find that. The great players do that and so that’s really what it felt like.
09:28 Bigger picture, how do you kind of assess how your season’s been?
09:32 I mean, I don’t look at the bigger picture. I just look at the now. I know we got 25 games left and just try to win as many of those as you can. Whatever happens down the line is what’s gonna happen, but all we focus on is, now, New Orleans.
09:47 Steve talked about the conversations they’ve had, the staff’s had with you about getting off the ball, maybe trying to make plays without dominating the ball. How do you — how would you assess that balance that you’re trying to strike during the game?
10:00 I don’t think about it. I just do what the game calls for. I know my IQ for the game and knowing things has got me this far and so the worst thing you could do is go out there and second guess your decisions and it looks even worse. So I just go out there and just play the game.
10:20 You grabbed a career high 15 rebounds tonight. What’s the key to being a good rebounder?
10:25 I mean, first, it helps if you go all the time and you get a better chance, but just reading the ball off the rim, when they’re shot from the corner or the wings, it’s a little bit easier. And then just floating around those elbows as a guard, you get some of those, too, and then just having a little effort going offensively. You do that a lot of times, four to five, six maybe fall into your lap and then the other ones you just go get.
10:53 Is rebounding something you really enjoy doing?
10:55 I do. When I started I was a center, so I was just kind of always had a knack for being around the rim and getting rebounds and so it’s just kind of carried out through high school, college, and now, yeah.
11:08 Brandin, it looked like Steph was pretty involved on the bench tonight or today. What, if any, like, conversations did he have with you during the game, whether it was before you go an 8-for-8 in the fourth or before?
11:24 I mean, he just told me to be decisive, whatever I choose to do. He’s, like, shoot whatever shots you wanna shoot, but just be decisive about doing it. And I think that helped usually a lot of times when teams switch. We get a little stagnant and indecisive and so it was just attacking switches if they were gonna do it. If not, Al was open a lot of times, so he said just be decisive in what you do and whatever you do will live with it, so that’s pretty much it.
11:50 In your experience in the league now, how often does a win that’s as big as this one for you guys carry over?
11:58 I mean, they’re a championship-level team. They were in the Western Conference Finals last year with pretty much the same group, but I think they were missing some guys. We’re missing some guys and so to be able to just find a way shorthanded to win a game like this, is definitely should build confidence for us as a group going into New Orleans on Tuesday. But yeah, it’s definitely big time beating these guys, now twice this year.
00:00 Steve said you guys were pretty aware of their schedule coming in and it seemed like the game plan, get up and down. How much of an impact did you feel like pace would have on this game?
00:13 MOSES MOODY, POSTGAME DEN-GSW: Yeah, they had a tough schedule coming in and Coach made a point about that, so capitalizing on that, knowing we got young, fresh legs coming off All-Star Break, being able to run them, play fast, worked out for us.
00:28 Eight guys in double figures, three of y’all got more than 20 points. What was sort of working offensively for all of you guys to have that, those big offensive nights?
00:38 Yeah, I think it was just a good flow to our offense. Ball was moving. I don’t know how many — we had a lot of assists and that’s what happens when guys touch the ball. Defense has to work, change sides of the floor, make an open pass, playing — making the game simple. And I think that’s what we were able to do and that’s why so many guys were able to have a good game.
00:58 Wound up with a 42 assists to give you the number, right there. How can you feel the ball movement early on and have it lead into a whole four quarters?
01:07 Yeah, because everybody gets touches. It might not be a shot, it might not be a assist. Nothing that shows up, but it’s always good when multiple guys touch the ball in a possession because usually that means the ball went from one side of the floor to the other side of the floor, maybe back to the other side of the floor. And that means the defense had to do the same thing and that’s a lot of work to do that for a whole game.
01:25 How would you describe Brandin’s fourth quarter and just the maturity that he’s had with the with an up and down third season right now?
01:32 Yeah it was a good game. Composure, stepping up, hitting some tough shots, creating. It was a good all-around game for him.
01:41 Steve said you have been brilliant for the past six weeks and that stretch has come in a lot of different roles, right? Steph has been on the court, off the court, whatever. What has clicked for you in the past month and a half or so?
01:55 Simplifying the game. I know what I’m good at, being the player that I am right now. The player that I am next season might not be the player that I am right now, but I’ve said it before, being where your feet are, making the best out of your situation because I had a conversation with Coach yesterday and I was asking him, with Steph being gone, do you need me to do anything else? How does my role change at all? And he was saying that’s one of his favorite things about me, saying just that. The composure and the being solid. And I’ve been really solid for a long time and I heard that. And that’s the same thing that I’ve been thinking, but it’s cool to have somebody else say it, too, which you — what’s been in your head. And there’s times in the game where you get too hype and you want to go take over and you want to go do something and you gotta calm down and remember, like, play your role and when, when a lot of guys do that, that’s how all of these assists and all of these spread out points, that’s how a team win happens.
02:51 What does being solid mean to you, knowing what you do?
02:56 Different guys do different things, but when Melt penetrates the defense, it breaks down the defender. And kicks it out to Al and he makes that and I’m supposed to be right there for that one more pass. But if I was cutting, trying to get a basket or something, then I’m not there. And that whole chain breaks down, so it’s just, it’s maturity, it’s patience, it’s attention span. I know you like when we talk about that, but yeah, it’s that, just being able to know what you do and do it.
03:32 When you say simplifying the game, is that something you feel like you’ve had to develop and kind of learn?
03:37 Yeah, yeah, definitely. Over my time in the NBA, I had to learn that early on because playing ball growing up, Little Rock, Arkansas, we just hooping and there’s certain things that everybody saw in my game. There was a problem that I never even thought was a problem, but being able to go back, watch film, talk to coaches, hear what they’re saying — I don’t take everything that everybody says, but finding things that make sense and a lot of those things fall in that lane to be able to make an offense flow.
04:12 I think Al hit six threes, so he hit a bunch early. How big is that, early, when your center’s hitting threes, kind of screwing up their defensive game playing.
04:20 Yeah. Yeah, man, I love the way Al plays. I love playing with Al. I respect him so much, the way that he shoot the ball, the way that he’s going. Normally, I don’t — last game, I don’t know how many he miss, but today he comes right back out shooting it. Like, he never hesitates. He never turns down anything and I respect him. I respect his game.
04:40 Kind of along those same lines, Brandin started 1-for-10, kept shooting. Al last game, didn’t hit a lot of shots, kept shooting. Is that something you have to kind of develop as a player over time? Is that mentality of you’re gonna keep shooting no matter what, or is that just something that either you’ve got or you don’t?
04:58 Yeah, I think it’s — if you shoot, then you should shoot. You can’t, like, if the process is right, you gotta keep doing it. You might, like, I had them — I had three threes to start the second quarter and all of them felt good. They all felt like cash. On my head, I just made three threes. Y’all might not have saw them, but I made three threes in my head, so the next one I’m coming — I’m hot right now. And you gotta be able to play those games with yourself and know when, like, I did everything right, so the ball not going in didn’t have nothing to do with me. And I think like that’s confidence, that’s maturity. All the — like, you gotta develop that over time because you gotta play a game within the game.
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05:44 Al, what did you think the biggest difference was, given how much talent you guys were playing without and who you were going against?
05:55 AL HORFORD: I probably think just the energy that we brought from the beginning of the game was important. Coach talked about making sure that we came out with a lot of energy. Those early games are tricky. It’s — we’re not used to playing at that time. There’s a lot of factors that go into it, so I think that the energy that we came out with and the tension that we came out, I feel like set the tone and and then they made a run in the third made. It just just kind of made it very difficult. And then we were able to find a way there in the fourth quarter to get it done.
06:36 It looked like you were able to set the tone with those threes early on in the game. I guess, what was working so early on offensively and how were you ablt to carry that forward?
06:44 Yeah, I mean, just once I realized I had to kind of start, I just needed to make sure that I brought energy and those shots were available there early on, so I just took advantage and did that. And my whole thing was just, I wanted us to play with pace and try to play fast and just kinda get the ball moving. And that’s — I feel like as a group, we did that very early on and that was the key for the rest of the game.
07:18 What is your approach to defending Nikola Jokic?
07:23 I mean, let’s see here what he — yeah. Yeah, unbelievable. I mean, the dude, 35 points and all the assists in the world. I mean, it’s difficult because early in the game, we kind of looked up and there was six minutes in the first quarter and he already had seven assists, so it’s just his ability to read the game. It’s like you kinda have a coach out there when he’s playing, because he just reads the game so easily and he’s making the right play every time and then he’s bigger. So it’s like he doesn’t really get sped up much. He plays at his own pace and can really score the ball, so it really is just trying to make his catches tough, contest his shots, try to be as physical as we can with him. He’s really crafty at drawing fouls, so you have to kind of play that game, but then ultimately it comes the whole group has to do a good job with it when you have a player like that. It’s, like, him, Steph, there’s a few players that the whole team has to be engaged because you can’t just guard the player one-on-one. They’re just too good.
08:34 Al, a side of the game, the entire stadium arena sang Happy Birthday for your kid. How special is that moment for you, as well?
08:43 Very special. I didn’t know that that was gonna happen and I think that it kind of got him by surprise, too. And usually they kind of put a sign up there and, like, that’s kind of it. But that was really special. He was — I felt like he was embarrassed there, just because they just kinda kept putting him on the Jumbotron, but it was really, really neat. My family and I are pretty grateful for that.
09:07 Al, how would you describe Brandin’s fourth quarter and what have you seen from him with your first season playing next to him?
09:12 Man, he was very assertive in the fourth quarter and just made some really tough shots, but I just think that his assertiveness, I think that’s the biggest thing that I take from him. A lot of the times for a guy like him, when you come in as a guard and there’s so many roles that are being asked of you to play and do, and people don’t realize that he has to game the game. He has to shift the way that he’s thinking, the things that he’s doing. And tonight it was, like, very clear-minded, especially in the fourth. He’s, like, no, you gotta go out there and just play your game and attacks. It was just very nice to see him being determined, making the plays, time after time. And then on the defensive end, he had some nice tip outs, some rebounds, things like that, so it’s a process when you’re a young player like that. You’re kind of trying to find your way. And the biggest thing for me that I see with him is his consistency, preparing for the game and staying ready. And now he was able to take advantage of this opportunity tonight.
10:15 Today, just how would you even describe 42 assists on your guys’ 48 made shots?
10:20 Oh, yeah. No, that’s, yeah — I mean, just definitely impressed with that. We really, really moved the ball just really well. The ball, Coach always talks about, like, he doesn’t want the ball to stick so much and I feel like sometimes we get caught in that holding the ball a little too long, trying to make plays and sometimes the easiest play’s just that next pass and trying to keep it an advantage. And I feel like tonight, what I kept seeing consistently, was that the ball just kept moving, just kept moving and we were making quick reads.
10:58 I guess to follow on that, how sustainable is that and is a performance like this kinda seeing what dividends it pays? Does that, I guess, make it more sustainable or make it so that you guys wanna sustain that?
11:09 I think it can be more — I think it can be sustainable, but it’s us understanding that we have to be able to play with that, with the type of pace. But we have to be able to move the ball and play with each other and understand when we have a shot, when we need to pass it, when we need to attack the basket. And I just think that today the reads were very clear and everybody was doing it, so I believe that we can absolutely play like that.
11:38 Al this is your 19th season. Is there anyone that maybe comes to mind that Brandin Podziemski remember — that you think of?
11:49 Man, BP is one of one. I don’t — I can’t really think of anybody like that off the top of my head. The way that he’s able to attack the basket, he looks for the floaters. He’ll take the three, the three-point shot, doing a lot of different things, so I just think that he’s just very unique, so it’s hard for me to compare him to anyone.
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