In March, I wrote about how Boston had built the perfect GTO machine, optimized to take down a wide variety of opponents, like in the Regular Season when you might play 15 teams in 30 days.
I compared Porzingis to the Death Star’s Thermal Exhaust Port (you can read it by clicking this link).
Boston’s season was always going to be measured by what happened in the Playoffs when they played the same team for two weeks. Internally, they had to know that, at some point, every team they faced was going to spam PnR actions with Porzingis guarding the action.
I don’t know if Miami has the juice to win the series, but they are starting to put the blueprint to beat this current version of Boston on tape.
Skip → Options:
Over the past seven years of tracking footwork, the skip is something that players do more instinctively than almost any other footwork. This is at all levels, not just the NBA. The players with the best timing on when to skip are far more effective than others.
Skipping is one of the pillars of my Stacking program.
Of all the footwork and bodywork concepts I work on with my players, the skip is the one they are most drawn to.
Most of the time, they effectively use it in situations we meticulously work on. However, it becomes such an instinctual movement to them after spending an offseason together that it shows up for different players in places we have yet to work on.
I always get great joy when it shows up in places I never imagined. It means they are playing free and not “thinking.”
^ Here’s my favorite example of Skip footwork translating in a habit → instinct moment from my first Malik Beasley.
(I use Beasley for every example because I have NDAs with every client since, but they all have experienced the same habit → instinct moments, which is incredible to see)
Skipping gives a level of optionality that no other footwork in the stacking program can produce, and it is by far the most devastating in creating “fear” in a defender.
In Miami’s Game 2 win vs. Boston, they had the perfect blend of intelligent macro game planning and detailed micro-skills to take advantage of the game plan:
Macro: Put Porzingis in as many two-man actions as possible.
Micro: Herro’s footwork and decision-making were sensational. It was a perfect mix of skill acquisition and application.
Tyler Herro & The Miami Heat are Targeting Kristpas Porzingis