How Donovan Mitchell Freezes Time
On every possession, the offense has two opponents:
The Defense and The Clock.
The offense must first identify the coverage before determining the solution to the defense's problem, and it must do all this before time runs out on each possession.
Gaining information quickly is a lynchpin to a successful playoff offense.
Donovan Mitchell’s skips force the defense to reveal what problem needs to be solved much earlier than they would like.
Throughout the first two games against Miami, Mitchell has been a force in the pick-and-rolls, running 38 actions and producing 1.429 points per possession!
Mitchell uses this skip footwork to make Miami reveal who will be his primary defender after the pick-and-roll action.
Once Mitchell has this information, he can systematically work through where open space will be on the court and then attack accordingly.
This edit examines four two-man game actions where Mitchell uses skips against Miami.
(Stunt to Recover) Mitchell uses a skip to make Duncan Robinson reveal if he’s full on switching or stunting to recover.
(Stunt to Recover) Mitchell uses a skip to make Tyler Herro reveal if he’s full on switching or stunting to recover.
(Double Drag) Mitchell uses a skip to read if Bam Adebayo will switch the action. Not all switches are the same. Adebayo appears to be soft switching here, which leaves space to shoot, rather than attack.
(Stunt to Recover) Mitchell uses a skip to make Haywood Highsmith reveal if he’s full on switching or stunting to recover.
He probably learned this from Jeff Hornacek or John Stockton. Jazz offense 101: freeze defender and look for a back door cut or drive the lane for a layup or floater