Claw School: Kawhi Leonard's Defensive Master Class 来源：http://goo.gl/oBs9HO It’s hard to pick out the best single defensive play of the entire 2013-14 NBA season, but Kawhi Leonard’s block of Russell Westbrook in overtime of Game 6 of the Western Conference finals deserves serious consideration. That tense bit of #freebasketball is mostly remembered for Tim Duncan’s turn-back-the-clock domination, but Leonard’s moment of defensive genius was probably the game’s biggest individual inflection point. 要在整个2013-14球季中选出最佳个人防守球员实在不容易，但Kawhi Leonard在西 区决赛G6加时阶段对西河的火锅绝对足以让他被列入审慎考量。而这个火锅可能也 算得上这场比赛最重要的转捩点。 Down one point with less than a minute left, the Thunder’s 3-on-2 fast-break chance represented a huge opportunity to take a late-game lead. As Reggie Jackson raced down the floor, he was flanked by Kevin Durant on his right and Westbrook on his left. The only Spurs defenders ahead of them were Leonard and Boris Diaw. Leonard confronted Jackson near the top of the arc, forcing him to dish the ball to a surging Westbrook — but Leonard wasn’t done yet. Leonard changed the game with his giant left hand — like taking candy from an all-world point guard. It was simultaneously unbelievable, understated, and vital. If it’s true that the league’s biggest superstars make the biggest plays in the biggest moments, then it’s also true that Kawhi Leonard became a superstar in the 2014 NBA playoffs — just a different kind of superstar, making different kinds of superstar plays. 在雷霆落後一分，比赛时间剩不到一分钟时，Reggie Jackson发动一次三打二快攻 右边跟着KD、左边跟着西河，而马刺退防的球员只有Kawhi和Diaw，眼看这将是一 次让雷霆在决胜阶段逆转的大好机会。这时Kawhi在弧顶先迫使Reggie把分球给西河 ，而这时候Kawhi用他巨大的左手改变了这场比赛。 在那一瞬间Kawhi把球从西河手中抢了过来。要是我们藉由在关键时刻做出伟大的攻防来 定义联盟最伟大的球星，那麽在2014季後赛Kawhi绝对通过了伟大球星的认证，只是用不 同的方式成为了不同的伟大球星。 Leonard is now 23 years old and the reigning Finals MVP, yet when it comes to his basketball celebrity, he seems to take a backseat to other emerging young talents, like Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry. Part of this is by choice; he doesn’t really draw attention to himself. You’ll never catch Leonard in an ad pretending he’s an elderly playground legend, or wearing a fake mustache and houndstooth, impersonating an elite insurance salesman — though, to be fair, if you’re watching TV in Texas, you can catch him in a toga with his teammates in a local supermarket spot. He missed the league’s glitzy fashion show during All-Star Weekend. His brand has only one lonesome vertical: being really good at basketball. By nature, by choice, and by association, the Kawhi Leonard experience is antithetical to the league’s contemporary star-making apparatus — kind of like one of his iconic teammates. And in 2015, even the nerdiest basketball observers still fail to to adequately assess the very thing Leonard is really good at: defense. This chasm between what we see and what we understand about hoops was on full display last Sunday night in San Antonio, as the Spurs crushed the Minnesota Timberwolves, 123-97. Leonard finished the game with 15 points, six rebounds, and one assist. That’s certainly not a bad stat line, but it seems incongruent with the following postgame quote from Flip Saunders, who coached against Leonard that night: "Kawhi Leonard just took the game totally over... just mauled." Usually, when an opposing head coach explicitly says somebody “took the game totally over” or “mauled” his guys, that means that person scored 40, or grabbed 20 boards, or dished out 15 assists, but this was not the case with Leonard. He took the game over by playing spectacular on-ball defense. Leonard has a habit of turning great players into average ones. That night, he shut down future rookie of the year Andrew Wiggins, stealing the ball five times, and disrupted several Wolves possessions by doing stuff like this: 在2015年，即使是最专注於篮球数据研究的单位仍未能发明适妥的数据来衡量Kawhi在场 上最擅长的事：防守。 上周日马刺以123-97击败了灰狼之後，赛後访问灰狼队的总教练Flip Saunders说Kawhi完 全掌控了比赛且痛击了灰狼队。一般来说，会让对手的教练明确说出「掌控比赛」及 「痛击」这些字眼，就表示对手有个人得了40分，或是抓了20个篮板，或是传了15次助攻 ，但这些Kawhi一个都没有做到。实际上，Kawhi藉由惊人的对球防守掌控了比赛。 那个晚上，Kawhi守死了可能是今年最佳新秀的Wiggins，抄了五个球，干扰了好几次灰狼 的团队进攻。这就是Kawhi的「习惯」：把对手伟大的球员守成普通球员。 [video] Leonard played only 25 minutes that night, but while he was on the floor, the Spurs outscored the Wolves by 24 points. Wiggins logged a minus-32. Kawhi只打了25分钟，但当他在场上马刺对比灰狼多得了24分，同时也让对位的Wiggins 吞下-32的正负值 In the last 20 years, only two forwards have led the NBA in steals per game: Scottie Pippen and Gerald Wallace. As of today, Leonard is on pace to become the third. He currently leads the league in steals per game, with 2.3. That may not seem like a lot, but steals are extremely valuable events, and that value is often undersold by the little integers that show up in the box score the next day. 在过去20年，联盟抄捷榜第一名只有两名前锋排得上： Scottie Pippen和Gernald Wallace 现在Kawhi占据抄捷榜第一名，每场可贡献2.3个抄截。这数字可能看起来不多，但抄截确 实是个非常有价值但常被低估的数据。 For over a decade now, the savviest basketball analysts have been talking about points per possession. But not all possessions are created equal. As it turns out, the nature of how a possession begins has a huge impact on its eventual fate. Leaguewide, possessions that originate with “live ball turnovers” — like steals — are generally the most effective possessions in the game. And the value of a steal does not end with the turnover, as steals also typically yield extremely valuable ensuing possessions going the other way. This isn’t exactly a new idea, but thanks to new kinds of performance data, we now have numbers to back it up. 这十年来，篮球分析纳入了更精确的points per possession。而如何开始球权将彻底影 响一波球权的结果。其中以活球失误，例如被对手抄截，而开启的球权是最有效率的进 攻球权。这并非一个新的概念，只是多亏这些新的资料，现在我们可以用数据来为这种 贡献背书。 As of today, the Clippers and the Warriors have the most efficient offenses in the league. Both teams average 109.3 points per 100 possessions, just about four points better than the league average of 104. But even those incredible offenses can’t hold a candle to the efficiency of an average team following an average live ball turnover. Overall this season, NBA offenses scored a whopping 124 points per 100 possessions1 following a live ball turnover. In other words, even the most mediocre NBA teams suddenly morph into dominant offensive forces immediately after the kinds of live ball turnovers that Leonard is really good at creating. 以现在进攻PPP最佳的两个球队为例：快艇和勇士，它们每100个球权可以获得109.3分。 然而透过活球失误，每100个球权可以产生124分。换句话说，即使是联盟最会进攻的球队 ，进攻效率也不及抄球反击，而这正是Kawhi最擅长的事。 So it’s not enough to say that steals turn defense into offense. They often turn defense into the best kind of offense. Here is Leonard demonstrating the basketball version of a pick-six: 因此，仅用「转守为攻」并不足以形容抄截的价值；抄截不但能转守为攻，还能从防守转 为最有效率的进攻 [video] Here’s another example, from Friday night’s Spurs win over the Celtics, in which Leonard takes Evan Turner (a.k.a. “Evan Turnerover”) to Claw School: [video] Another thing to note here is that Leonard’s steals, unlike many of his peers ’, are hardly ever the result of defensive gambling. He’s not riskily jumping into passing lanes or leaving his assignment open. His takeaways are usually a product of him playing terrific defense. That’s why steals, as a metric, offer an incomplete picture of defensive skill. They can be reflections of which players gamble the most as much as symbols of who plays the most consistently great defense. 更值得一提的是，联盟很多抄截多的球员透过赌博式防守来取得抄截，但Kawhi跟 他们不一样。Kawhi不会随便断球线或是让他防守的球员出现空档，他的抄截常是来自他 自己优异的防守。这个差异也是为什麽不能单以抄截来判断防守技巧。 As I wrote about a few weeks ago, the league’s player tracking system is finally enabling us to understand defensive performances, revealing which players are really good at suppressing and disrupting opponents’ shots. It turns out Leonard is one of the best, not just at stealing the ball, but also at reducing the scoring prowess of his assignments. Below is Leonard’s defensive shot chart from last season, which reveals that he is really good at preventing 3-point shots from even happening. Those tiny dots all around the 3-point arc suggest that when Leonard is the assigned defender, players hardly ever even attempt 3s. The blueness of those dots reveals that when they do end up shooting, they exhibit significant decreases in efficiency. [graph] 从球员追踪系统可以发现，Kawhi的防守不仅只於抄截，他还能降低对手进攻的水平。从 进攻者的投篮分布区域图来看，我们可以发现Kawhi对於三分线外投射的防守非常惊人， 被对位到的球员几乎很少能在三分线出手 Kawhi Leonard is Daryl Morey’s nightmare. Leonard’s defensive assignments — guys like Durant, LeBron James, and James Harden — regularly fail to live up to expectations on the perimeter. Nobody looks forward to a night trying to play offense against Leonard. 以此统计来看，Kawhi完全就是火箭队GM Morey的梦魇。Kawhi防守的对象：KD,James,胡 子，经常很难在他们期望的有效射程内出手。没有一个人会想要在某个晚上打比赛时面对 Kawhi的防守。 Before taking the stage to accept the Finals MVP trophy last June, Leonard had spent 11 consecutive games defending LeBron James and Kevin Durant. It would be an exaggeration to say he shut either guy down, but it would not be an exaggeration to say that his defensive performances had a lot to do with the Spurs going 8-3 in those series. 在Kawhi获得FMVP前，连续11场球对位防守James和KD。若要说Kawhi守死了他们是有点夸 张了，但说Kawhi的超强防守帮马刺赢了11场比赛中的8场绝不夸张。 Leonard’s defense makes you want to come up with a more elegant stat for defense — something like an Almost Steal. Check out how Leonard greatly damages a Heat possession by knocking the ball away from James, but doesn’t get the steal in the end. 有时Kawhi差点抄到球但却影响了对手的进攻球权，如下面影片对位LBJ， 这在数据上是没办法显示的，看了Kawhi在防守上的表现，会令人想要发明一个更精准 的指标来评断防守能力。 [video] Maybe he’s not a conventional superstar, but Leonard is one of the most important players in the whole league. Since his return from injury in mid-January, the Spurs have gradually regained their dominant form (that Knicks loss aside). They’ve won 10 of their last 12 games and suddenly look like a real threat to defend their championship. With Leonard on the floor this year, the Spurs are 35-16 (that would be the fourth-best winning percentage in the league), but they are only 9-9 without him. In March 2015, just three and a half years after his NBA debut, Leonard might be the most important player on a team that features three surefire Hall of Famers. ♦♦♦ Yesterday afternoon in Atlanta, Leonard played a phenomenal game, making plays like this, and leading his team to a statement win against the best team in the Eastern Conference: [video] Two weeks ago, in that same arena, the Hawks honored Dominique Wilkins with a brand-new statue and a ceremony that included a video tribute, featuring Wilkins’s old rival Larry Bird. Bird used the opportunity to dust off his Hall of Fame trash talk, joking about the statue, “I’m pretty sure it’s not made in a defensive stance.” It was a subtly profound jab. It’s not hard to find a basketball coach to remind you that defense is half the game, but it’s virtually impossible to find a statue of a basketball star in a defensive stance. If the Spurs ever make a Kawhi Leonard statue outside of the AT&T Center, that may change. While there’s no shortage of emergent superstars trying to be like Mike, Leonard seems more like Pippen. And while Leonard will probably always remain underappreciated by the folks on Madison Avenue, it’s clear he’s valued by the people who know the most about the game. Kawhi可能不像传统的超级巨星，但他绝对是联盟最有影响力的球员之一。比起Jordan， 他会更像Pippen一点；Kawhi可能总是被人们所低估，但最了解比赛的人就会体认到他的 价值所在。 心得：第一次翻译若有疏漏敬请见谅，期待可爱能继续进步!

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ※ 转录者: Tradesque (31.205.84.160), 03/24/2015 06:09:28 ※ 编辑: Tradesque (31.205.84.160), 03/24/2015 06:10:09