A Match Made in Heaven vs. An Inevitable Divorce
One time playing pickup 2-on-2, I was saddled with a guy who did nothing but shoot.
Step-backs, over double teams (the other team only had two players), with a hand in his face, with me texting my buddy from the corner while he followed 20 jab steps with a fade-away. Shaq could have run on the court, done the YMCA dance, and, if this guy had the ball, he probably wouldn’t have even noticed him. If he had, he definitely wouldn’t have passed him the ball.
So I gave him a taste of his own medicine. Suddenly, I became Kobe Bryant of the rec center every time I got a rebound. I pulled up from NBA range, tried to take the guys off the dribble, and shot fadeaways. A lot of fadeaways (Some of them hit the rim, I promise).
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It got to the point where we took turns being the offensive player for the possession, depending on whoever got the rebound. We didn’t win, but, heck, he wasn’t going to change, so neither was I.
And I hate to say it, but when I watched the Mavs play the Warriors on Friday, the backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Monta Ellis looked a lot like my rec-center partner and me.
In the cosmic rankings of efficient basketball offenses, the 2013-2014 Spurs take the cake, at least from what I have seen. But they are followed closely by this year’s Warriors, and, surprisingly for the fans at Friday’s game, this fall’s Dallas Mavericks.
Early in this season, the Mavericks were on pace to destroy the league record for Offensive Efficiency. Grantland’s Zach Lowe depicted their torrid start in “The Art of the Wildly Efficient Dallas Mavericks,” describing their offense as an “art” and comparing them to Steve Nash’s Suns, widely considered one of the best offensive teams of the last decade.
Dec 22, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Monta Ellis (11) and guard Rajon Rondo (9) during the game against the Atlanta Hawks at the American Airlines Center. The Hawks defeated the Mavericks 105-102. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
So what happened? What reverted this scoring machine to a stagnant system that shot 37 percent from the field against the Warriors? What could have made a team compared to Nash’s Suns into a team that I just compared to the worst 2-on-2 rec-center team of all-time?
The answer is not simply the addition of Rajon Rondo; it is the basketball relationship between Ellis and Rondo, the team’s backcourt. To put it into our world: Ellis and Rondo on the court is nearly the opposite of Curry and Thompson.
Early in the game, Monta Ellis beat Klay off the team, put his head down in the lane, and went crashing into Andrew Bogut for an offensive foul. Rondo, admittedly not a great shooter, was wide-open standing in the corner. The next possession was a high pick-and-roll with Rondo and Tyson Chandler. Rondo took a few dribbles, burst into the lane, and found Chandler for an easy dunk. But the other three Mavericks on the court, Monta Ellis included, did not even move the whole possession. It’s almost as if Monta knew that this possession wasn’t his turn, like me when my rec-center partner had the ball.
Individually, Ellis and Rondo are fantastic players. Ellis is one of the best scoring shooting guards in the league, certainly one of the most underrated, and Rondo throughout his career has been one of the best passers in the NBA.
January 14, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) celebrates with guard Klay Thompson (11) against the Miami Heat during the first quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
But Rondo and Ellis clash on the court, a sharp contrast to Curry and Thompson, who are each other’s complement. On defense, Thompson is a big, physical guard who often defends the other team’s best scorer. Curry is a quick, feisty guard on defense who pressures the other team’s distributor into turnovers. On offense, Curry is usually the playmaker, the one with the ball in his hands, finishing off a burst into the lane with a pass or an acrobatic finish. While Curry thrives with the ball in his hands, Thompson is a master of scoring quickly — off the catch, or quickly taking his man into the lane.
But Rondo and Ellis clash on the court, a sharp contrast to Curry and Thompson, who are each other’s complement.
And during Friday’s game, Ellis and Rondo had the two worst plus/minus ratings — -26 and -21 — respectively. When they were on the court together, they were clobbered by the slightly more talented and infinitely more cohesive duo of Curry and Klay.
And the two best plus/minus ratings? Curry and Thompson, both at +23. The Warriors, as a team, ending up trouncing the Mavericks in assists, 26-17.
Rondo and Ellis are an awkward fit on the court; Curry and Thompson are a match made in Steve Kerr heaven.
So Monta Ellis or Rajon Rondo, if you see this, know that I’m your fan, and come play 2-on-2 with me. I’ll be one of your partners, and we can actually pass each other the ball.