Transcription
This video was inspired by Nate, who requested a video on Tony Allen's defense. So, if you're watching, thank you for the suggestion. Now, on to the video.
Over the end of Kobe Bryant's great career, he mentioned how Tony Allen was always the toughest defender that has ever guarded him. For someone that barely praises any defender, this was high praise and may have come to the surprise of some.
"Kobe, toughest defender for you?" "Tony Allen." "That's easy." "Yeah, my family."
But when you watch how Tony Allen affects the game on a defensive end, one of the biggest things that jumps out is his relentlessness to make the opposing player work. And Bryant noticed it as well. In an interview with Mark Medina, Kobe said, "He's fundamentally sound defensively and he plays harder than everybody else. He has a competitive desire to compete individually. That's very uncommon. Most defensive players I face want help all the time. I've never heard him ask for help. He likes taking the challenge."
So today, I dive into what made Tony Allen Kobe Bryant's hardest matchup and how Kobe countered his defensive strategy.
One thing that makes Tony Allen great is his physicality and aggressiveness. He made Kobe work tremendously hard to get the ball in every possession, especially when Kobe wanted to isolate Allen in the post. This forced players like Lamar Odom to make plays on their own.
His strong hands allow him to push players away from their spots and forces them, including Bryant, to take shots much farther from their desired spots. And when you look at Bryant's game, he didn't have the quickest first step, which meant he couldn't necessarily blow past him when he tried pushing himself to the basket. It didn't lead to the best results, which meant he had to counter Allen differently.
One way he did this was through the pump fake. Kobe made a living off either pulling up or using the post to pump fake to get the defender in the air to get a better look and draw a foul. And with someone like Allen, who was really aggressive, that was one of his main focal points to not jump.
"I always wanted to study and keep, keep, and be mad for us was the head fake. He always bagged you down, bagged you down, bagged you down. Turn around, head fake, head fake, head fake. And it's that fourth head I always jump right."
And studying that film, I mean, instantly, as soon as I, I knew he was on the schedule, I was like, I had the tunnel vision.
In the 2010 Finals, Tony Allen did a really good job of not falling for the pump fake on either the post-up or step-back, which made it really difficult for Bryant to get a good shot off. Because he initially put himself in a strong position to guard Kobe, he then used his strong hands to knock it out or contest the shot.
Here's a clip I wanted to highlight the most. So, Kobe comes off the Odom screen to first give himself some space to work with, and he puts himself in a good position by hiding right behind Odom, which makes Allen's job to get out there much harder. He's able to first fight through the screen and then not fall for the pump fake, which prompts Kobe to drive towards the help. Even if Kobe blew by him, Tony Allen has done his job by forcing him into the help.
But the pump fake wasn't the only thing Kobe tried when using the pick and roll. Kobe would read how Allen was guarding him and attack accordingly. As Farmar sets the screen, Allen cheats to get over the screen, and Kobe crosses over and has an open three but misses. Here, Allen shades Kobe left, but he instead drives right and crosses back to get a step on Allen, and he scores the layup on this one. Kobe uses the in-and-out to get Allen off balance, but with all the help, his best bet was our test.
And for Tony Allen, when he played straight up and allowed the Celtics' help defense to come, this helps slow Kobe down and force him to read the defense over and over. But in general, Kobe found more success than the pick-and-roll in terms of creating more space for himself and others.
What you may have noticed in all of these clips is that Kobe has to attack to his left, and this was by design. Tony Allen speaks about the dangers of letting Kobe go right.
"I knew for a fact when he go right, he could do a lot. He could reverse dunk, he could pull up, he could fade away, he could do a lot going right. So my whole thing was, let me just try to be physical. You know, in this era, you know, we were able to touch and grab and bump and move. We can't do that in today's game. However, I said, I'm gonna just make him go left, and whatever he do going left, he gonna have to do that all night. So that's, that was one of my first tactics."
But, you know, interestingly enough, this wasn't just Allen's game plan, but the entire Celtics team. Although Ray Allen doesn't affect Kobe the same, for example, here, even though Ray Allen forces him left, he's not as physical as Tony Allen, which allows Kobe to get closer to the rim, and he scores. Next play down, Kobe uses the crossover to get to his right and gets into the paint again before scoring. Even with a good contest, it's not good enough to affect a bonafide scorer like Bryant because he's getting to wherever he wants.
And here, Ray Allen shadows him left, and Kobe tries going right again, but Ray cuts him off and takes the charge. You may have also noticed that Tony Allen was helping off Shannon Brown since he doesn't want Kobe going right. And you can see Kobe telling Brown to move over to first create more space to attack and also not have Tony Allen affecting the play as much as he could on that possession.
So, I hope you guys got a glimpse of why Kobe believed Tony Allen is the best defender. Before I end this video, if you have a video idea, I have a Google Form in the description below. Besides that, if you want more NBA content, follow my Instagram at thecoachesreport and my Twitter, and I'll see you guys next time. Peace.