Raptors, Wizards, Cavaliers, Pacers, Thunder, Jazz: Things to watch in every Game 6

We’ve got three Game 6’s on tap tonight. Here’s a quick guide of a few things I’ll be paying attention to for each team.

Raptors at Wizards

The Wizards need to get something out of somebody that isn’t John Wall or Bradley Beal, and with the revelation that Otto Porter has been dealing with a bone bruise in his leg, it becomes even more difficult to envision that happening. The best non-Wall and Beal performances for Washington in this series have come from Mike Scott (23-34 from the field, 7-11 from 3) and Ty Lawson, and it would be interesting to see all four of those guys play together, which they’ve done for only six minutes so far during the series. It’s not really all that traditional a lineup and it could leave the Wizards vulnerable to getting torn up by DeMar DeRozan, but it’s not like he hasn’t been going off already. There’s at least some merit to getting the four guys playing best out there on the floor at the same time, and seeing what it brings.

Kelly Oubre came right out and said Delon Wright is only good at home. That’s only sort of true. It’s certainly true that Wright has played far better in Toronto’s three home games during the playoffs (all wins) than in their two games in Washington (both losses).  But during the regular season, Wright played around three more minutes per game at home, averaging more points and rebounds in games played at the Air Canada Centre than he did elsewhere, but his field goal percentage was about the same and he averaged more assists per game on the road. His ability to step into Fred Van Vleet’s shoes and play alongside Lowry in the backcourt has been huge, and he really stepped up on both ends in Game 5. If he can bring some of what he’s been doing in Toronto, to Washington, that could go a long way toward ending this series.

Cavaliers at Pacers

Can Cleveland keep winning while only getting above-average contributions from LeBron James and Kyle Korver? LeBron seems like he’s just good enough to win games all by himself, but it’s taken Korver knocking down his shots as well for the Cavs to get their three wins in this series. If he goes cold again (as he did in Games 1 and 3, when he shot a combined 0-6 from the field), how will the Cavs manufacture non-LeBron points?

It is very clear that posting up Kevin Love on Thaddeus Young is not the answer. Love is 7-of-32 on possessions where Young guarded him during this series, per NBA.com’s matchup data, and he’s only 3-of-13 from the field out of the post. Getting him involved in pick-and-rolls should work far better, but inviting Thad Young into LeBron’s space seems unwise, and running a pick-and-roll not involving LeBron seems wasteful. The Wolves used to love entering the ball to Love near the elbow, then having the point guard come screen for him so Love could step back into an open 3 on the wing. The Cavs ran a bunch of that for Love early in David Blatt’s tenure with the team and sparingly over the last couple years, and it would be an interesting wrinkle to throw at Indiana tonight, just to see if it helps Love get going.

Victor Oladipo and Darren Collison are going to have to make some shots if the Pacers want to extend this series. Oladipo is 12-of-50 in the last three games and Collison is just 7-of-26. It’s no wonder the Pacers lost two of those three games. Sure, the two losses were close, but that’s what happens when both of your starting guards can’t score. Oladipo is still getting some of his runway isolation plays when the Cavs switch his pick-and-rolls rather than trap, but he’s not made any of the pull-up jumpers he’s taken in those situations and he’s struggled to finish at the rim because the Cavs have been unafraid to send help his way once he gets near the lane. They’ve also done a good job getting the ball out of his hands in the first place by trapping. Indiana figured out how to bust it pretty consistently late in Game 5, and it’ll be interesting to see how easily they move the ball around early in Game 6. If they start pinging it around and finding easy hoops behind the trap, it could loosen things up and finally allow Oladipo to get going.

Next: The Process Sixers get validation with their first-round victory over Miami

Thunder at Jazz

So, the massive Thunder run that won them Game 5 basically involved Russell Westbrook hitting a bunch of jumpers, and then Paul George using the space afforded him by the resulting tilt of the floor in order to do the same. That doesn’t seem especially repeatable in Game 6, but Oklahoma City’s much-improved second half defense does. The Thunder relaxed a bit in their pick-and-roll coverage, finally allowing Ricky Rubio to turn the corner instead of sending a big directly into his path and necessitating aggressive help from the perimeter to tag Rudy Gobert or Derrick Favors on their rolls to the rim. As a result, the cascade of open 3s for Joe Ingles and Jaw Crowder dried up, and the Jazz (aside from Donovan Mitchell) struggled to create in one-one-one situations.

Of course, part of this strategy involved benching Carmelo Anthony in favor of Jerami Grant, in order to get more length and athleticism on the floor and muddy up some of the passing lanes. It took the Thunder going down 25 points in the third quarter of an elimination game for Billy Donovan to go to that look and that more relaxed coverages. What will it take in Game 6? He needs to have a quick trigger on Melo if they go down early, and we should probably just see relaxed pick-and-roll coverage and a heavier dose of switching right from the jump.

Similarly, it would be a pretty good idea for the Jazz to show Westbrook multiple bodies in his path on his early pick-and-rolls, just to make sure he doesn’t get any ideas about being as aggressive attacking the paint as he was during the stretch that got Oklahoma City back into the game. If they start off by forcing Russ to shoot from outside and he’s not hitting, things could get ugly quickly for the Thunder’s offense, as they did in Games 2-4. But if the Jazz give him a runway and let him occupy Rudy Gobert in space, they could be looking at some alley-oops for Steven Adams and some back-side opportunities for Paul George. It’s a tricky balance to maintain given their desire to let the offense come to them, but the early part of the game could call for slightly more aggression just to ensure that Westbrook stays in the area of the floor where they want him, rather than owning the spots on the floor he himself wants.