Wolves Defending Chris Paul: How did Andrew Wiggins and Ricky Rubio fare?

On Monday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, Flip Saunders chose to use the Wolves’ best perimeter defender in Andrew Wiggins to guard Chris Paul. The idea being, of course, that the length and athleticism of Wiggins would have a real chance at disrupting the rhythm and play-making ability of CP3. Or, as much as one can do such a thing to the best point guard in the NBA.

It didn’t work, as Paul torched the Wolves’ sorry defense to the tune of 26 points on 12 of 20 shooting and 14 assists, adding four rebounds and three steals for good measure. I discussed in the post-game report that putting Wiggins on Paul and leaving Ricky Rubio to shadow J.J. Redick was a questionable strategy, as it pulled Rubio away from the ball. And not only that, Rubio was burned a couple of times wandering off of Redick to play “free safety” — the Clippers simply found the open man, and Redick is a dangerous man to leave open.

For as many mistakes as Doc Rivers has already had in performing his general manager/player personnel roles (yes, he’s been awful), he’s still a outstanding in-game coach and game manager. Look no further than the Clippers’ offensive attack against the Wolves.

I’ll start by acknowledging that of course it’s not hard to score the ball on the Wolves, but Rivers understood that it would become laughably easy if he neutralized the Wolves’ two most important defenders in Rubio and Kevin Garnett. He did this by running a series of pick-and-rolls from very high on the floor and forcing the Wolves lesser defenders (Gorgui Dieng, Adreian Payne, etc.) to guard much of the paint. That’s a tall task against anyone, but against Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan, it’s nigh impossible.

Here’s an example, with Paul squeezing past Rubio and Garnett. Dieng is on an island.

As the play progresses, Paul can throw a lob to Jordan or if LaVine helps, a pass to an open shooter in the corner. Or if Dieng plays the roller, Paul shoots an easy fifteen-foot jumper. It’s like taking candy from a baby.

I went through and watched all twenty of Paul’s shot attempts from Monday’s game. Here’s how they broke down by defender, which I’ve classified as the closest man to Paul when he released the shot. The “Other” column is a combination of Zach LaVine, Gary Neal, and Garnett, who mostly ended up guarding Paul due to switches.

[table id=14 /]

Unsurprisingly, Rubio was the most effective defender for Minnesota.

I’m not about to argue that there’s an obvious way to contain Paul, and the Wolves did okay for stretches. But J.J. Redick scored 18 points on 7 of 15 shooting including 4 of 9 from beyond the arc, and it wouldn’t have been a waste to have Wiggins’ length bothering him on the perimeter.

Overall, the Wolves played into Rivers’ hands by allowing him to keep the ball away from Rubio. Ricky finished the night with just one steal, and Paul only turned the ball over once. Next time the Wolves play the Clippers, Saunders should simply let Rubio loose. It will at least force Paul to work for his numbers rather than the walk in the park that Monday night was for the Clippers’ superstar.

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