Analyzing Julius Randle and Zion Williamson’s first meeting before round two
When the Knicks met the Pelicans this past Wednesday, it presented an incredibly interesting matchup of two of the NBA’s strongest power forwards. What can be gleaned from the first meeting of Julius Randle and Zion Williamson ahead of Sunday’s second Knicks-Pelicans game in a week?
How many people do you know who are 6-foot-7 or more?
Of those, how many of them weigh in at over 250 pounds?
Of those, how many of them are lefties?
Of those, how many of them are NBA All-Stars?
Welcome to the genetic anomaly that was the April 14 Knicks vs. Pelicans game at Smoothie King Arena, where NBA fans were privileged to enjoy a matchup of the only two people on the planet who meet all of those criteria — a bout between two bruising, ball-handling bowling balls bouncing about — Julius Randle and Zion Williamson.
The heavyweight fight was fascinating and enlightening in several respects, illuminating revelations about each player and each of their teams. As these titans prepare for another clash just four days removed from their first, let’s look back on Round 1, quarter by quarter, comparing and contrasting the attributes and surroundings of these two unique and exciting power forwards.
First quarter
Both the Pelicans and Knicks are coached by Jeff Van Gundy disciples and/or siblings, which means that they equate rim protection with job protection. For better (defensively) and for worse (offensively), that means that both Randle and Williamson, inarguably best-suited to destroy opposing defenses playing center, instead play exclusively alongside non-spacing big men.
According to Cleaning the Glass, Randle has played 79% of his minutes at power forward this season, while Williamson has done so 88% of the time. In this game, neither played center at all. As such, the natural matchup would have been for Randle and Williamson to guard each other. But Stan Van Gundy had other ideas. Fearful of Randle’s evolved offensive prowess and Zion’s defensive limitations, Van Gundy started the game with his paint-protecting center Steven Adams on Randle, and placed Zion on the offensively-limited Taj Gibson (who was filling in for an injured Nerlens Noel).
The move was theoretically innovative, but practically disastrous.
Adams, who both instinctively and schematically anchors himself in the paint, was ill-equipped and uninterested in contesting Randle’s now-deadly jumper. The result: three Randle triples and a Randle assist on a Reggie Bullock 3-ball in the game’s opening five minutes, forcing a New Orleans timeout. Adams didn’t guard Randle for the rest of the game.
On the other end of the floor, Tom Thibodeau, who trusts Randle to be consistently solid on the defensive end, matched him up on Zion from the jump. Randle, who despite significant improvement still suffers from occasional bouts of laziness on defense, learned quickly that he could not let up on Zion for even a second.
Containing the NBA’s leading paint scorer requires far more physicality than that, and allowing Williamson to get to his left hand that easily is death to the defender.
Julius is accustomed to physically overwhelming smaller players on the boards, but as Zion started to assert himself after some early-game passivity, he made it clear that he’d be the one doing the manhandling tonight. He put Randle on notice that actual box-outs would be required in this game, or else he’d play volleyball with the rim all night.
Second quarter
To his credit, Julius adjusted quickly, upping his physicality and taking away Zion’s left hand early in the second. Something tells me that Zion isn’t used to getting knocked off his stride like this very often:
New Orleans adjusted swiftly, pivoting to engaging Zion in various pick-and-roll actions as both screener and ball-handler.
In this stagger-screen set, Kira Lewis sets the initial screen for Zion on the top of the key, forcing the slight Immanuel Quickley (who would face actual peril if switched onto Zion) to hedge the screen, and allow Randle to recover back to his man. As Zion continues his route to his strong hand, center Jaxson Hayes provides a second screen in the paint. The action draws Alec Burks’ help and opens up a wide-open corner “shooter” in James Johnson.
Here, New Orleans runs a clever set employing Zion as the roller off of a dribble-hand-off. The action is successful in that Zion receives the ball going downhill with a head of steam, but Norvelle Pelle rotates perfectly and rejects the attempt. Pelle’s presence in this play is a symptom of pairing Williamson with non-shooting centers like Jaxson Hayes, who Pelle can otherwise ignore.
On the other end of the floor, Zion, now guarding Randle, was holding his own.
Julius has made a living off of this bump-and-fade over his left shoulder this season, but Zion can absorb the bump better than most, and contests the shot admirably.
Like Williamson, Randle’s game also suffers from his team’s claustrophobic ecosystem. On that play, Adams was able to provide support because Taj was clogging the lane.
Julius additionally has to compensate for playing with a non-shooting point guard in Elfrid Payton.
Payton’s defender, Eric Bledsoe, ignores his man entirely to double Randle on the post-up. As the shot clock dwindles, Randle drives into a crowded lane, and Williamson does a solid job forcing him into a difficult shot.
Because both players operate in similarly unideal surroundings, the Knicks would be wise to adopt the Pelicans’ philosophy and utilize Randle more in various actions as both ball-handler and screener. According to NBA.com stats, Randle isolates on 19.1% of his possessions — ranking him the ninth-most frequent isolator in the NBA — but the Knicks score a meager .88 points per possession on those plays. In contrast, Zion isolates on only 11% of his possessions. Isolations allow set defenses to load up off of the lesser threats on both rosters to contain the isolating player. It is far more difficult for the defense to organize when that player is in motion.
After his hot start, Randle shot just 1-7 in the second quarter, while Williamson went 4-8.
Third quarter
NBA play calls can be exceptionally simple and obvious, as was the case when Stan Van Gundy called this one early in the third quarter:
43 was the play, AKA, have the 4 (Zion) handle the ball, and have the 3 (Brandon Ingram) screen for him. Simple as it may seem, that inverted pick-and-roll with New Orleans’ two best players can be devastating.
The Pelicans ran it over and over again in the third quarter.
Reggie Bullock, guarding Ingram, has to show on Ingram’s screen to prevent Zion from trucking directly to the rim, but can’t switch because Zion is, well, a truck. While Bullock is trying to delay Williamson, Ingram pops open for an open three and drains it.
Next time down, the Pelicans run it again. This time, Randle tries to prevent the screen, opening up his stance to Zion’s weak hand. But that sliver of space is all Williamson needs to explode to the rim and finish through contact.
Relentlessly, New Orleans went right back to 43. Zion feints toward the screen, gets Julius to open up again, secures the ball like a running back, and finishes through the entire New York defense.
On the fourth possession in a row running the same action, Zion uses the screen, which again opens up Ingram on the pop. RJ smartly reads the action and rotates to Ingram to prevent another BI three. Williamson reacts to the rotation and skips a pass to RJ’s abandoned man in the corner. While it results in a miss, this powerful play produced four straight excellent looks for the Pelicans’ offense. Couldn’t the Knicks approximate this action by screening for Randle with shooting threats like RJ, Quickley, or Burks?
On the other end, Randle had it going as well, utilizing the skill his counterpart does not currently possess: The jump shot.
Zion’s solution to the clogged-paint problem is to barrel through the barricade, something he does remarkably well. Randle has generally opted to back away from it instead, and his ability to create and make these difficult midrange jumpers, and stretch out to three, has saved a season in which he has gotten to the rim at a career low rate.
Fourth quarter
In the final quarter, the Knicks finally started to expose Zion’s defensive limitations by using Randle as the primary screener, forcing Williamson to contain and recover.
Zion seems particularly slow-footed and heavy trying to change direction to cover these actions, and while Randle failed to convert these relatively easy attempts, expect New York to continue to test Williamson’s lateral mobility with these sorts of plays in Sunday’s rematch.
New York started to pull away from New Orleans by bringing a new level of defensive focus and intensity down the stretch, increasingly loading up on Zion and strategically exposing the rest of his injured and deficient roster.
Williamson was limited to just two shot attempts and forced into two turnovers in the final period. While Randle’s teammates certainly do not provide ideal spacing, when compared to a Lonzo Ball-less Pelicans team, they are basically the 2017 Warriors.
Two burly southpaws, two different styles and approaches. Williamson does all of his damage in the paint; Randle increasingly does his damage away from it. Analyzing the similarities and differences between these two All-Stars, how they are utilized, and what they can learn from each other, will make the second leg of this matchup incredibly intriguing. Sit back and enjoy.
