Marquee matchups often get the lion’s share of attention when it comes to individual performances; Steph Curry’s back-to-back nights of excellence against Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs is evidence
of such. In that regard, it may help Curry that he came crashing down back toward Planet Earth against the New Orleans Pelicans, in the sense that the matchup nearly won’t get the amount of national attention that the Warriors-Spurs games did. Curry also deserves a bit of grace, considering he darn near put the team on his back to overcome a young team on the rise, with a generational French phenom on track to become the league’s best player in a couple of years.
While Curry may receive the benefit of relative inattention, tonight’s performance from Moses Moody may, in turn, be wrongly buried in the mist. As such, I feel it is my duty to shine a light on his night: a career-high 32 points on a scorching 88% True Shooting mark, buoyed by an equally scorching 8-of-12 clip on threes — seven of which came in the first quarter. But more than just Moody’s red-hot shooting (more on that later) was how he was equally up to the task of defending the perimeter — which really shouldn’t be much of a surprise from someone who, coming into the league, profiled as a lengthy wing defender with plenty of defensive upside. Moody has embraced that billing to the utmost by not only making full use of his physical gifts — he has developed the requisite fundamentals to supplement such gifts.
Again, this development from Moody shouldn’t be much of a surprise, given the signs he was flashing last season, most notably against marquee names. On a March 4 matchup against Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden last season, Moody “weaked” Brunson into a difficult night, on their way to a big road win. In the process of making sure Brunson primarily made use of his weaker right hand and steering him away from using the middle lane, Moody also flashed excellent screen navigation in order to make sure he didn’t lose contact with the sly 6’2” guard:
Notable in the possession above is Moody’s general insistence to “fight” over the screen by Mitchell Robinson and his ability to get “skinny” around the screen in order to slither through the tight space afforded by the screen. This allows Moody to stay attached to Brunson’s hip, enough for Jimmy Butler to come over and force Brunson into a wayward pass.
Similarly impressive screen navigation, albeit within a different context, came during this possession against the Sacramento Kings last season:
By chasing his mark effectively around the “Zoom” action, Moody, in effect, prevents the rest of his teammates from having to chase anyone other than their own man. Effective screen navigation often results in a defense that stays out of the proverbial “blender” — i.e., a situation in which everyone has to rotate and play on a string, a difficult thing to do and execute properly in the modern NBA.
In that regard, when Moody has to mentally take note of two actions in one against the New Orleans Pelicans on this possession, he passes the mini-test with flying colors. While guarding rookie Jeremiah Fears, Moody has to watch out for two consecutive actions: first, a “rip” screen by Fears:
Followed by a handoff for Fears after he sets the rip screen — on an action that is often collectively called “Rip DHO”:
The rip screen has the unfortunate consequence of forcing Moody to be behind the subsequent handoff, as can be seen from the still image above. With subpar screen navigation, it could isolate Draymond Green — playing drop coverage — on an island, having to keep tabs on both Fears and the roll man (Yves Missi). While Green has previously shown an uncanny knack for getting stops when facing a numbers disadvantage, it’s not an ideal situation to be in for the entire Warriors’ defense, with Quinten Post probably having to come over and help in such a scenario, leaving his man open on the strong-side corner.
However, Moody covers ground quickly:
Moody being able to recover by navigating over the screen releases pressure on Green while simultaneously putting tons of pressure on the young rookie ball handler, while allowing the Moody-Green tandem to work in unison — a forest of arms, both from defenders with 7’1” wingspans, that quickly swallow up Fears (while also preventing Post from having to commit to a strong-side-corner help-off).
The long arms certainly help Moody in his efforts to take the correct angles, but constant awareness and an underrated defensive IQ certainly help him in that regard:
Moody’s steadily rising profile as a bona-fide “3-and-D” wing hasn’t gone unnoticed. The on/off numbers have certainly lent credence to his value as a stopper: the Warriors have held opponents to 105.7 points per 100 possessions in Moody’s 247 minutes of non-garbage-time play, per Databallr; in 358 minutes without Moody, the Warriors have allowed 117.6 points per 100 possessions.
Furthermore, the three-ball from Moody has certainly popped out. While attempting 8.4 threes per 75 possessions, Moody has shot the three-ball at an astounding success rate of 45.3%, primarily as a catch-and-shoot specialist. The movement threes have been of particular interest, such as on this possession — a staple Warriors’ half-court set called “Twirl,” in which Moody sets a “shuffle” screen followed by coming off of a down screen — a similar concept to the Rip DHO set above:
Moody rightfully claims the spotlight tonight, while arguing (as he has through his play) that he should share a sliver of the spotlight every night by being a starter and important rotation piece for the Warriors, if only due to his vastly improved shooting chops. Per Synergy tracking, the Warriors score 1.531 points per Moody spot-up attempt, while they score 1.130 points per Moody shot that directly comes off of an off-ball screen. On a team that attempts a boatload of threes (leading the league in three-point frequency at 47.1% of their total shot diet) and is eighth in three-point accuracy (38.3%), Moody has proven to be a key component of their offensive philosophy, all while doing the requisite work and effort to be a highly valuable defensive asset — including, but not limited to, how he gets “skinny” around screens.
