Cooper Trapped: Stopping The League's Top Playmaker

The league leader in assists last season in Krasnoyarsk, D.J. Cooper has quickly asserted control in Volgograd, averaging 10.5 points and 9.0 assists per game in his team's first two outings. CSKA also had trouble against the American point guard in the first half on Sunday, but everything changed after halftime.

Konstantin Kucher analyzes CSKA's second-half defensive adjustments against Krasny Oktyabr for Breaking It Down.

Early on, Cooper had a lot of freedom. CSKA tried to avoid defensive mismatches and didn't put much pressure on the point guard. As a result, Cooper got open often with the help of screens. 

No one was there to stop him from dishing out assists...

Or making a sudden move to the basket.

CSKA coach Dimitris Itoudis was forced to make several changes at halftime. Coming out of the break, Cooper faced double-teams on the pick-and-roll and constant pressure.

The new approach had an immediate impact. Volgograd started turning the ball over, allowing the Army Men to score on fast breaks.

After several failed attempts at running the pick-and-roll, Cooper abandoned the play. Instead, he looked to make easy passes.

He also struggled to beat his man one-on-one.

Nothing worked. Cooper picked up a few more assists, but they came on fast breaks or out-of-bounds plays.

Volgograd's halfcourt offense went cold without Cooper. The Steelmen don't have any other options at point guard and settled for isolation ball the rest of the game. Not surprisingly, CSKA cruised to victory in the second half, limiting Krasny Oktyabr to 31 points over the final 20 minutes. 

Krasny Oktyabr's field-goal percentage

The game exposed Krasny Oktyabr's limitations on offense with Cooper effectively neutralized. Volgograd's coaching staff needs to find a solution quickly. Future opponents are likely to follow CSKA's example and focus on shutting down Oktyabr's star point guard.