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Luke Kornet Explains His Jumping Cheese Defense Technique

Trey Daubert / NBA / December 14, 2022

Luke Kornet Explains His Jumping Cheese Defense Technique

I guess the kids are calling this the ‘Kornet Kontest’? If you’re not familiar with Luke Kornet, I did a post on him recently. He’s a big man for the Celtics that’s been an underrated part of their success. However, he’s more know for his jumping cheese defense that he pulls out virtually every game.

Luke Kornet playing smart out there 😅

(h/t @SportsBoyTony) pic.twitter.com/wt8TOMiXFN
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 29, 2022

ESPN recently did an article about how the Kornet Konest is actually working. Is this no defense somehow the best defense? Does it matter that he’s 20-feet from the guy he’s guarding? NOPE. Check out these numbers coming into the Lakers game tonight.

VIA ESPN:

This season, ESPN Stats & Information tracked Kornet performing the move on 36 shots — including 34 3-pointers — with opponents making 12 shots for a 33.3% success rate. According to Second Spectrum player tracking data, Kornet was the closest defender on 22 of those 36 shots. (Per Second Spectrum, the NBA average on wide-open 3s is 38.0%.)

Kornet’s average distance from the shooter on those attempts? Just under 12 feet.

Take that for data!

Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston recently spoke with Kornet and asked why and when he started pulling out the cheese defense. Here’s what he had to say:

“That was something that I started doing and I’ve been told it works,” said Kornet. “I kind of came about it pretty organically. I’ve been told that it makes a difference. From the amount of times I’ve used it, it seems to make a difference. Which, if numbers start indicating otherwise, then I’ll adjust …

“I started doing it a little bit like two years ago and then last year, especially in the G League … It’s not perfect every time … [but] we’re visually dependent people.”