Every morning (or late-afternoon), I am going to breakdown the some key possessions from the previous night’s games.  Good possessions/bad possessions you can find them all here.

Some more late game stuff here.  We have three clips that we are going to look at.  One from the Detroit vs. Dallas game, one from the Nuggets vs. Warriors game (bet you know which one I am talking about here), and one from the Blazers vs. Grizzlies game.

Detroit’s Late Game Attempt

First of all, the Pistons are missing someone on the court.  Seriously.  Charlie Villanueva was 4-6 from 3, and he accounted for 4/5 of the team’s three point makes.  The rest of the team was 1-11.  Even the Mavericks’ announce crew was wondering why he wasn’t out there.  I understand if you want to run a play for Ben Gordon, that’s fine.  The Pistons use him as a decoy though, so why not throw your hottest shooter out there?

That being said, this is a fantastic play run by the Pistons.  You have Gordon acting as he is going to curl around a screen, instead, he sets a screen for Stuckey and then pops out.

Look where Jason Kidd is.  He thought Gordon was going to curl through, so he cheated it.  Ben Gordon set the screen though, and there is nobody to switch onto Rodney Stuckey (late in games, most teams switch all screens.  It looks like the Mavs were doing this too).

The result is Stuckey wide open in the corner.  He misses the shot, but it was a great look.  What I can’t understand, is why didn’t the Pistons run this for Charlie Villanueva?

The Blazers Going For It

Before we talk about the play, I wanted to talk about something.  The Blazers are catching some stuff about running their play so early in the clock.  I like this call though, in this situation.  You are down 1, you want to extend this game as long as possible.  If you score you are up 1 and if you miss, you give yourself another chance to tie/win the game depending how the foul shots turn out.

This is a designed play to give Martell Webster the shot.  Roy is going to drive, forcing the help to come.  Juwan Howard sneaks behind Webster’s man to set a pick, giving Webster an open look.

By the time Webster makes the catch, his man has a foot in the paint, and he needs to close out.

Webster gets to step into the pass and take an uncontested jumper, he just doesn’t knock it down.  A shame too, it was a nice play.  Oh, and sorry Blazers’ announcers, it wasn’t a foul either.

The Warriors Foul

So here it is.  This is pretty bad, but what makes it even worse is that the Nuggets executed George Karl’s play so badly, that if the foul didn’t happen, I would be talking about the Nuggets poor execution.

J.R. Smith is supposed to curl off a screen set by Nene.

However, J.R. Smith takes a straight line and runs right to the basketball.  Because of this, Nene can’t even get a good pick in.  The circle is where the play was designed for J.R. Smith was to make the catch.  He wasn’t going to get a three right at the line, but a 30 footer is a good shot with this much time left (and with J.R. Smith shooting it, the kid has range).

Instead, Smith makes the catch right near half court.  The Warriors defend this perfectly, they have two guys closing in on Smith, not allowing him to get a good look of…but…

They both jump in the air.  Ellis’ foul was a tough call, but you can’t give the refs a chance to make that call.  I don’t understand what jumping does either.  Does Maggette or Ellis really think that they are going block that shot?  Just stand there with your hands up and get the win.  If he makes it, so be it, but more often than not, he won’t be making that shot.  No reason to jump and contest.

Every morning, I am going to be taking a look at the some of the more interesting games that took place the night before.  The name isn’t original at all, but the content is:

Milwaukee Bucks 98 – New Jersey Nets 76

If I have to watch the Nets every time they play (and I do), you are going to have to read about them.  I have been pretty positive through the Nets’ first 34 games (they are 3-31), but I think it was safe to say that last night’s game was the most embarrassing performance of them all.

I don’t know if it was because they were coming off a solid performance against the Cavs, or if it was because they started so well (8-0 run to start the game), but it was just real tough to watch.  Nobody on the Nets had a good a real good game except for Yi, who put up 22 points (but only 2 rebounds).

After the 8-0 run, Scott Skiles pulled both Andrew Bogut and Luc Mbah a Moute.  The strategy worked, as the Bucks’ bench outscored the Nets’ bench 34-7 in the first half, and Bogut played like a man possessed in the second half, finishing with 22 points on 9-12 shooting.

Turning Point – Skiles’ benching.  After pulling Bogut and Mbah a Moute, the Bucks’ closed the first quarter on a 22-8 run and it sparked a big performance from Andrew Bogut.

Phoenix Suns 113 – Sacramento Kings 109

This game was just an awesome one to watch.  There were at least 3 separate different runs, where you thought one team was out of it, they clawed back.

Casspi didn’t play that well in the first half, but he turned it on in the second, hitting some 3s and attacking the basket aggressively.  In the end though, the Suns’ experience was too much for the young Kings.  A young Kings team that saw its two rookies (Casspi and Evans) put up 51 of their 109 points.

Turning Point: Nash’s Dagger.  It was one of the few times that the Suns held the ball, but up 2 Nash dribbled out the clock and then calmly drilled a jumper, putting the Suns’ up four and effectively ending the game.

I am experiementing with different types of morning recap posts, so be patient with me.  Stay tuned for some possession breakdowns later today…