Every day we are going to look at an individual performance and examine just what happened.  Was it just a spectacular performance?  Was it poor defense?  Was it brilliant playcalling?  Find out here.

Against the Rockets, Stephen Jackson really went to work.  He scored 43 points on only 22 shots.  The key to Jackson’s efficiency last night (and for most of the year – as a matter of fact) is cutting down the three point attempts while attacking the lane.

Smart Three Point Shots

Jackson was 3-5 from three.  He was so good from deep because he was taking smart shots.  Shots that he got when he was open:

After bringing the ball up, Jackson swings it to the Bobcats big man to get the offense started.  After the post, Jackson does a nice job of floating to the open area.

As the play gets swung around to D.J. Augustine, there is a backscreen set in the lane by two Bobcats.

The backscreen action draws Jackson’s defender, Trevor Ariza, into the middle of the lane.  Stephen Jackson spots up and D.J. Augustine makes the pass.

Jackson makes the catch and steps into a wide open three pointer.  Trevor Ariza doesn’t even get his hands up here, and Jackson knocks it down.

Getting In The Lane

Jackson also did a fantastic job scoring in the paint.  Jackson was 9-12 inside of 10 feet, most of it was his willingness to attack the basket, but some of it was great play design by the Bobcats’ coaching staff.

The Bobcats run a stack play off of an inbounds here.  The play is designed to be a quick-hitter, getting the ball to Stephen Jackson in the paint for an easy bucket.  He starts at the back of the stack formation and swings around the front, uses the stack of guys as a screen.

As Jackson swings around, you can see Luis Scola trying to help.  His ability to help is limited because his man, Boris Diaw, is poping out.  Scola needs to go out on Diaw because he has proven to be a capable shooter.

As Scola steps up, the lane is now clear for a lob pass to be thrown.

Jackson makes the catch, throws a pump-fake, and then finishes the lay-up.

Getting To The Line

The third and final part to Stephen Jackson’s efficient night was the fact that he got to the foul line.  Jackson got to the line 11 times, hitting on 10 of them.  The reason he got to the line so many times was that he showed a willingness to attack the basket.

Here, the Bobcats starts the possession by getting the ball to Stephen Jackson on the wing.  He has a very good defender in Shane Battier covering him.

So the Bobcats run a screen for him on the wing.  Scola comes out to hedge, but he comes out too soft (because he wants to keep Jackson from going baseline), giving a big lane for Jackson to get through in the middle.

Jackson splits the trap, and he could have settled for a jumper right here.  He doesn’t though.

He takes another dribble and goes in for a lay-up even though Chuck Hayes is there defending.  Jackson gives up the body, draws the contact, and gets himself to the foul line.

Every morning I will take an in-depth look at a game that happened the previous night.  The game that I pick is the one that I think was the best and most interesting one of the night/weekend.

I started watching this game in the middle of the second quarter, and I hunkered down expecting an awesome game, and it was…for three quarters.  The Kings were actually winning this game by 2 points after 3 quarters, but a 33-10 fourth quarter ended the game with the Magic pulling away.

We are going to focus exclusively on the fourth quarter here for obvious reasons.

What The Kings Did Wrong?

Way too many threes.

Both teams weren’t that good from the three point line last night.  They both shot an identical 8-27 from deep, but the key here is when the threes were missed.  The Magic knew it was an off night for them, and they only attempted 4 three-pointers (making 1).  The Kings on the other hand, shot 7 of them (making none):

Sergio Rodriguez comes off of a Jason Thomas screen, and explores his options.  Ryan Anderson shows, but it is a soft hedge, and Rodriguez is able to get around it.  So you think that the Kings got something going.

However, instead of rolling and making himself available (the lane is wide open), he fades and just hangs around the elbow.  The roll would have forced J.J. Redick to make a decision as well, and that could have opened up Beno Udrih.  So why didn’t Thompson roll?  Well, I think it has to do with that big guy wearing #12 for the Magic standing in the middle.

Because there are no options, Rodriguez is forced to dump it inside on the baseline.  Brockman isn’t going to be able to do anything with Dwight Howard covering him (and that far away from the basket), so it is kind of a wasted touch right there.

Brockman kicks it back out to Rodriguez who now has no options besides creating something on his own.

So Rodriguez pulls up from 3.  Another result of taking a shot that isn’t in the flow of the offense is that your teammates don’t know you are shooting, so they aren’t in good position for the offensive rebound.  Look at Beno Udrih by the way, he didn’t move throughout that whole set.  Here is another example.  On the surface, this looks like a good shot, but the when you take into consideration the context, you start to think otherwise:

The Kings forced the Magic into a turnover, and they try to break.  The Magic defense is back though, so the Kings are forced to slow things down.

Udrih attacks towards the basket and kicks it out to Tyreke Evans.

Who makes the catch and pulls up.  It was an open three, which is why some people would think this is a good shot, but let’s look at the context.  The Kings are down 10 here, and he has J.J. Redick covering him.  If Evans were to throw Redick a pump fake here and attack the basket, you could get something out of this.  Either a lay-up, or draw a foul on Dwight Howard.  Instead, Evans takes a three early in the shot-clock, even though this is a shot you can get whenever.  So what does a good offense look like?  Well the Kings had some stretches where they played well and had a nice flowing offense:

What The Magic Did Right?

They took it inside.

It’s weird, I would totally expect it to be the opposite.  Me talking about the Magic shooting the three ball way too much late, and the Kings taking it inside late.  The Magic though, did a great job getting into the paint, and getting to the line (8-9 in the 4th):

The Magic discovered early on that the Kings didn’t really have anyone who could keep up with Dwight.  This is a set play for Dwight, and it is interesting, because they don’t really run set stuff for Dwight late because of his poor foul shooting.  They must felt that he was shooting it well enough or that the mismatch was too great.  So much so that Stan Van Gundy was compelled to run sets for Dwight.

Williams gives it to J.J. Redick (this is smart because the defender can’t sag off and double down on Dwight because of his shooting threat), who quickly dumps it into Dwight.

Look at how far out Dwight makes the catch.  If it was any other back to the basket center in the league, nothing would come of this, but Dwight is so strong and athletic…

…that all it takes is one dribble and a spin move (plus a shoulder to the stomach of his defender) to give himself enough room…

…for an open lay-up.