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.

I know the Breakdowns have been “on break” for a while, but I am bringing them back today.  We are going to look at some stuff from the Spurs-Thunder game.  These two plays are very interesting, because they are basically the same play, with Kevin Durant being denied the ball.  In the second play though (the one from overtime), there is a chance for Durant to get the ball.  Is it Durant’s fault or Westbrook’s fault?  Let’s look…

Game Tying Shot:

Since there is 10 seconds left, the Thunder run a play to get Russell Westbrook the ball.  I don’t believe this means it was designed for him to get the final shot, there is enough time to run a play for Durant, but the way the Spurs defended Durant changed all that.

As Westbrook corrals the inbounds pass, Bogans is denying Durant fully.  The Spurs plan here is to not allow Durant to touch the ball, and whatever happens happens..

The deny gives Westbrook a lane to attack and he takes it.

Jeff Green sets an awesome screen for Westbrook, as he attacks the lane given to him by the deny.

Richard Jefferson is a little late with the switch, so Westbrook pulls up and hits the shot.  Bogans is still denying Durant, so that just shows you they were willing to let anyone else tie the game except for Durant.

Overtime Miss Attempt:

Here is the play from overtime.  It is similar up to a certain point, but then, Westbrook had a chance to get Durant the ball.

Here Durant is open for a brief second.  Sefolosha chooses not to give it to Durant that for away from the basket, so he gives the ball to Westbrook, who shows himself to Sefolosha and gets open.

This is where things get all Deja-Vu like.  Bogans is once again denying Durant all the way to half-court.  This deny opens up a lane for Westbrook to drive through.  Westbrook takes it.

The difference is Bogans actually comes off his deny to help cover Westbrook.  Durant is open, but he needs to make himself available to Westbrook.  Why would Westbrook pass him the ball when he is 40+ feet away.  As Bogans turns his head, Durant needs to cut backdoor and get himself in better shooting position.

Durant finally gets to the three point line, but it is too late (Westbrook is already pulling up) so Westbrook takes the shot and misses it.  Should Westbrook have looked for Durant?  Yes, but Durant was so far from the basket, he wasn’t really an option there.  I think the Spurs did a good job of denying Durant, and having him start the play at halfcourt.

I was actually working on a post about DeJuan Blair’s 20 and 20 game last night against the Thunder, but then I clicked over to Truehoop and saw Kevin Arnovitz’s great breakdown of it.

He basically talks about what I was going to talk about…and it’s in video.  So go over there and check it out.  He does it a lot better than I could have done (a ringing endorsement for the site huh?).

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.

Note:  I know everything is a little late today, sorry about that guys…

When you think the Suns, you think fastbreak points and three pointers.  However, against the Pacers, the Suns were outrun (Pacers +4 in fastbreak points) and outshot (Pacers +15 from three).

What The Pacers Did Right?

Hit The Threes

The Pacers were able to outscore the Suns by 15 points from the three point line.  A lot of it had to do with players smartly moving without the ball.  Finding open spots in the defense, and then when they got open shots, they knocked them down.

Earl Watson penetrates to the basket, and as this happens Jared Dudley turns his head to focus on the help.  Mike Dunleavy sees this and he floats to an open spot, making himself available for the pass.

As Watson makes the pass, Dudley turns to find Mike Dunleavy, but he isn’t where he was when Dudley first turned his head.  So Dudley has to find him before he closes out.

This split second to find him keeps Dudley from closes out on time, and that allows Mike Dunleavy to knock down the three point shot.

What The Suns Did Wrong?

They Didn’t Run

The Suns really struggled getting good looks in the open court last night.  Part of this was the Pacers, they shot well enough that it limited the Suns’ defensive rebound opportunities.  Also, the Pacers took really quick shots.  Even though they didn’t make most of them, the quick shots allowed for the Pacers to get back, leaving no room for the Suns to run:

The first thing to notice here is the shot clock, the Pacers pull this three pointer with only 3 seconds coming off the shot clock.

Grant Hill grabs the rebound, he turns and fires the ball ahead to Jason Richardson, usually this would lead to an open lay-up.  But because the Pacers took such a quick shot…

Four of them are already back on defense.  So instead of a wide-open lay-up, this turns into a 1 on 4 fast break.

Jason Richardson gets to the basket, and attempts a double-clutch lay-up.  He misses, and the Pacers get the rebound.

Here is another example:

The Pacers slowed it down a bit here.  They take a shot after running 5 seconds off the clock.  Notice how 3 other Pacers are behind the three point line, and as the shot goes up, they don’t crash the boards, they just drop back.

The Suns get the rebound and quickly put it into Steve Nash’s hands.

He brings it up and explores his options, but there is nothing there because the Pacers are all back on defense.  He kicks it out to Frye who misses a contested three pointer.  The Pacers did a terrific job at getting back on defense and forcing the Suns to score in the half court.  This is part of the reason they didn’t hit too many threes as well.  A lot of the Suns’ three pointers come in transition, because their transition options were limited, so were their three point shots.