Don’t Get Caught In The Air | NBA Playbook

Don’t Get Caught In The Air

Every once in a while, we take a break out from breaking down possessions to look at some fundamentals.  Late in the Clippers-Bobcats game last night, you had two very similar plays happen back-to-back.  Both teams had their respective point guard attacking the basket with help coming over.  The Clippers scored on their possession while the Bobcats didn’t.  The reason?  Baron Davis stayed under control while D.J. Augustin got caught in the air.

We are going to first look at Baron’s play that happens with under a minute left and the Clippers up 2:

After dribbling the shot-clock down until there was 10 seconds left, Baron Davis starts to attack the basket.  Baron’s defender (Raymond Felton) is playing far too close to him, and this allows Baron to get around him.

Once Baron gets on his hip, he has a lane to the basket.  He starts to attack as a defender comes and closes out.  Instead of taking off for a lay-up, Baron sees a lane on the baseline.

He takes that lane and gets underneath the basket.  This is such a vulnerable place for the defense.  Not only because it is a difficult to get help to the ball (notice how 5 Bobcats are in the paint), but because with defenders in help position, it is hard for them to keep an eye on their man as well.  This is what allows for cutters to get open for easy lay-ups (check out the section “Using Pick & Roll As A Decoy“).

Here, Baron Davis is able to kick it out to Eric Gordon.  As Gordon makes the catch, D.J. Augustin tries to close out, but he is a little late with it, and that allows for Gordon to get into the lane.

Where he is able to finish, giving the Clippers a 4 point lead.

Now that we have seen how effective getting to the baseline and staying on your feet can be, let’s look at the very next play made by D.J. Augustin which shows why you don’t want to get caught in the air.

After an offensive rebound on a three point shot, the all ends up in D.J. Augustin’s hands.  Being down 4 with around 30 seconds is a tough spot to be in, and the Bobcats need a quick score here.

Augustin attacks the basket, and gets his defender on his hip as the help is rotating over.  This looks very similar to the same situation Baron Davis was in a possession earlier.

Instead of taking the baseline lane that was available, Augustin takes off for a lay-up, and gets himself caught in the air.  I know that he needs to get a quick score here, but if he takes one more dribble to the baseline, he would have been able to kick it out to new Bobcat Tyrus Thomas.  Now, Thomas might not be the best shooting option, but he showed in the playoffs last year he is able to hit those baseline jumpers if given an open look.

Augustin, now caught in the air, tries to get a shot up at the rim, but he ends up losing possession of the ball and tossing it out of bounds.

Augustin was upset that there wasn’t a foul called, but the replay showed there wasn’t much contact and that the ball was in fact off of Augustin (it was first called Bobcats’ basketball then reversed).
23
Feb 2010
POSTED BY admin
POSTED IN Charlotte Bobcats Coaching Points LA Clippers
DISCUSSION 5 Comments
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  • Sean

    the major difference in these two plays is that Boris Diaw is already in good defensive position and has his feet set just outside the semi circle by the time Baron reaches the basket, whereas Kaman is a split second late coming over on the Augustin drive.

    Thus, Augustin’s decision to attack the rim was necessarily a bad one, he had Kaman off his feet, and was in prime position to draw a foul if he simply leaned in for the contact. All that was lacking was the execution. I think this points more to DJ’s overall lack of size and finishing ability than it does to a poor basketball decision.

    Conversely, if Baron had attacked the rim in this particular situation, he most likely would have been called for the charge.

    This site is really interesting. Im also envious that a fellow 23 year old has already “made it” online, to whatever degree.

  • Sebastian Pruiti

    Sean, thanks for the comment. I totally see what you are saying about Augustin being able to draw contact, but after watching Devin Harris do this all year for the Nets, I am not a big fan of getting the foul call being your only option and here that was his only option. If he just takes one more dribble, he has an wide open Tyrus Thomas.

  • EG

    You also failed to notice what the teammates were doing when the pg’s were penetrating. When Baron penetrated, there were 2 Clips cutting down the lane towards the basket, effectively drawing in defenders and also serving as potential scorers via a pass. There were 0 Bobcats in the lane when DJ penetrated, meaning no one was cutting to the basket and instead were lazily watching the ball. Someone cuts down the middle he would have been open or made Kaman think twice.

  • Sebastian Pruiti

    @EG
    EG, thanks for the comment. I did mention that cutting does make it easier for the ballhandler when he is on the baseline (in fact I link to an example of where it works), but even still with nobody on the Bobcats cutting (can’t really blame them because this came off of a broken player, where guys were scattered all over the court), Tyrus Thomas was still open, and that is the point I am making here.

  • luislandry

    I’m not sure that playing close up on Baron is the problem, the problem is that the officials tend to allow offensive players to push off a lot. Usually if you play off somebody and they receive the ball, when you start coming up on them that’s when they blow by you as you’re closing in. I think playing tight, the primary thing that suffers is not your ability to stop penetration as hurt your ability to see the rest of the players, play help D, notice picks that are coming, etc. It may also look like you’re playing better D vs the drive because you’re encouraging the offensive player to shoot and he just drives less, taking the open jumper.