After Russell Westbrook hit a jumper with 3:22 left in the fourth quarter, he was able to cut the Bobcats lead to 4 points.  Larry Brown took a timeout, and the possession following it was a pretty important one.  If the Bobcats score, they can extend the lead to 6 with about 3 minutes left.  If the Bobcats don’t score, the Thunder can cut the lead to 2 or 1 points, and who knows what will happen then.  As it turns out, the Bobcats run a beautiful set out of the timeout and push their lead to 6, and the Thunder don’t come closer than that the rest of the ballgame:

Boris Diaw comes to the top of the key and receives the inbounds pass.  The beauty of using Diaw (who himself is a pretty good passer for his size) is that you are pulling a front court defender away from the basket, clearing the lane for the potential lob.  After Stephen Jackson makes the pass, he cuts through the middle of the lane, using a Tyrus Thomas screen.  Over on the far side, Raymond Felton comes up off of a screen set by Stephen Graham.  Nothing really important going on over there, as you can tell by the two players jogging through the motions.

Read more…