The Thunder Fail Late Yet Again | NBA Playbook

The Thunder Fail Late Yet Again

The Oklahoma City Thunder found themselves in yet another late game situation.  This time, Kevin Durant is able to get the ball in his hands and he eventually gets a shot up.  It’s not a good look (contested), and Durant misses.

The play starts with Durant on the ball-side block.  Russell Westbrook is going to come down from his position and set a screen for Durant who is going to come up the middle of the floor.

Just like the last time a screen was set for him late, Durant leaves a little too early and that negates the effectiveness of the screen.  His man sticks with him as he comes up the middle of the court and uses the second screen at the top of the key.

Because Durant’s man is still with him as he gets to the second screen, it is easy for the Blazers to just switch the screen.  As Durant comes off of the screen, he is completely denied and not able to get the basketball.

Because he is covered, Durant has to break his curl off and he floats towards the midcourt logo.  Russell Westbrook makes himself available so the Thunder can avoid the 5 second call.

Westbrook makes the catch, and he commits to getting the ball in Durant’s hands by dribbling right at him.  Durant comes to receive the dribble handoff.

Because Westbrook dribbles away from the basket, he isn’t a threat, and therefore Andre Miller doesn’t need to follow him out there.  He remains at the top of the key, inside the three point line, so as Durant receives the dribble hand-off Miller is in proper position to defend it.

Because all of this took so long to develop, Durant can’t use the mismatch and get the two points because there wouldn’t be enough time.  So he pulls up and takes a contested three pointer and he misses.  Here it is in real time:

We have seen two late game situations in the past week or so from the Thunder and there are two things that are present in both of them.  The first is Kevin Durant leaving too early coming off the screen.  When he does this, he doesn’t allow for the screener to get set, and that results in an ineffective screen that the defender can get through.

The second theme in these two plays is what is drawn up.  Both times Scott Brooks have drawn up long-developing plays, and both times they didn’t work.  Because the plays take so long to develop (in the first one the loop before the screen, and here, Durant coming off the second screen takes too long), you see the ball get inbounded in tough positions (right on the sideline last week, and to the second option – Russell Westbrook – here).  If the Thunder are going to want to be able to get things done in the playoffs, they are going to have to become much more effective coming out of timeouts late.
29
Mar 2010
POSTED BY Sebastian Pruiti
POSTED IN 4th Quarters OKC Thunder Portland Trailblazers
DISCUSSION 5 Comments
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  • Stephen

    I agree with your assessment, but I think it’s a little nit picky. Very few NBA plays are ever executed to perfection, and while this shot is “contested,” you’ve got your best shooter being contested by a guy 8″ shorter than him. I mean, isn’t that essentially the shot you want? Even if KD leaves at precisely the right moment, there’s no way he runs off those two screens, gets a clean catch at the top of the key in a position to get a better shot than the one he ultimately got, I don’t think .

  • maniclawstudent

    This is why Steven isn’t a professional basketball player, because he doesn’t demand better than “good enough.” Leaving too early for a screen may fly in a city basketball league, but this is the NBA, where winning against good teams requires something closer to excellence.

    Also, I would be interested in Sebastian’s thoughts on the decision to shoot with 9 seconds left on the clock, as opposed to taking a few more ticks off the clock and maybe getting a better shot.

  • http://www.asternwarning.com mookie

    Great analysis, as always Sebastian.

    One thing worth considering for the Thunder in this situation, is why they didn’t use Durant as a decoy on the inbounds, whilst instead getting someone else like Green or Westbrook open in the frenzy. That player might then be open for a shot and if not, they get the ball to Durant to set up for one final shot.

    With 12 seconds on the clock, they certainly rushed a play that they didn’t need to. They played it as if they only had 3 seconds on the clock. Had Durant made the shot, the Blazers would have had time to come back and retaliate.

  • http://www.otrbasketball.com Brandon Neal

    The part about not having enough time…I disagree with it. Durant had 10.5 seconds once he got the ball in his hands, and the mismatch was available with all of that time left. The ball was inbounded at 12.8 seconds, so not much time ran off the clock.

    Also, the screen was weak because it was set by a point guard. If you want full effectiveness with a screen, you set it with a big, especially if it’s a screen to redirect a forward.

    Brooks went for the three, not the two, and that’s all it comes down to. It has nothing to do with late screens or ball denial.

    Why Kevin took the three early is beyond me.

  • Big Sneezy

    I just noticed in the video that Andre Miller seems to have read the play from the start, apparently motioning that Durant will get the screen and go up top before the play even starts. Either a good job from the coaching staff or a savvy veteran doing his thing, maybe both. After watching the breakdowns of some of the Rockets plays, I’m wondering if the Thunder need to do a little more decoy action with Durant. And moving early on the screen is pretty unforgivable-but it could be a nice move if you are using him as a decoy.