With the ballgame tied at 90 with 17.5 seconds left, the Memphis Grizzlies had possession of the ball coming out of a timeout they called. When teams come out of a timeout, you usually see there best stuff because the head coach has a chance to draw up a play custom-fit to the situation. The coaches can’t do anything about players forgetting plays though, and that is exactly what happened last night to the Grizzlies:
As the ball goes to the trigger man, Zach Randolph sets a downscreen for Mike Conley. This is designed to get him the ball on the top of the key so they can execute their play.
With the game tied at 95 with 28.7 seconds left, the Cavs were coming out of a timeout with the basketball. Now this is usually where the snarky comments bashing Mike Brown come (I am at fault of this from time to time). However, last night Mike Brown shut the haters up with an old standby:
I have taken a close look at this play twicebefore, so no need for the still images, but here is the video:
This play is fantastic, and for some reason it always works. What makes it so brilliant is that normally when a player is standing out by halfcourt, his defender sags into help position. Not when LeBron has the basketball. Here, LeBron’s defender is all up on him as the pick and roll action takes place. All eyes are on the pick and roll action except for LeBron’s defender, and this is what allows for the backscreen to set effectively. By the time the screen is set, it is too late and LeBron already has a full head of steam going towards the rim. He makes the catch and finishes, giving the Cavs the lead.
After getting a stop, the Thunder had a 1 point lead with 2:15 seconds left. The Thunder were trying to hold onto the lead, and to do so, they needed a basket. Fortunately, Scott Brooks had a play ready to go. One that used Kevin Durant as a decoy, and while coming out of timeouts late seem to cause problems for the Thunder, this situation did not:
As Westbrook brings up the ball, Kevin Durant runs along the baseline and stops in the middle of the paint as Russell Westbrook takes the ball from the wing to the center of the floor.
As Westbrook gets to the center of the floor, he turns and returns to where he started coming off of a Jeff Green downscreen.
After Durant comes off Green’s screen, Nenad Krstic sets a second screen for Durant, freeing him up and letting him get to the middle of the paint.
As Durant comes off of the second screen, he dives right through the middle of the paint towards the opposite block. This sucks in the two Boston defenders on the weakside. As all of this action is taking place, the ball gets swung from Russell Westbrook to Thabo Sefolosha on the wing.
With all of this attention on Kevin Durant, Nenad Krstic sneaks behind Kevin Garnett undetected and sets himself up for a screen.
After a pump-fake by Sefolosha to draw the defense in a little more, he throws a skip pass to Jeff Green. Green makes the catch and gets a wide open three that he makes. Here it is in real time:
Notice how Krstic doesn’t even have to get a solid screen on Garnett. He just needs to get in his way, and that is what he does, giving Jeff Green more than enough time to rise up and knock down a three. After a three point play from Ray Allen cutting the lead down to 1 once more, the Thunder needed yet another basket. Scott Brooks figured since the play they just ran worked so well the first time, why not do it again? You tend to see this once in a while during games. If a play works and works well (as the first play did), coaches tend to go right back to it. The “run it until they can stop it” philosophy, and that is exactly what happens here:
If you watch the second play closely, you can see that Kevin Garnett (Jeff Green’s man) is aware that the Thunder are running the same play. However, the threat of Kevin Durant is so great that he needs to stay in the middle of the paint for a split second longer than he wanted to. This split second is enough time for Krstic to get his body in front of Garnett, freeing up Green for another open three that he knocks down. The Thunder were able to once again extend their lead to 4 points, and this time, they didn’t look back.
You tend to see this once in a while during games. If a play works and works well (as the first play did), coaches tend to go right back to it. The “run it until they can stop it” philosophy.
