Cleveland Executes While Milwaukee Doesn’t | NBA Playbook

Cleveland Executes While Milwaukee Doesn’t

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 twice before, 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 baskets and FTs are exchanged, the Bucks have 8 seconds left to go the length of the court to try and tie the game.

The problem here is that two Bucks go into the same area as Luke Ridnour goes to make his pass.  The play seemed to have been designed for John Salmons as he comes off a screen to the three point line.  This is when Ersan Ilyasova inexplicably gets in the way.  Ridnour passes it to Ilyasova, but Ilyasova pulls his hands away at the last minute, and this is when the pass gets stolen.

Yes, your chances of tying the game when you are down by 3 points with 8 seconds left is pretty slim.  However, most teams practices situations like this so when the time comes to execute, they can get the best look available.  The Bucks (specifically Ersan Ilyasova) failed to execute, and they don’t even get a shot attempt up.
01
Apr 2010
POSTED BY Sebastian Pruiti
POSTED IN 4th Quarters Cleveland Cavs Milwaukee Bucks
DISCUSSION 3 Comments
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  • R.

    Another great post. I’ve not not seen anyone mention Lebron’s play right at the end. Good steal, but why was he so desperate to score? I think he forgot what the score was. Surprising, giving Lebron’s game knowledge

  • http://khandorssportsblog.com/wordpress khandor

    Ilyasova is the Bucks’ player who messes up during both of these 2 plays, 1 defensively and 1 offensively.

    1. Ilyasova was responsible for “switching” onto LeBron James, when Jamison sets his back screen at the top of the key [against LRMAM].

    Instead, Ilyasova is caught “watching” Mo Williams run the angled Pick & Roll/Pop with JJ Hickson … and is no position to deter LeBron’s cut to the basket, as he receives the pass from Williams.

    2. Ilyasova is confused about the play call as Ridnour advances the ball up the floor.

    Ersan thinks that the Bucks are going to run their “High Middle Pick & Roll/Pop” action … which is why he stops where he does in offensive transition and first takes a step toward Ridnour.

    As this is happening, however, Bogut is setting the “Angled Away down screen” for Salmons.

    When Ridnour passes the ball to the position where he thinks Salmons will be curling into … Ilyasova is, in fact, the most surprised person in Quicken Loans Arena, which is why he stops abruptly, realizes that the balling is coming his direction from a Ridnour pass – rather than a dribble – reaches out with his hands to catch it, AND THEN pulls them back, again, when it finally tweaks in his mind that the pass is actually intended for Salmons and not for him.

    Unfortunately for the Bucks, by then, all is lost.

    Thus far, Ilyasova has a great year for Milwaukee … but, on these 2 specific plays, he is showing that he still has a long way to go, in this league, when it comes to being able to remember his assignments and executing properly at crunch time.

  • http://www.cavstheblog.com/?p=2018 Links To The Present: April 2, 2010 « Cavs: The Blog

    [...] NBA Playbook with a look at the Cavs late game execution against the Bucks. [...]