Two Jeff Green Three Pointers Beats The Celtics | NBA Playbook

Two Jeff Green Three Pointers Beats The Celtics

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.
01
Apr 2010
POSTED BY Sebastian Pruiti
POSTED IN 4th Quarters Boston Celtics OKC Thunder
DISCUSSION 11 Comments
TAGS

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  • http://yahoo Samrock

    Boston’s got to get their acts together asap, or else…. Go Celtics!

  • frankshuzhi

    I like it!

    For the first play, the pass from russel westbrooks to thabo looks redundant.

  • good one

    what is wrong wid KG I thot hes the one whos playing consistantly but it seems like his defence is down these days …

  • joeb

    What’s also clear on the 2nd run of this play is how Garnett get pushed away from getting to Green. That is an obvious moving pick and offensive foul, with the referee about 8 ft away just staring at it. Credit Green for hitting the shot, but that one should have been called back. Based on that game was officiated, it’s no surprise this wasn’t called.

  • http://khandorssportsblog.com/wordpress khandor

    Sebastian,

    1. Great job with this sequence!

    —————————-

    frankshuz,

    The pass from Westbrook to Sefolosha is a fundamental element of this play, and in no way redundant.

    1. With that specific pass, it gives Thabo a terrific angle to hit a cutting Durant moving toward the basket, if Garnett [vs Green] and Wallace [vs Krstic] fail to provide the proper degree of weak side help against this specific cut; and,

    2. Establishes the Left side of the floor as the new Strong side of the offense.

    What this fact then does is allow the Thunder to use Boston’s own defensive principles against the Celtics … i.e. dictating exactly where Garnett is required to be when he is now put into a weak side defender position, relative to Sefolosha and his own check, Green, as far as being in the correction to provide help against Durant’s initial cut to the Left side of the floor … and, in the process, ensure that Krstic knows exactly where KG will be located as he prepares to set his weak side screen out for Green’s eventual catch & shoot 3.

    It’s a well-conceived and executed play by Oklahoma City.

  • seaweedmonster

    how do you counter this kind of play?

  • rob

    @seaweedmonster

    you don’t. i’d live with jeff green beating me on a three pointer rather than letting kevin durant get a look at a shot in the key, which is what i’m assuming the celtics were thinking as well, hence the double team on kd off the screen. the only counter i can see is to switch on that screen but that gives durant an iso in the key against rasheed

  • http://khandorssportsblog.com/wordpress khandor

    seaweedn,

    In the case of the last video clip …

    Defensively, you do the following things:

    i. “Switch out” on the 2nd screen in the stagger screens for Pierce
    ii. “Switch out” on the single screen for Green
    iii. Have the ball defender “Pressure/contain” the passer by forcing him away from the staggered screen action [i.e. toward the defensive Right Side of the floor, in this case]

    This would then leave you with the following scenario:

    i. Wallace “Stepping up and out” to bump and defend Durant on his Curl cut
    ii. Pierce “Stepping up and out” to defend Green on his Pop out to the Right Wing, ready to defend against the Flare cut to the Right Corner
    iii. Garnett “Fighting againgst the seal” ensuring that Krstic cannot “Pin” him on the down screen and establish inside position easily for a duck-in, slip screen towards the basket or a lob pass
    iv. Rondo forcing Westbrook to dribble attack back towards the defensive Right Side of the floor, perhaps, into a 2-man game with the Sefolosha/Allen-R match-up.

    With the size and mobility of the Celtics players, in this case, THIS would have been the best way possible to defend against this specific action by the Thunder.

    NOTE: Durant would not have an iso in the key vs Wallace. What Durant would try to do is “Pop out” to the perimeter in an effort to iso Wallace there … in which case, what the Celtics would do next is have Wallace squeeze Durant, on the catch, make him put the ball on the floor and, then, double-team him with a designated “Trapper” and have the other 3 defenders in “Full rotation”.

    There is ALWAYS something you can do on defense to minimize the advantage which the offense is attempting to create. The secret is:

    i. Are you willing to do it, defensively
    ii. Do you have the right personnel to do it, defensively
    iii. Has that personnel been properly prepared to do IT right, defensively.

    Cheers

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