[...] 1 of the Lakers-Jazz second round series. The Lakers won a close game, 104-99. Sebastian Pruiti of NBA Playbook has a beef with Carlos Boozer’s play in the final minutes. With screenshots and analysis like [...]

On the final shot, it’s interesting that Kobe gets completely by his man and to the foul line, and neither Millsap nor Williams is in position to contest him there. Frankly, Kobe could have pulled up at the stripe and banged home the winner without even bothering to pressure Boozer on the low block. Seems like terrible defense all around for basically the game-winning possession.

Millsap cut off one lane and the other lane was supposed to be cut off by Boozer…

Yes, it is obviously Boozers fault. Don’t blame paul or dwill, paul is in position, dwill had to stay home.

I too was shocked at the defense that allowed that Kobe layup. But if Boozer steps up, Kobe hangs long enough to allow Pau to get under the basket all alone for the score.

On the last possession, if Boozer leaves Gasol to cut off the lane, doesn’t Gasol immediately cut to the basket for a dunk off of a Kobe feed? The real culprit is whoever was defending Kobe up top. He got comprehensively beaten off the dribble allowing Kobe to drive freely into the lane. Look at the second picture in that series – Kobe is just about to step on the freethrow line and Kobe’s defender still has a foot on the three point line.

How does Jerry Sloan not just rip into Boozer for his defense. He is the worst off the ball defender in the NBA. No effort, no instinct, no heart. I mean, how do you not help on Kobe’s drive? How?!! Anybody that has any basketball IQ at all knows you have to cut Kobe off on that. Kobe probably dumps it off to Gasol, but in that case you make the team make a 10-12 footer over a layup.

Boozer has to help, and trust that his teammates will rotate to cover his man. It’s called helping the helper.

This is such an excellent use of technology, I really appreciate the analysis. And the overall critique of Boozer is compelling. However, on the last play, describing Gasol as “no threat” and “one step” from the 3 point line is belied by the picture. I’d prefer a little more nuance — Boozer should have helped on Kobe, but leaving Gasol one step from a wide open 12 foot jump shot was an understandably hard decision. Your argument is sound, but is undermined when you set up a straw man by pretending that there was no reason to stick with Gasol. In fact, as crappy as Fisher has been this year, I’m not sure Fisher from 3 is a worse choice than Gasol from 12.

If Boozer helps I don’t think Gasol just stands there for the 10-12 footer, surely he cuts to the hoop for the easy layup or dunk (unless he’s soft…).

Would it be that crazy for D-Will to be the helper? You give up the 3 to fisher but Kobe’s defender has been beaten so bad you’re giving up something at this point so you need to pick the option that’s least likely to result in a score (whether its a 2 or 3 is irrelevant at this point of the game).

As i see it the options are if Boozer helps you give up the Gasol layup, if no-one helps Kobe gets the layup and if D-Will helps Fisher gets the 3, IF kobe gives him the ball. I reckon there’s still a fair chance if D-Will cut off the driving lane Kobe would hold onto the ball and force up a mid-range jumper himself as opposed to giving it to Fisher for the 3. they probably have about the same probability of going in but in either case the odds are a lot less than a kobe or gasol layup.

The first two are suspect – Kobe didnt even beat his man, and wanting a shot “double contested” makes no sense . . .

I’m not an expert on the rules, but maybe the reason why Boozer was not in the lane on that last possession, at least initially, is that it might result in an illegal defense call on the Jazz. In the 3rd pic from the bottom Boozer is clearly standing as close as possible to the lane without being inside the lane, while still ostensibly guarding Gasol; if he steps into the lane before Kobe makes his move he’s risking a defensive 3 seconds call isn’t he? Not saying he shouldn’t have gotten his arms up on the shot attempt, but I’m not sure its his fault for not camping out in the lane when his man is standing 1 step inside the 3 point-line.

This is the problem with the NBA. Its virtually impossible to stop good teams from scoring in forced 1-on-1′s, no matter how good your defenders are. This play obviously started with a clear-out, an obvious call with the number of weapons the Lakers have available. Kobe shades towards the big weapons of Fisher and Gasol. Leaving either of those 2 open would result in either a massively high percentage dunk with Boozer in poor position to defend or a completely wide open 3 from one of the best at 3′s and big shots in the game. He’s far enough over that the Jazz on the other side cant completely block the lane, forcing either a 1-on-1 or a situation in which one of the other 2 is wide open.

He beats his man with a quick step (virtually impossible to anticipate well) and renders him irrelevant in stopping him. At this point Fisher’s defender helps slightly on the defense in funneling him towards boozer, but Boozer is faced with a horrible decision to either allow kobe or gasol to score.

What should have happened:Kobes man shades to his right side (unclear as to what he did in the pics) As soon as Kobe drives, his defender switches to Fisher and Fishers defender swiches to Gasol, leaving Boozer free to step up and take the charge. Sure, they might be in matchup hell, but the only other alternative is a easy 2 for either Kobe or Gasol or a completely open shot for Fisher-probably about 50-60% to score. In this case if the funneling happens right, you get the charge and dont have to worry about what happens next.

The result of clear-outs is obvious and predictable (Star dribbles ball near midcourt for a while, drives toward hoop, gets easy layup) when he (predictibly) beats his defender and builds up too much steam to stop. So why dont coaches draw up plays and practice them? Plan on your players getting beat (its gonna happen anyways) and make that part of the plan.

If the player doesnt get beat, then the defending coach is left with a well-defended star taking a shot-something he should either be happy with or stop coaching/get better players.

Awesome post. Good job. Love the analysis.

the issue is that the jazz dont seem to have a plan to defend it. they HAVE to have seen this play and know it was coming, it should have been discussed who helps when he goes middle, where the next rotation is etc, if boozer helps it would be up to deron to collapse on him forcing him to drive (shot clock winding down) or kick it to fisher where the guy who started on kobe has to cover.

“However, as Kobe enters the lane, Boozer is still standing where he originally started. He should be stepping up to try and cut off Kobe’s path to the lane.”

Yeah, and if he did leave Gasol Kobe would have dumped it off and Gasol would have dunked it. I agree that Boozer could have tried to block the shot or fouled but come on don’t ridicule boozer for staying with his man when kobe already beat 3 others.

If you wanna blame somebody blame Matthews for trying to guard Kobe at the half court line or blame D-Will for not cutting Kobe off.

By the time Kobe gets to the block, Gasol is still on the wing, so if Boozer helped, he wouldn’t have had an “easy dunk.” That is what rotations are for. Matthews is covering Kobe out there, because he was trying to get the ball out of Kobe’s hands up top, so he couldn’t just let the clock run out. Williams is staying with Fisher because he has a knack for knocking down shots in this situation.

At the end of the day, getting the ball out of Kobe’s hands is the only chance the Jazz have. If Boozer would have helped, he would have forced Kobe to pass (or force him into a tough shot). I would rather have Gasol trying to get a dunk than giving Kobe a wide open lay-up personally.

Did you not see the 3rd to last pic. Gasol is one step from the lane and Kobe is at the foul line. If Boozer takes one step up following that red arrow Gasol gets an easy dunk. Boozer is not a good defender…but don’t let everybody else off the hook. D-Will should have cut Kobe off and Matthews should not have gotten beat at the half court line. I personally would rather have Fischer take 3 than gasol getting a dunk or Kobe a layup.

I’ve watched the Jazz all year and Boozer has always been the kind of guy standing just outside the scrum for a loose ball ready to call timeout once his teammate does all the dirty work in securing possession. His defense is the same way. He’s an excellent rebounder (except for the crucial Odom board and putback at the end of the game) because he’s always watching everyone else work and is there to clean up the messes and get the glory (“Wow, what a heads up play by Boozer with that timeout call,” while Millsap is on the bottom of the pile with the ball. The Jazz need Booz’s offense and Millsap’s everything else.

Nice job. It’s surprising, however, that not many people realize until now how poor a defender Boozer is. Most Jazz fans knew it. After watching him playing for several seasons, it seems like he has no understanding of rotation. Not only crunch time, not only against Lakers, not only in the playoffs, but his defense (or lack thereof) is almost always like this.

For those who say Gasol would have got an easy basket if Boozer went to help, it doesn’t matter. Boozer have to stop the ball first, especially when a player like Kobe has the ball. At the same time, Boozer has to play a little 2 on 1 defense in that situation, with more weight on stopping the ball than keeping Kobe from passing to Gasol. If Kobe still manages to pass, what Boozer has to do is to wish his teammate coming to help to be on Gasol. That’s how rotation works. Even if Kobe passes to Gasol and Gasol gets an easy basket, it’s still far better team defense than letting Kobe lay it up without contest.

That being said, I’m not blaming Boozer. It’s coaches’ responsibility to make sure everyone understands rotation. Poor rotation has been Jazz’s biggest weakness since Jazz got Boozer and move AK47 to SF. This problem has not been addressed for many seasons, which is why Jazz keeps getting beaten by the same team in the playoff every year.

Boozer should have helped. People that have watched kobe in the past know that he will never pass the ball in the final minute (remember when hedo blocked him last year with 3 lakers wide open?). Williams is also at fault here. In the penultimate picture you can see that fisher relocated himself and is wide open for the corner three. So Williams made the same mistake as Boozer did: He didn’t help out on the drive and didn’t stick with his man (I’m sure he has no clue where Fish is at the moment because he is only looking at the ball).

why is boozer such a baby with the lakers? that offensive rebound by Odom pretty much cost us the game. and where was fesenko? played the whole series vs. the nuggets and is now nowhere to be found. what is sloan doing????????

Fesenko isn’t playing because he doesn’t have the footspeed to keep up with the Lakers’ bigs. He is so overmatched in this series, it isn’t even funny.

Great analysis and use of technology. I am surprised nobody has mentioned C.J. Miles on the Kobe layup. Ron Artest’s shooting has been awful in the playoffs. Miles should have left him in his personal la-la land to cut off Kobe’s drive. To get the ball to Artest (an unlikely choice because Kobe wanted to shoot), Kobe would have had to throw a pass across his body and around two defender. Forcing Artest to take shots is the best defensive option for the Jazz in this series.

This is why having the best player in the league is so important. Kobe annihilates his defender with ease. He is at the FT line in the last play and his defender is still at the three- point line. He got by him so badly it wasn’t even funny.

And I’ve always taught my players that you don’t give up a layup in crunch time, you foul or at worst you force the player to kick it out for a jumper. NO LAYUPS!

The first two plays are terrible rebounding by Boozer. He should have gone hard to the glass. It almost looks like he expected Kobe to make the shots. The third is bad team defense by Utah, starting with the player whom Kobe torches at mid-court. Next Williams and Boozer didn’t make Kobe pass the ball and instead allowed a layup.

That’s bad defense. But also good offense by Kobe.

I don’t think boozer should double kobe here. he did that a few times earlier in the game and gasol, bynum, or odom get layups or put backs. i think cj miles (or matthews?) needs to give kobe some space instead of guarding him at half court where bryant can swipe him with his non dribbling arm and end up at the free throw line 5 ft past his defender. that forced milsap and (not boozer in this case) to help, but odom is a shooting threat, and could have had another put back if bryant misses the layup since milsap is helping and out of position to box out. you see that boozer boxes out gasol at the end of bryant’s layup. if he doubles, gasol gets the put back that odom got the play before.

on the other hand. the only reason bryant can close games is because every team guards him one on one in these situations because if they double they can’t rebound and gasol gets the game winner lay up. i’d rather make sure he doesn’t get a shot off so they can’t get that put back, but then they will call fouls…so…i repeat that miles or matthews have to give him space and guide him into traffic instead of letting him dribble past them into space.

@Jason
I agree with that. if matthews is going to guard him up there i wouldn’t mind if cj miles cheats a lot and leaves artest in the corner where milsap can help if needed.

All you Boozer lovers are insane. Oh no.. he did nothing wrong. I totally want my power forward to sit there and watch kobe lay it in. Great D Boozer! At least gasol didn’t get the ball, he’s a great closer!

[...] run this season, but he has played against Jeff Green, Carlos Boozer and Amare Stoudemire, which is not exactly a murder’s row of defense. KG might not be the same player that he was in 2008, but he will [...]

[...] inch shorter than his 6’9” measurement and Sebastian did an excellent breakdown of Boozer’s problematic defensive decisions on [...]

#1 and #2 action
Boozer did cut off Bryants's layup option cause he had Millap behind his back. Bryant saw it and took pull up jumper over Matthews. Boozer could not chase Bryant to FT line area (no big man could do it) cause it would leave Odom and Gasol overpowering Millsap on the glass.

#3 action
The plan was letting Millsap cutting off Bryant's layup option and Matthews switching outside to Millsap's man Odom. Boozer was supposed to stick with Gasol. If Boozer tried to contest the layup then Bryant would drop the pass to Gasol for easy inside opportunity.

These actions are not samples of Boozer's bad decision making.

#2 action

#1 and #2 action
Boozer did cut off Bryants’s layup option cause he had Millap behind his back. Bryant saw it and took pull up jumper over Matthews. Boozer could not chase Bryant to FT line area (no big man could do it) cause it would leave Odom and Gasol overpowering Millsap on the glass.

#3 action
The plan was letting Millsap cutting off Bryant’s layup option and Matthews switching outside to Millsap’s man Odom. Boozer was supposed to stick with Gasol. If Boozer tried to contest the layup then Bryant would drop the pass to Gasol for easy inside opportunity.

These actions are not samples of Boozer’s bad decision making.

#2 action

#1 and #2 action
Boozer did cut off Bryants's layup option cause he had Millap behind his back. Bryant saw it and took pull up jumper over Matthews. Boozer could not chase Bryant to FT line area (no big man could do it) cause it would leave Odom and Gasol overpowering Millsap on the glass.

#3 action
The plan was letting Millsap cutting off Bryant's layup option and Matthews switching outside to Millsap's man Odom. Boozer was supposed to stick with Gasol. If Boozer tried to contest the layup then Bryant would drop the pass to Gasol for easy inside opportunity.

These actions are not samples of Boozer's bad decision making.

#2 action