The Final Two Possessions Of Spain’s World Championships
In what might have been the best game in the FIBA Worlds so far (and that is with a ton of really good games already played), Serbia used the strength of a late three pointer and a defensive stop (though that stop was probably more Spain’s bad execution rather than Serbia’s defense) to pull ahead of the defending world and Euro champs, knocking them out of the tournament and advancing to the Semi Finals.
Serbia’s Deep Three
What was interesting about yesterday’s ending, especially Serbia’s possession, was the strategy that was implemented (and the strategy that wasn’t implemented):
Serbia starts out in a 1-4 flat set that you commonly see in the NBA. However, instead of the ISOs you normally see, Serbia sends a screener to pop out and set a screen. The sole purpose of this screen is to force Spain to switch on defense.
However, good on and off ball defense by Spain really throws off Serbia’s timing on the initial screen. The screener doesn’t get close enough to the ball handler, and the Spanish defender is able to get in between and stick with Milos Teodosic.
Instead of scrapping their plan, Serbia simply runs another screen at Teodosic’s defender.
Now this is where we see of of the trends we have seen the entire tournament. Late in games, defenses switch screens. It happens so much, offenses know that it is coming and they have now started taking advantage of this. Here, the screens are not being run to free up the roll man or provide a lane for the ball handler. The only purpose of these screens are to force a switch.
With the switch you now have Jorge Garbajosa, a forward, covering Milos Teodosic, a guard. With the court spread out by Serbia’s offense, Garbajosa has no help and needs to play off of Teodosic to prevent penetration.
With that space, Milos Teodosic is able to knock down the eventual game winning three pointer. Here is the play in real time:
Milos Teodosic’s Three Pointer
The strategy that we didn’t see was Spain taking the intentional foul foul while Serbia was dribbling out the clock, even though the game was tied. I know it seems unorthodox based on what we see in the NBA, but according to Chris Sheridan:
In FIBA, it is not uncommon for the team playing defense to commit an intentional foul and send the opponent to the free throw line — even though this gives its opponent a chance to make two foul shots for the lead. It happened in the 2006 World Championship semifinals in Japan when Argentina and Spain were tied, and the Argentines intentionally fouled Jose Calderon so that they would get the final shot. Calderon made one of two, and Argentina got an open look for Andres Nocioni just before the buzzer, but he missed.
This time, Spain coach Sergio Scariolo told his team there were two Serbian players whom they should intentionally foul if they got the ball (he would not name them), and three whom they should leave alone.
The ball went to point guard Milos Teodosic (obviously one of the three untouchables), who plays for Olympiacos in Greece, and the Serbs executed a play that forced Jorge Garbajosa to switch onto Teodosic.
Spain ended up not taking the foul, and they paid for it as Serbia knocked down the three pointer.
Spain’s Turnover
Even with that three pointer, Spain still had a chance to send the game into overtime with a three pointer of their own in the final 3 seconds of the game. However a poor combination of bad playcalling and bad execution (we will never know the ratio) meant that Spain wasn’t even able to get a shot up.
As the ball gets handed to the inbounder you have Rudy Fernandez at the top of the key and Jorge Garbajosa at the three point line, and you also have two Spanish players standing in the corner. Garbajosa sprints directly to the basketball as Rudy Fernandez runs to the block.
This action is the only action you see, and this is my issue with the playcalling. There are no screens or anything. Just one player sprinting to the basketball. Also, the corner men continue just to stand there.
Jorge Garbajosa is a forward, and he is catching the basketball 40 feet away with his back turned to the hoop. This is a big problem.
Garbajosa isn’t comfortable putting the basketball on the floor, and the result is an eventual turnover. Here is the play in real time:
Now I think that Spain chose the correct person to try and get the basketball to. Garbajosa shot 57.7% from the three point line during the tournament, including going 4/6 against Serbia. The problem is how they got him the ball. As previously mentioned Garbajosa is a forward who isn’t comfortable putting the basketball on the floor. So, if you are Spain, you want to get it to Garbajosa where he can simply catch and shoot and not have to worry about anything else. There are two plays I would have considered running if I was spain:
The first would have involved Rudy Fernandez setting a screen for Garbajosa. Fernandez would have looped around from his position at the top of the key, and then getting in position to set a screen. Garbajosa would then come off the screen, but not running directly at the basketball. He would curl his cut right at the three point line so that he can simply catch and shoot.
The second play would involve using the 5 man standing in the corner to set a screen for Garbajosa, freeing him up. Again, Garbajosa wouldn’t run straight to the basketball, but he would curl it at the three point line.
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Spain didn’t necessarily blow this game (at least late), if a player who has gone 1-7 from the three (which was what Teodosic was shooting before the final shot) knocks down a 30 foot jumper, it’s tough luck. However, when given a chance to tie it (especially with a timeout before the possession), you need to do better than what Spain did. Now could Spain have ran a perfect play and still lost? Sure, but seeing a top team like Spain go out with a whimper is a little disappointing in my opinion.
