Breaking Down The Final Two Possessions Of The Turkey-Serbia Game
The semi-final matchup between Serbia and Turkey may have been the game of the tournament, and no matter how good the rest of the game was, none of it compares to the final two possessions. In each possession, defenses made a few mistakes, one offense was able to take advantage of that mistake, while the other was unable to.
Turkey’s Go-Ahead Layup
After giving up a wide open lay-up to Serbia, Turkey trailed by one point with 4.3 seconds left in the game.
With so little time on the clock, Turkey was looking to get the ball to one of their players on the move going towards the basket. We have seen what happens when you get the ball to someone going away from the basket, so this is the correct play call here from Turkey. Turkey uses a double screen to try and get Kerem Tunceri the basketball along the baseline, but it is well covered.
The second thing to focus on is Serbia’s defensive position. As you can see, all 5 Serbian defenders are up near half court with nobody playing safety back near their own basket. If I was the Serbian coach, I would have had taken the defender covering the passer and drop him back near the foul line to help protect the basket.
Since Tunceri was well defended, Turkey needed someone to get the ball into. Here, Hedo Turkoglu does a very good job of breaking to the basketball and providing the inbounder with a safety valve.
After getting the basketball, Hedo Turkoglu tries to use a screen to take the basketball along the sideline. This is where the defensive effort is made by a Serbian defender. Four defenders are involved in covering the screen and roll along the sideline, and the one that isn’t is face guarding his man away from the basketball. You don’t need to be face guarding your man in this situation. He should be playing off of his man in help position with his eyes on the basketball.
Somehow (I still can’t tell if this was an intentional pass or if Turkoglu just lost the basketball) the ball ends up in Tunceri’s hands. In the madness, the baseline opens up, and Tunceri takes the ball along the baseline towards the basket. The Serbian defender farthest away from the basketball is still up on his man even though he is about 30 feet away from the hoop and maybe even farther away from the ball. He really should be in the paint to be able to help on the penetration and force a pass.
Yes, if he was in help position, he would be leaving his man open for a shot, however in late game situations like this, you want to make the offense move the ball as many times as possible. When you force a pass, anything can happen. You could have a bad pass that results in a poor shot, a lobbed pass that takes too much time, or maybe even a turnover. All of these are better options than giving up a wide open lay-up.
Tunceri finishes the lay-up, giving Turkey the lead with 0.5 seconds left and dealing out the knock out blow to the Serbian team. Here is the play in real time:
When watching the play, focus on the Serbian defense. In my opinion, they really blew it by not having anyone back to protect the basket from the start.
Serbia’s Final Play
With 0.5 seconds left, you technically have enough time for a catch and shoot situation, but most teams would rather run a play that leads to something at the rim than rely on a rushed shot from the perimeter. That’s exactly what Serbia does here, and with some miscommunication by the Turkish team Serbian almost gets an amazing buzzer beater of their own.
Serbia sets up with one guy at the top out by the three point line, and three players along the baseline. The play starts with the Serbian player on the block flashing out towards the three point line.
Serbia also sends the second player from the weak side and sends him to the opposite corner. The purpose of sending both players out of the weak side area is to clear the space for a potential lob.
Meanwhile, along the outside, the two Serbian players are completing their switch. There is no screen set, the players are just running by each other, and this is what leads to some confusion on the defensive end. Novica Velickovic’s man who is covering him out by the three point line is calling for a switch. However, because there isn’t really a screen, the player Velickovic’s man wants to execute the switch with doesn’t execute it.
The Turkish team now has two defenders out trying to cover the defender running away from the basket as the man running to the basket (probably the biggest threat offensively) is uncovered.
Serbia did a great job of clearing out the weak side area, and now Velickovic seems to have a wide open area to make the catch and finish at the rim. However, Semih Erden recognizes what is going on and tries to get himself in position to defend the shot.
Erden gets over in time, and is able to alter the shot. It was an incredible job by Erden to get all the way across the lane and block the shot. Doing so covers up his team’s miscommunication on the play and gives Turkey the win, sending them to the finals against the United States. Here is the play in real time:
This is a very nicely run play, and with the help of a defensive lapse, they were able to get a pretty good look considering the situation. However, Erden makes a great reaction play by seeing what was taking place and getting over in time for the block.
