After the Minnesota Timberwolves let the Charlotte Bobcats back into the game (more on this later today), the Bobcats found themselves up two points with 9.3 seconds left.  After an offensive rebound, Tyrus Thomas got tied up and there was a jump ball.  Before  the jump ball, there was a whole lot of posturing and positioning from both teams:

First off, how hilarious is it that Stephen Jackson was trying to direct Wes Johnson, and Wes Johnson started to listen to him.  Second off, it seems that Johnson and Wallace are battling for that position closest to Tyrus Thomas (look at how animated coach Rambis gets when trying to instruct Johnson to take that spot).  But why is it so important?  Well, the way that the players positioned dictates where the man taking the tap will try to go with the basketball.  What I mean by that is players look to where they have two players next to each other and try to send the tap in that direction:

Above is how the Bobcats were set up originally.  They had their group of two directly behind Thomas.  Again, you want to send the ball in between these sets of two because it is easier for the team to keep the opposing team from the basketball.  So with that group of two behind him, Thomas would tap the ball directly behind him, and let his teammates recover it.

Here is how the Bobcats were set up after Wes Johnson was allowed to move.  You see that the Bobcats’ group of two is to the left of Thomas now, and he will be planning to send the ball in between that group of two.

So what’s the big difference between behind and to the left?  Well, with the way that the Bobcats’ actually set up it forces Thomas to send the ball towards the left where the sideline comes into play.  In this specific situation, this was very important:

As you can see, Thomas sends the ball towards the sideline and Gerald Wallace chases the basketball down.  However, he runs out of room by the sideline and is forced to try and save the basketball.  The ball comes off of Stephen Jackson and goes out of bounds, giving Minnesota one final chance to tie/win the game (Wes Johnson actually gets fouled on the next possession, but misses the first foul shot).

Huge credit goes to coach Rambis for understanding the importance of forcing Thomas to try and tap it to the sideline.  It worked out exactly the way they wanted it, and they were able to get one final possession out of it.