With the Detroit Pistons trailing the Dallas Mavericks by two points with one minute left last night, they needed to force a miss and secure the rebound to give themselves a chance.  The Pistons were able to force a miss on two separate occasions, but couldn’t get themselves a defensive rebound on either, allowing the the Mavericks to run about 43 seconds off of the clock, effectively ending the game.

1st Offensive Rebound

As Jason Kidd brings the basketball up, Tyson Chandler sets a cross screen, allowing for Dirk to flash up to the elbow.

After a dribble handoff to Jason Terry, Dirk steps up to set a screen to run the pick and pop.  As this is taking place, Jason Kidd clears out to the opposite side to give Dirk the room to pop.  Jason Maxiell is in the middle of the paint, defending Tyson Chandler.

As Dirk makes the catch, two Detroit Piston defenders run out at him.  This rotation means that Rodney Stuckey is responsible to step in front of Tyson Chandler and box him out.

He doesn’t do that, and it allows Tyson Chandler to back tap it.  Now, if Stuckey did get in front of Chandler, there is no guarantee that the back tap wouldn’t happen.  However, if Stuckey was boxing Chandler out, there is more chance that an over the back foul gets called or something like that.  It gives the Pistons a better chance of securing the rebound.

2nd Offensive Rebound

After the Mavericks secure the first offensive rebound, Dallas does a good job of milking more clock.

After a series of passes around the perimeter, Jason Kidd attacks the basket, forcing help to come from Jason Terry’s man.

Kidd kicks it out to Terry, and Terry’s man closes hard, biting on a pump fake.  This forces a second Pistons defender to step up and challenge Terry’s shot.

What that does is it gives Dirk a lane to crash the boards.  Tayshaun Prince is responsible for boxing Dirk out, so he needs to get his body in front of him.

Instead, he turns and watches the basketball while sticking his arm out to feel for Dirk.  This allows Dirk to sneak in and grab the rebound.

With less than 24 seconds left in the game, the Pistons are now forced to foul Dirk.  Here is the full sequence in real time: