Dallas Looks Confused On Their Final Possession
The Dallas Mavericks had no timeouts left as they trailed the Milwaukee Bucks by four points with 10.9 seconds left. Since it was a two possession game, the Mavericks would have to foul after any made basket, and because they had no timeouts left, they would have to go the full length of the court after the Bucks’ free throws. This means they needed time, so the Mavericks were in a catch and shoot situation. If they spend too much time trying to get a basket with 10.9 seconds left, they wouldn’t have enough time to get a second look at the basket.
The Mavericks understand the situation and put 4 good shooters on the court (Butler, Nowitzki, Terry, and Novak) with Jason Kidd inbounding the basketball. The play starts with Novak setting a screen for Butler.
Butler uses the screen and curls to screen Dirk Nowitzki’s man at the top of the key. Butler does a good job of screening a man instead of an area.
Nowitzki is going to come off of that screen and set a screen of his own, setting one for Jason Terry.
Now, right now everything seems to be going according to plan and the Dallas Mavericks are executing correctly. The play was to set up a shot for Jason Terry and he has two options here. He can either split the two screens and run straight to the basketball, or he can curl around the Dirk Nowitzki three. Either way, the play would result in a three point catch and shoot, exactly what the Mavs are looking for.
However, instead of coming off of the screen looking for a shot, Jason Terry looks for someone to screen. This confusion and miscommunication causes a delay allows the defense to get back on their men.
Since the Mavs don’t have a timeout, they have to get the ball inbounds. Dirk pops out to give Jason Kidd an outlet pass, but when he makes the catch his man is right on him, taking away the catch and shoot.
Eventually, Nowitzki drives and kicks, getting Butler an open three pointer. Even if Butler makes it, there is not enough time on the clock left to comeback. Think about it, Butler takes the shot with 6.5 seconds left, and if it goes it there will probably be 5 seconds left as the ball gets inbounds. Take another second away (to account for the time it takes for the Mavs to foul) and there is 4 seconds left. Meaning that the Mavs would have to go the length of the court and get a clean look for three (or two depending on the Bucks’ FT shooting) in 4 seconds. That doesn’t happen often.
That argument is a moot point because Butler misses the three. Here is the play in real time:
Notice how everything seems to be going fine until Dirk comes off of that Butler screen. Everything just seems to grind to a halt and the effectiveness of Dallas’ play ends.
The result is an open three, but as we already mentioned the amount of time taken really hurts. Also, I’d rather have Jason Terry (who the play was drawn for in my opinion) shoot a three than Caron Butler.
