Down by three seconds with 5.7 seconds left in their game against the Atlanta Hawks, the Orlando Magic found themselves in a situation that suited their three point shooting roster. The Magic put four shooters around Dwight Howard and were looking to set up a play using Dwight Howard as a screener. However, Howard was either confused or forgot his responsibility because he made a key mistake that prevented the Magic from running their set to the best of their ability:
With Hedo Turkoglu inbounding the basketball, the Magic line up parallel to the free throw line with Dwight Howard in front of three shooters (Jason Richardson, Ryan Anderson, and Jameer Nelson). As soon as Turkoglu gets the basketball, all three shooters curl off of him simultaneously.
Ryan Anderson heads to the opposite corner, Jameer Nelson heads to the strong side corner, and Jason Richardson flashes to the top of the key, getting a pindown screen from Dwight Howard.
A team’s performance after a timeout may be the best way to judge a coach’s Xs & Os knowledge, and his ability to draw up plays. The Clipboard Awards is a competition where I choose the top three post-timeout plays each night, adding up the scores over the course of the season.
Play 3 (1 Point) – Paul Silas/Charlotte Bobcats
This play starts with D.J. Augustin bringing the basketball up the court, kicking it out to the wing, and then coming off of a backscreen to the block. Augustin curls it to the opposite block and gets in position to set a screen for Stephen Jackson. The beauty of this play is that Jackson gets to pick one of two screens to use based on how his defender is playing him. His defender plays him over the top, cheating and trying to prevent him from coming off of the pindown screen, so Jackson simply uses the cross screen, gets open, and knocks down the easy jumper in the paint.
I have talked about the Thunder and their struggles in late game situations. One of my opinions is that Durant isn’t strong enough to get around and use screens off of the ball late when defenders are 100% focused on him, and that is why Oklahoma City tends to isolate him late in games. It has taken a little while, but Scott Brooks may have found a way to get both Durant and Russell Westbrook good looks late in games without having to rely on ISO-ball. The Durant/Westbrook pick and roll or pick and pop.
More and more the Thunder are starting to run this play in the final minute of quarters and in the 4th quarter when they are looking for a basket. The latest example of this was last night in overtime against the Golden State Warriors:
The ball goes to Russell Westbrook and he starts to dribble out the clock as if he going to be isolated (the way the Thunder are situated also makes it look like an ISO). However, once the shot clock hits 10, Durant comes up and gets in position to set a screen for Westbrook.
Last night, the Cleveland Cavaliers shocked the world and beat the LeBron James and the Miami Heat. They were able to win by having success knocking down jumpers in Spot-Up situations. According to Synergy, the Cavs scored 39 points out of 25 spot-up situations (1.56 PPP) on 69.6% shooting, including 70% (7-10) shooting from three.
This success was unexpected because the Heat are usually one of the best teams when defending agains Spot-Ups. According to Synergy, the Heat are the 2nd best defensive team in Spot-Up situations, holding opponents to 0.907 PPP on 36.3% shooting. So what happened against the Cavs, and what allowed them to have so much success against Miami? It is pretty simple, the Heat closed out very poorly:
On this play, LeBron James is in help position (preparing to help on the roll man) as the Cavs run a pick and roll. As Davis makes the pass to Alonzo Gee in the corner, James turns in the wrong direction, basically circling around before closing out. By the time James gets out to the corner, it is too late and Gee knocks down the shot.
During their game against the New York Knicks, the Orlando Magic found themselves down three points with about 40 seconds left as they secured the defensive rebound. After some ball movement and scrambling by the defense, the Magic had Amar’e Stoudemire covering Hedo Turkoglu. As Turkoglu tried to take advantage the defense collapsed on him. However, instead of kicking it out, he settled for the contested jumper:
We pick up the play after Stoudemire picked up Turkoglu on the switch. Turkoglu waives away a ball screen and attacks the rim. Because Turkoglu drives the lane, Carmelo Anthony steps up and helps in the paint. As this happens Gilbert Arenas rotates to the top of the key, forcing his defender to follow him.
A team’s performance after a timeout may be the best way to judge a coach’s Xs & Os knowledge, and his ability to draw up plays. The Clipboard Awards is a competition where I choose the top three post-timeout plays each night, adding up the scores over the course of the season.
Play 3 (1 Point) – Nate McMillan/Portland Trailblazers
This play by Portland is a perfect example of a quick hitter. Andre Miller brings the basketball down along the sideline and gets it to Gerald Wallace at the top of the key. Wallace then hands it off to Rudy Fernandez, and this handoff basically turns into a ballscreen with Wallace rolling to the rim. Fernandez hits the rolling Wallace for the easy finish.
During the first quarter of their game against the Dallas Mavericks, the Suns were able to jump out to a 26-17 lead. Powering this lead was the Suns’ pick and roll offense, whose 10 possessions resulted in 14 of the Suns’ 26 first quarter points (good for a PPP of 1.4). What makes the Suns’ pick and roll offense so hard to stop is that it puts pressure on the defense to rotate perfectly. If not, it will lead to baskets. That is exactly what happened in the first quarter of their game against the Mavericks. The Mavericks were a bit sluggish with their rotations, and it lead to easy baskets for the Suns:
Here, the Suns run a pick and roll with Marcin Gortat setting the screen and Steve Nash coming off of it. Gortat rolls straight to the rim, forcing Jason Kidd to sink in the paint, which he correctly does. Nash makes the correct pass, sending it to Kidd’s man in the corner. Despite proper rotation initially, this is where the mistake is made. Kidd closes out on Dudley way too hard, allowing Dudley to drive by him, forcing more help and leading to an easy basket.
The Portland Trailblazers love switching things up on the defensive end, hoping to slow down opposing offense by confusing them, forcing them to think about what kind of defense the Blazers are playing. In fact, only one team plays zone defense more than the Blazers, and they are the Dallas Mavericks.
So when the Thunder saw the Blazers’ zone late in the first quarter, they were prepared for it. They quickly recognized the zone, got into their zone offense, and ran a nice set to get Kevin Durant a lob at the rim:
We pick up the play after Eric Maynor brings up the basketball, gets it to Kevin Durant on the wing, then cuts through the middle of the paint to the opposite wing. As this happens, James Harden steps up and receives a pass from Durant.
After a scoring explosion from Marcus Thornton and some free throws from Beno Udrih, the Sacramento Kings found themselves winning by three points with 4.5 seconds left. Needing a three, the Sixers ran a play that involved entering the basketball to Spencer Hawes at halfcourt, presenting the Kings with a perfect opportunity to foul up three, however they turned it down. The result was Lou Williams knocking down a deep three, sending the game into overtime:
Using Del Harris’ rules for fouling up three (which is quickly turning into my preferred strategy as well) that include fouling with under 7 seconds left and only if the man with the ball has his back turned to the rim, the Kings had a chance to foul Hawes at halfcourt as he made the catch:
A team’s performance after a timeout may be the best way to judge a coach’s Xs & Os knowledge, and his ability to draw up plays. The Clipboard Awards is a competition where I choose the top three post-timeout plays each night, adding up the scores over the course of the season.
Play 3 (1 Point) – Lionel Hollins/Memphis Grizzlies
This play starts with the Memphis Grizzlies bringing the basketball down the court and once Greivis Vasquez gets into position, Darrell Arthur sets a pindown screen for O.J. Mayo. After Mayo comes off of his pinrown, Arthur comes off of a cross screen set by Marc Gasol. Arthur comes off the screen open, makes the catch, and knocks down the jumper.
