Late in their game against the San Antonio Spurs, the Nuggets got a rebound and pushed the ball in transition.  The result was the Spurs’ were forced into a few mismatches, the main one being George Hill trying to defend Al Harrington.  The Nuggets quickly recognize this and go to Harrington in the post, forcing a double team.  The resulting play is a perfect example of how you beat a double team by simply making the pass to the open man:

Al Harrington immediately notices that George Hill is covering him and he tries to take advantage by backing him down with his dribble.  It doesn’t work too well, and Harrington kicks it out, looking for the repost.

As the Nuggets look to repost Harrington, the rest of the San Antonio Spurs are now back on defense and they can help Hill out by sending the double team.

With Harrington doubled in one corner, the Spurs now have to try and defend four Nuggets with three defenders. They leave open the longest pass, which is Wilson Chandler in the opposite corner.  Harrington does a great job of spotting the open man and hitting him with the pass, forcing the Spurs to rotate.  In this case, Manu Ginobili is forced to close out on Chandler.

Ginobili closing out on Chandler means that Raymond Felton is wide open, and Chandler hits him with the pass.  The Spurs now are forced to rotate again as Matt Bonner rotates to Felton and George Hill rotates to J.R. Smith.

After two passes, the Nuggets found a mismatch they want to work against (Felton against Bonner) and Felton is able to use his speed to get by Bonner and attack the rim.  The dribble penetration forces DaJuan Blair to step up.

Blair steps up and Felton is able to spot Harrington in the corner.  Since it is Blair on Harrington (this wasn’t the normal matchup), he isn’t quick enough to close out on Harrington.

The result is a wide open three point shot that Harrington knocks down.  Here is how the Nuggets beat the double team in real time:

A play like this is a perfect example why if you can make the right pass out of a double team, you can beat it.  Here, the Spurs have a pretty good double team set, however Harrington stays calm and makes the correct pass out of it, hitting Chandler in the corner.  This pass forces more rotations, and Chandlers quick pass to Felton gives the Nuggets what they want, a mismatch.  The Nuggets are able to use this to create a wide open three point look for the player who started it all.