Spurs Push It, Get A Back Breaking Three
In game two of their series the Memphis Grizzlies once again did a very good job of stifling the Spurs’ offense. However late in the game, there was a possession where the Spurs pushed it in transition and the Grizzlies made a few errors, allowing the Spurs to get a big three that extended the lead to six points with three minutes left. In my opinion, the Grizzlies were forced into these errors by the strong fundamentals of the Spurs in transition.
As soon as Richard Jefferson secures the defensive rebound, Tony Parker does a great job of getting into an area where Richardson can hit him with the outlet pass.
As soon as Parker gets the basketball, he quickly takes the ball to the middle of the court to establish good spacing. If Parker keeps it along the sideline, he and Jefferson would be running shoulder to shoulder, allowing one defender to cover both of them.
With Parker taking the basketball to the middle of the court, he now puts a ton of pressure on the defense as Jefferson streaks along the sideline. Parker is going to attack the rim as OK Mayo sticks with him. As this happens, Shane Battier should step out to the outside to stay with Jefferson in the corner (or at least get in the passing lane, something that Memphis is usually so good at doing).
Instead, Battier gets sucked into the paint. The play is not over however, since the Grizzlies do have Marc Gasol trailing the play. He could have gotten in the passing lane and stolen/prevented a pass to Jefferson. However, Gasol too gets sucked into Parker’s penetration.
Parker is able to kick the ball out to Jefferson in the corner and knocks it down before Gasol can get the close-out and challenge the shot effectively. Here is the play in real time:
Just a great job of doing everything right by the Spurs, forcing the Grizzlies’ hand, and forcing three defenders to sink into the middle of the paint. Parker does a great job spotting Jefferson in the corner, getting him the ball, and he knocks it down.
