With 34 seconds left and the basketball, the New Orleans Hornets were coming out of a timeout with a two point lead on the side.  Looking to both waste time and clinch the game, the Hornets were looking to create a mismatch for Chris Paul.  Once Paul got that mismatch, he was able to force the defense to help, opening up the lane for a well-timed cut:

After taking 10 seconds to get Paul the basketball (they were clearly allowing some time to burn off the clock), he was faced with Derek Fisher defending him.

Looking to create a mismatch, the Hornets ran Paul off of a ballscreen, knowing that the Hornets would switch the screen.  Ariza comes and sets the screen because they wanted the recently injured Bryant to defend Paul.

After getting the switch, the Hornets isolated Paul against Bryant, letting him work on Kobe one-on-one.  Now, the player to pay attention to here is Ron Artest.  Artest is defending Jarrett Jack, and he is currently in help position.

Once Paul starts his dribble attack, Ron Artest turns his back and dives into the paint looking to help.  Artest’s help creates a space at the top half of the paint where Jack can cut to.

Jack makes the cut and Paul is able to find him at the last possible second.  Jack makes the catch in the middle of the lane.

With nobody defending him, Jack is able to rise and fire in the lane, knocking down the shot.  Here is the play in real time:

Before looking at the defense played here, this was a great job by New Orleans of dictating the match-ups. They knew that the Lakers would switch every screen late, and they were able to get a less than 100% Bryant covering Paul.

With that being said, this play is on Ron Artest. Artest commits to the help way too early, and he actually helps too deep as if he is anticipating Paul getting all of the way to the rim. Jarrett Jack does a great job of cutting off of Artest’s back, finding the open space, and knocking down the open jumper in the lane.