Daequan Cook is one of the better three point shooters in the league, and when you have a guy like him, the defense is going to focus a good amount of attention on him to keep him from getting open looks. This is where you need to get creative with your offense, and Scott Brooks does a good job of this (in terms of getting Cook open), by using weakside action to get him an open look.
Eric Maynor brings up the basketball and gets it to James Harden on the wing. It looks like the Thunder are setting up a situation where Harden is going to have his choice of screen (either use one to get to the middle or use one to go baseline). However, while that is happening, Nick Collison is sneaking behind Peja Stojakovic to set a screen. With all the Mavericks’ attention on James Harden, Peja doesn’t feel the screen coming, but not only that, Dirk Nowitzki (who is covering Collison) doesn’t call the screen out to Stojakovic.
At the end of the second half of their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Dallas Mavericks had the basketball, looking to get an easy basket to extend their six point lead. To do so, they ran a creative set that they like to run from time to time, one involving a ball screen at the elbow.
The play starts with J.J. Barrea setting a pindown screen for Shawn Marion as Jason Kidd brings the basketball up. Marion uses the screen to curl to the elbow and wait for the ball.
As expected, the Dallas Mavericks ran trotted out their zone defense against the Oklahoma City Thunder in game one of the Western Conference Finals, and though they didn’t run it as much as they did during the regular season (I personally counted six zone possessions), it was just as effective. The main reason why the zone was so effective in game one was the same reason why it was effective during the regular season, the Oklahoma City Thunder settled for jumpers:
This is the first possession where the Mavericks threw the zone at the Thunder, and they just didn’t look prepared for it. You have guys standing around and pointing, trying to figure out what to do with the basketball. Eventually, after trying to penetrate, Durant is forced to kick it out to Westbrook on the wing. The defense drops off of him, and Westbrook settles for the jumper.
