After a furious comeback (and back to back threes from both teams), the Dallas Mavericks found themselves tied with the ball for the final possession (with just a 0.5 second differential on the shot clock), looking to get the basketball to Dirk Nowitzki and get a game winner.  The Mavericks did just that, putting the ball in Nowitzki’s hands, and some smart positioning by Dallas and some hesitation by Miami allowed Dirk to get all the way to the rim, allowing him to finish and put the game away.

As the ball goes to Shawn Marion, the trigger man, Tyson Chandler sets a down screen for Jason Kidd, who flashes to the top of the key and gets the ball from Marion.

After holding the basketball for about ten seconds, the Mavericks’ offense finally gets going.  Jason Terry, who was standing at the top of the key, heads towards the corner so he can set a screen for Dirk Nowitzki.  Nowitzki uses the screen to flash to the wing and get the basketball.

Once Kidd passes the basketball to Nowitzki, he clears out by heading to the wing on the weakside.  Also clearing out is Jason Terry, who heads to the corner after setting his screen for Dirk, basically setting up an isolation for Nowitzki against Chris Bosh at the top of the key.

Nowitzki takes one dribble to the right and then spins and drives towards the left.  This is where Rick Carlisle’s positioning of Jason Terry really comes into play.  With LeBron James covering Terry, he has to stick with him in the corner, because if he sinks in to help, Nowitzki (who has been great passing out of his spin move all series) kicks it out to Terry, who has knocked down a few shots in the fourth quarter.  The hesitation on this play comes from Udonis Haslem.  Haslem starts to help, but for some reason (whether it was Nowitzki’s hesitation during the middle of his spin move or it was Haslem feeling Chandler cutting behind him) he retreats back to Chandler.

The lack of help from both James and Haslem gives Nowitzki a clear path to the lane after he gets by Bosh.  Haslem finally commits to helping, but it is way too late.

Haslem gets there, but it isn’t in time to block the shot as Dirk Nowitzki effortlessly puts the ball off of the glass for the game winning lay-up.  Here is the play in real time:

Yes this is an isolation, but in my opinion, this is a smart one from Dallas.  They put a good shooter in the corner of the direction they expect Nowitzki to drive to, and then clear out.  They also give the basketball to Nowitzki with enough time to make a decision, allowing him to go when he wants to and not feel rushed (which is why he was able to go with the time consuming spin move).

One thing that Miami could have done differently (besides helping with Wade or Haslem) is take their foul to give.  They had one, but never used it.  By the time it got into Nowitzki’s hands it was too late (in fact, Nowitzki said he went a little early to prevent the foul to give).  When should they have taken it?  I think Chalmers should have taken the foul as soon as he felt Dallas moving into their offense.  As soon as Kidd put the ball on the floor, Chalmers should have wrapped him up, not allowing them to get into their offense and forcing them to take the ball back out with less than 12 seconds left.  Smart positioning combined with a few errors lead to a Dallas game winner.