Like France and Serbia, both Slovenia and Russia knew they were going to be advancing to the second round of EuroBasket, but they were playing to determine the best team in their group, and with games against other 2nd round teams carrying over, this was an incredibly important game.  Russia found themselves trailing Slovenia by 1 point with 7,5 seconds left.  Russia’s coach, David Blatt, relied on a motion heavy set coming out of the side, to free up a shooter in the corner.

The play starts with two Russians starting at the top of the key, and as the ball goes to the trigger man, both men at the top of the key get screens taking them to the corner.

After both players come off of the screens, Andrey Vorontsevich, the screener on the weakside, then flashes to the wing to meet the basketball and make himself available to the trigger man.

Once he gets the basketball, the man making the inbounds pass to cut through, not only clearing the area and relieving the pressure on the offense, but pulling the defense away from the area and drawing them into the middle.

After Vorontsevich makes the catch, he dribbles right at the man who set the screen on the strong side, who comes off of him, receives a dribble handoff, taking the ball to the middle of the floor.

The inbounder’s cut, combined with the dribble handoff, creates a gap in the middle of the lane (the handoff puts his defender in a tough position to get in front, while the inbounder cutting takes away a help defender).  This forces someone who shouldn’t be helping into helping.  Sergey Monya’s defender turns his back to him, stepping up to try and stop the dribble penetration.

The ball handler kicks the basketball out to Monya, forcing the defense to close out hard, allowing Monya to pump fake, take a dribble, and knock down the jumper.  Here is the play in real time:

Just a great play call from Blatt, and an even better decision from Monya, pump faking, taking a dribble, and knocking down the jumper.  Awesome play all around by Russia.