With around 30 seconds left, the Grizzlies and the Hornets were in a tight game. The Grizzlies were up by 1 point with the ball on the side. They were able to execute, meanwhile, the Hornets who got the ball down 3 were unable to. That turned out to be the ballgame.
As the ball gets handed to Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph is going to set a downscreen to free up Mike Conley.
Coming out of a timeout with 5:41 left in the fourth quarter, the Miami Heat trailed the Golden State Warriors by one point. After two very nice possessions (and an empty possession from Golden State), they were winning by 4 points and they didn’t give that lead up for the rest of the game. Both of these plays featured Dwyane Wade as the primary ball handler, which is a pretty interesting strategy. Here is the first:
Now, it might look like a simple ISO play, but I really like it. The Heat show a screen on one side with Udonis Haslem, take it away, and bring a screen on the opposite side with Jermaine O’Neal. It might not look like much, but look at how the Warriors are set up to defend both screens.
After a Raymond Felton jumper, the Charlotte Bobcats took a 74-70 with about 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and it looked like they were pulling away. The Dallas Mavericks responded with 13-1 run over a span of three and a half minutes, turning a 4 point deficit into an 8 point lead. I thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at the key possessions of the run.
Poss. 1 – Terry Steal/Marion Dunk
After two Jason Terry free throws, the Bobcats started the ball up the court. The Bobcats get in their set, and Gerald Wallace is actually open on the wing. Jason Terry does a great job of leaving his man, jumping the pass, and getting the steal. The ball ends up in Jason Kidd’s hands who quickly tosses it back up court, starting a two on one fast break that ends with a Shawn Marion Dunk. 4-0.
The Phoenix Suns were down 8 with three minutes left. They made a bunch of big plays to get themselves back into the game, only to give it away. First let’s look at how they got back in it.
After an Antonio McDyess jumper to extend the lead to 8, the Suns took a timeout. Now with three minutes left, 8 points is a pretty big lead, so on offense, you want to get the best quick shot you can. That is exactly what the Suns do out of this timeout:
The first thing to notice is that Steve Nash lets the ball bounce all the way to half-court without touching it. Even with 3 minutes left, every second is important, and Steve Nash understands this.
Despite the final score of the Nuggets-Warriors game (127-112), the game was actually pretty close. In fact, after a Stephon Curry to Ronny Turiaf pick and roll, the Warriors actually cut the lead to 8. This would be the closest they get though, because right after that play the Nuggets ran a beautiful lob (the Warriors poor defense helped here) to J.R. Smith effectively taking the wind out of the Warriors sails (This play was a catalyst for a 13-0 run):
As Chauncey brings up the basketball, Carmelo gets to one of his favorite spots on the court. As this happens, the two Nuggets bigs clear out to the other side. Carmelo Anthony is going to be setting a “screen” for J.R. Smith. I put the word screen in quotes, because Carmelo isn’t going to be headhunting or anything like that. He is just going to stand there, and Smith is going to run around him.
In a span of two games in two days, we saw two different Lakers teams in the fourth quarter. Two nights ago against Memphis, the Lakers executed brilliantly late, coming back and ending up with the win. Last night against the Mavericks, the Lakers, failed to execute late. The Lakers lost. Maybe most surprising last night was Kobe Bryant failing to execute. Kobe made a key mistake late, and it may have cost the Lakers the game.
First we are going at the Lakers’ game Tuesday night:
After a Rudy Gay block on a Kobe Bryant lay-up attempt, the Lakers now have the ball on the side. Ron Artest is inbounding it and as soon as he gets it, Pau Gasol steps towards the ball and makes himself available.
LeBron had a very solid game, as he finished with 33 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists (how crazy is that this is now referred to as a solid game for LeBron rather than a great game?). The big problem though was that 30 of LeBron’s points came in the first three quarters. LeBron only scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting (0-2 from three), and committed 2 turnovers.
Mike Brown is a little at fault for LeBron’s poor fourth quarter. Normally, coaches sit their starters towards the end of the third (with like 3 minutes left) and into the start of the fourth, usually getting them back in there with about 10 minutes left in the game. The reason they sit them towards the end of the third is because you can steal a few minutes rest for your guy at the quarter break. However, yesterday Mike Brown played the entire third quarter, and he then sat for the first 4 minutes in the fourth quarter, leaving him with only 8 minutes to work with.
LeBron actually entered the game with the Cavs leading by 2. So I guess you can say that Mike Brown was justified in sitting LeBron for that long, and in a certain sense, that is right. However, the longer LeBron sat, the longer it would take for LeBron to get into the flow of the game, and that is the issue here. You can’t have your best player in a funk, during the most important part of the game (the fourth quarter).
