After Durant’s big jumper, the Denver Nuggets had the ball, looking to tie the game. After a J.R. Smith attempt got blocked, the Nuggets tried to run a play for Arron Afflalo. However, with the way the play was designed, it put Afflalo in the worst position possible:
The play starts with Wilson Chandler setting a downscreen for Ty Lawson. Lawson runs to the top of the key hard, trying to bring his defender with him.
After setting the screen, Wilson Chandler flashes to the corner for the basketball. Chandler doesn’t flash to the dead corner behind the three point line, instead Chandler is a few feet behind the three point line.
After a call to reverse a backcourt violation (which was the correct decision), the Oklahoma City Thunder were up by one point on the Denver Nuggets with just 5 seconds left on the shot clock. Eventually, Kevin Durant was able to hit an open pull up jumper that put the Thunder up three points. Durant was able to get open because of a poor decision made by the Nuggets:
As the ball goes to the trigger man, you have Russell Westbrook standing in the backcourt along the sideline, with Kevin Durant standing right at midcourt. Westbrook sprints right in front of James Harden’s face, and as that happens, Durant flashes to the backcourt. Wilson Chandler, the man covering Durant, is trying to deny him the full length of the court, so he stays with him.
With Chandler denying Durant, Durant now has the freedom to cut backdoor, which is exactly what he does, leaving Chandler behind.
We have looked at the play before it, and the play after it, and now we are going to take a look at the play that resulted in one of the craziest shots of the season. With the Spurs trailing the Grizzlies by three points with 9.4 seconds left, they had one timeout left and the basketball on the side. Deciding it was time to go for the three point shot, Gregg Popovich drew up a play to try and get a look from behind the three point line. The result was mayhem:
The inbounds pass to Ginobili gets deflected, and after a few more deflections, the basketball ends up back in his hands. Ginobili tries to get behind the three point line, but is unable to and gets off one of the longest twos you can take, knocking it down and putting his team down one point.
It was a crazy play, but I couldn’t help but wonder what the Spurs were trying to run, because it did look familiar. If you were reading this site over a year ago, you might have recognized it from a Spurs-Cavs game last March:
After extending the game as long as possible, by going for two, fouling, and taking timeouts, the Spurs had to finally make their move and go for the three point shot with 1.7 seconds left and no more timeouts. The Grizzlies knew that the Spurs had to go for a three here, and they had the upper hand. Unfortunately, a poor decision by one of the best defenders in the NBA resulted in an open three point shot that got knocked down:
The play starts with George Hill sprinting to the corner. Almost simultaneously Antonio McDyess goes from the top of the key to set a screen for Tim Duncan on the elbow.
This first screen set by San Antonio shows you Memphis’ strategy to playing screens late, and they are switching everything. Darrell Arthur picks up McDyess and Shane Battier picks up Tim Duncan.
Coming out of a timeout, the Spurs found themselves trailing the Memphis Grizzlies by three points with 13.8 seconds left in the game. With two timeouts still in his pocket (and the fact that the Grizzlies have been so good defending the three point line), Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich decided to go for the quick two, choosing to take the two points and extend the game by fouling. To get those two points, Popovich was able to use Memphis’ denial of the three point line against them:
The play starts with Matt Bonner setting a downscreen for Tim Duncanwho flashes to the top of the key to receive the basketball.
In the final minutes of Oklahoma City’s game four battle against the Denver Nuggets, Russell Westbrook made a couple terrible decisions. Decisions that may or may not have costed Oklahoma City the game. And while the poor shots that Westbrook took were in large part his fault, I feel like he is getting too much of the blame.
The reason why I feel this way is because in key situations where Westbrook took a bad shot, there were other people involved (whether it be a player/coach). Looking at the two biggest plays of the game gives us examples:
On this play, the Thunder get the basketball with 52 seconds left. Trailing by two points, you want to give yourself the most chances to get the win/tie, and this means get the most possessions you can. In this particular case, the Thunder need to get a two for one. If they score, they get one more possession to go for the win. If they don’t score, they don’t have to foul to get the ball back.
After Jarrett Jack’s big bucket, extending the game to four points, the Lakers found themselves trailing by four points with 9.3 seconds left in the game. The Lakers needed a quick basket (either a two or a three), something that didn’t burn a lot of clock, allowing them to foul and regain possession. Using Kobe Bryant as a decoy, the Los Angeles Lakers were able to get a wide open dunk for Pau Gasol in just 1.1 seconds:
The play starts with the trigger man getting the basketball, and when he does, Kobe Bryant curls around screens set by both bigs (Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol) at the top of the key.
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.
Trailing the Atlanta Hawks by three points, the Orlando Magic had the basketball on the side and were looking to tie the game coming out of their timeout. Stan Van Gundy decided to run a set for Hedo Turkoglu, but he was unable to get off a comfortable look:
The set starts with Hedo Turkoglu coming off of two screens set (one at each elbow) as soon as the ball goes to the trigger man, as if he is flashing to the basketball.
After setting his screen for Turkoglu, Dwight Howard comes over and sets a pindown screen for Gilbert Arenas. Arenas comes off of the screen and gets the ball at the top of the key.
In game three, the Atlanta Hawks utilized the pick and pop with one side of the court cleared out to get Al Horford a wide open jumper to clinch the game. In case you didn’t see the play, here it is:
The whole design of the play was to clear out the left side of the court, run the pick and pop with Jamal Crawford as the ball handler, force Orlando to hedge, and hit Horford popping out in an area where nobody can rotate over.
One big factor in Pacer demise against a 3-man Heat team? Tyler Hansbrough. Three terrible first half shots & two huge second half travels 14 hours ago
James and Battier came over to remind Wade that Battier wide open from the corner is a better option than Anthony finish at the rim. 15 hours ago
