Any good thief has either quick hands or great instincts. The special ones, like Jason Kidd, have a combination of both. Against Philadelphia, Teague showed he may be in that elite category.

On the first possession of the game, the Sixers look to post Jrue Holiday against the smaller Teague. Holiday gets solid position in the post and frees himself for what seems to be short range turnaround. However, Teague flashes his great hands and reaction time by swiping the ball away as Holiday rises up. Here is the play:

That wouldn’t be the last time Teague terrorized the normally steady Holiday. Two other times in the half, Holiday finds himself relieved of the ball thanks to Hawk’s point guard. In the first play of the following video, Teague actually finds himself switched onto Elton Brand early in the possession. After thwarting Brand’s attempt to score against him in an iso, Teague to switches back to Holiday after a ball screen. As Holiday drives toward the middle, Teague nabs the ball to starts a break the opposite way for Atlanta.

In the second clip, Holiday comes off a down-screen looking to enter the ball down low to Brand. Being loose with the ball probably isn’t good idea around Teague and Holiday finds himself turned over one more time. Here is the video:

Those first three steals showcased Teague’s quick hands and his ability to aggressively hound the ball handler on defense. The following video shows that Teague also has great instincts off the ball as well. In the first clip, he spots Nikola Vucevic moving out of control toward the baseline and times his jump in front of Holiday. Notice the timing he has on this first play. Too soon on that play and Vucevic may try to save the ball in a different direction. Too late and perhaps Holiday as a lay-up. In the second clip, Teague just make a fantastic read from the weakside and breaks on the ball for a breakaway the other way. Check it out.

With regular playing time, Teague is proving to be quite a force on the ball and in the passing lanes. While this brief stretch isn’t enough to knight him a top tier pickpocket, it certainly is putting Teague in the conversation. Even still, opposing offenses better take notice.

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We pick this set up after Derrick Rose brings the basketball down and kicks the basketball to Keith Bogans who was sharing the court with him in a two guard look.  After making the pass, Derrick Rose loops around a Joakim Noah and flashes to the opposite wing as the basketball goes to Carlos Boozer at the elbow.

Boozer makes the catch, faces up and first looks for Rose who is the middle of his cut.  Once Rose clears the lane, Luol Deng comes off of a screen and flashes through the middle of the paint to the block.

Boozer’s second look is Luol Deng on the block, but Jason Collins (Boozer’s defender) is aware of the cut taking place behind him and he takes away the pass by playing off of Boozer and sinking a little bit into the paint.

With Deng covered, Boozer kicks the ball out to Derrick Rose who was waiting on the wing.  Once Boozer makes the pass, he cuts to the block as Deng runs off of him, essentially setting a brush screen and then flashing to the wing.

Rose throws a great lead pass to Boozer that gets by the confused defense.  Boozer makes the catch, takes one dribble, and finishes with the dunk to kick off the scoring.  Here is the play in real time:

The number of different options is what really makes the set here as the defense (especially Jason Collins) were so worried about the initial cut that it forced him to play farther back than he would have liked.  With Collins off of Boozer’s body, this allowed him to the cut to the rim rather easily, and forcing the defense’s hand as he comes off of the brush screen set by Deng.  The defense becomes confused, get to Boozer a little late, creating a passing lane for Rose to get the basketball through.

Out of the seven halfcourt possessions the Hawks scored on, six of them came off of smart sets with an actual gameplan.  My favorite one came with 6:30 left in the game and the Hawks trailing by 8 points:

The play starts with Teague entering the ball to Joe Johnson on the wing and then cutting past Al Horford, who steps up a little past the elbow to receive the basketball.  After Teague cuts past Horford, he changes direction and gets in position to set a backscreen for Johnson.

With Teague stepping up to set the backscreen and with Omer Asik up on Horford (because he has to respect Horford’s shooting ability), Johnson has a clear lane to cut backdoor.

Johnson takes advantage of that space and Horford hits him with a very good pass, allowing Johnson to finish before Asik can get there and help.  Here is the play in real time:

Is it simple?  Sure, but it is extremely effective and it is a possession where you have ball movement and player movement (something that most Hawks’ 4th quarter possessions don’t have) and it results in a basket.

In addition to this set, the Hawks were also successful running pick and pop/roll with Jeff Teague as the ball handler:

Jeff Teague is so quick coming off of screens and Horford is a strong shooting threat that it really puts the defense in a bind.  On the first screen and roll, Teague executes a perfect hesitation dribble, forcing Asik to return to Horford and clearing a lane for him to attack to.  On the second one, Teague finds Horford who knocks down the pick and pop jumper.

The problem with Atlanta is that these strong sets are mixed in with far too many isolation sets.  These isolations not only stifled the momentum of the Hawks on the offensive end, but it allowed the defense to throw doubles at the Hawks as the rest of the team stands around:

For two straight plays, the Hawks tried to get the ball to their bigs in the post (Al Horford once and Josh Smith the other). However, they go away what was working for them, and the result is one player working with the basketball as the other four stand around. This allows the Bulls to throw doubles, forcing a turnover and getting a blocked shot.

On this play, the Hawks use the threat of Joe Johnson coming off of a Al Horford pindown screen to draw the defense to him, allowing Horford to cut into the lane wide open.  If this play looks familiar, it should.  In fact, the reason why I didn’t break this play down frame-by-frame is because I have already done so once in this series.  In game one, the Hawks used this same exact play in a similar situation (time, score, and quarter):

As you can see it is the same exact play with the saem exact personel (the only difference is that it came from the side once and from a jump ball set once).

Now, the question that has to be asked is why does this play keep working.  Is it because the Hawks noticed Joakim Noah hedges too far out off of pindowns?  Is it because the Bulls are willing to gamble that Josh Smith won’t make the right pass time after time?  Either way, it is awesome to see Larry Drew see a play work in game one, take note, and have his guys run it again to see if it would work.

If game five is as close as game one or game four, you can expect to see the Hawks run this play.  Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t but at this point the Hawks need to run it to see how the Bulls will defend it now.  It will more than likely be a win-win situation for them.  Either the Bulls play it the same way and Horford gets a wide open dunk when Noah over commits, or Noah stays at home, aware of the slip and allowing Joe Johnson to come free off of the pindown screen.

On this play, Joe Johnson makes the catch on the wing with 12 seconds left on the shot clock.  When that happens, Chicago decided to send a double team to him.  The Bulls send Luol Deng at Johnson, and since he was matched with Al Horford, Taj Gibson rotates over to pick him up.  The result is that Josh Smith is left open along the three point line, and this is exactly what Chicago wants.

Now, when Johnson makes the catch, Al Horford flashes to the basketball, with Gibson following him.  This creates a lane for Josh Smith to cut through, and with nobody defending him, it would force the defense to react.  In this case, Ronnie Brewer would probably rotate over, leaving Jamal Crawford in the corner.

However, instead, nothing happens and Joe Johnson takes the shot over the double team.  Here is the play in real time:

In my opinion, there are two people to blame here, Joe Johnson and Josh Smith.  Johnson because instead of letting the double come, and then passing out of it (forcing the defense to rotate back and recover), he simply shoots over it, letting the defense off the hook.  Also letting the defense off the hook is Josh Smith.  If Smith cuts off of Deng’s back as soon as he gets left open, he puts a ton of pressure on the defense.  Instead, he just stands there.

In addition to doubling Joe Johnson, the Bulls also sent a double at Jamal Crawford, again, leaving Josh Smith:

Here, Crawford makes the catch on the wing/baseline with 18 seconds left on the shot clock.  Here, Joakim Noah leaves Horford to double Crawford and when that happens Carlos Boozer rotates over to Horford.  Once again, the Bulls’ double team strategy is to leave Josh Smith open.

Again, with the defense’s back turned to Smith, there is a lane for him to cut straight to the paint with nobody there to pick him up.

Instead, Crawford tries to dribble through the zone as Josh Smith stands there with his hands in the air, calling for the ball.  Another cutting opportunity here is for Joe Johsnon, but he too stands behind the three point line, waiting for the basketball.  Here is the play in real time:

The defense eventually rotates over to Smith, but if he cuts right off of Carlos Boozer’s back as soon as he gets left open, he’d get in the paint with nobody around him.  Eventually, the ball gets turned over.

It’s pretty crazy to imagine that the Bulls are leaving Josh Smith, one of the most athletic players in the NBA, open to double team the basketball.  Normally, no team in their right mind would leave a player with Smith’s athleticism because he would make them pay with a sharp cut to the rim.  However, the Bulls know that Smith has a tendency to just hang around the three point line, and they used that to their advantage here.

The play starts with Jeff Teague getting the basketball and taking it to the top of the key.  As soon as that happens, Jamal Crawford (who inbounded the basketball) dives through the middle to the corner.  At the same time, Joe Johnson comes across two screens at the elbow to make himself available at the wing.  After setting his screen, Josh Smith flashes to the basketball.

Teague gets the basketball to Smith, and as this happens, Joe Johnson continues his cut off of Al Horford and takes it to the block.

Once Johnson gets to the block, Al Horford comes down and sets a pindown screen for Johnson.  With the Bulls worried about Johnson and his shooting ability, Joakhim Noah is going to show and try to deny Johnson.  Horford reads this and dives right to the from of the rim.

With both Bulls defenders involved in the screen running to Joe Johnson, this leaves Al Horford wide open at the rim.  Josh Smith does a great job of being patient, spotting him, and hitting him with the pass.

Horford is able to match the catch and finish with the easy dunk, extending the Hawks’ lead to 10 and basically putting the game away.  Here is the play in real time:

A great job done here by the Hawks, setting up their offense as if they are going to run it through Joe Johnson (which is something Atlanta does most of the time), however they were using Johnson as a decoy, trying to set up Horford in the paint.

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.

Once Arenas gets the basketball, Howard sets yet another screen.  This time, it is a cross screen set for Turkoglu, who comes off of it looking for the basketball on the wing.

Because Turkoglu is catching the basketball going away from the ball, it is going to be a tough catch and shoot situation.  Turkoglu faces up as if he is going to take a dribble, but his defender, Al Horford knocks the ball away.

By the time Turkoglu recovers the basketball, the Magic are in full panic mode.  The set is now blown up and Turkoglu just needs to create a scoring opportunity.

Turkoglu gets a contested shot off, but he is unable to get it to go down, and the Magic lose the game.  Here is the play in real time:

I don’t have a problem with Stan Van Gundy running a play for Hedo Turkoglu.  My problem is that the set created a situation that forced Turkoglu to put the ball on the ground and create on his own.  This is because Turkoglu makes the going away from the ball and that makes it difficult for a catch and shoot opportunity.

The reason why Turkoglu being forced to put the ball on the floor is so important is because in spot up situations (which is what this is), Turkoglu is a much better shooting off the catch without a dribble (40% shooting off dribble/41.8% shooting no dribble – 45.6 aFG% off dribble/61.2 aFG% no dribble), according to Synergy Sports Technology.

If I was Stan Van Gundy, I would have like to see a set with Turkoglu cutting towards the basketball in a position where he can catch and shoot, getting a shot off without having to take a dribble.

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.

In game four, the Hawks wanted to have Joe Johnson attacking the rim.  Instead of relying on isolation defense, the Hawks went to their pick and pop.  However, because they didn’t want the defense helping, they used Jamal Crawford as the screener instead of Al Horford:

With Jamal Crawford setting the screen, you can see his man (Jameer Nelson) has no interest in leaving Crawford to hedge.  This allows Joe Johnson to get to the middle of the court and get the bucket in the lane.

The key to this set working was it allowing Johnson to get into the paint, whether it meant using the screen or going away from the screen:

On this play, Nelson and the Magic actually do a good job of forcing Crawford to set his screen on the wrong side of Johnson.  Instead of panicking, Johnson goes away from the screen, and because Nelson still doesn’t want to leave Crawford to help, Johnson is able to get into the paint and draw the foul.

I have said it before, and I will say it again.  When the Hawks are smart about their offense and actually running sets (instead of isolations), they are a fun/effective offense.  This is another case, and a good move by coach Larry Drew to use Jamal Crawford as the screener, preventing the Magic from hedging on the screen, allowing Johnson to get into the lane.

After getting the ball to Turkoglu, Dwight Howard comes over to set a screen.  It’s a very good screen and Joe Johnson ends up getting caught in it, forcing Al Horford (Howard’s man) to switch onto Turkoglu.  There is a lot of action taking place up top, but the man to watch here is Josh Smith, who has help responsibility.

As Howard rolls to the rim, Smith’s man, Brandon Bass pops to the elbow.  This is being done by design since the goal is to pull Smith away from help position, freeing up the lane for Dwight Howard to make an easy catch and dunk.

This doesn’t work though, as Josh Smith is aware of what is going on.  Instead of chasing Bass to the outside, he simply points Joe Johnson (in addition to probably calling out to him) to Brandon Bass.  Smith isn’t just directing here, as after he points he dives to the middle to step in front of Howard and cut off his path to the rim.

Turkoglu is up in the air, and he wants to get it to Howard at the rim (something that has happened numerous times) but because Smith is in front of Howard he is unable to get the pass to him.  Stuck in the air, Turkoglu is forced to throw a desperation pass to Brandon Bass.

With their go-to play not working, the Magic are now in panic mode, especially after a bad pass.  After making the pass, Turkoglu heads to the corner to try and provide some spacing.

Look at all of the confusion that this proper rotation caused.  The Magic actually have a mismatch here, with Howard being covered by Josh Smith and plenty of time (still 11 seconds on the shot clock).  However, since their first (and only) set didn’t work, he doesn’t think/know to try and take advantage of it.  Maybe trying to secure the two for one, maybe just thinking he can make a shot, Turkoglu forces up a tough step back jumper with Horford right in his face.  Here is the play in real time:

This is such a heads up play, not only by Josh Smith, but also Joe Johnson.  If Johnson doesn’t recognize Smith trying to switch, the Hawks would have two defenders running at Howard, opening up Bass on the outside.  That doesn’t happen and the Hawks are able to take away every single option the Magic had on this play.  The result is a tough shot that misses.  Because of the crazy banked in three by Jamal Crawford, this was the Magic’s final meaningful possession, and the Hawks were able to get the stop.