UPDATE: Corrected the Thunder set to show it correctly.

Last time, we looked at my favorite sets coming out of timeouts in dead ball situations.  These are set plays drawn up in the huddle, so it is all on the coaches.  During non-dead ball situations, it is more on the player to execute.  Because it isn’t a quick hitter, where you see one or two quick passes and a shot, players are now forced to react to the defense and go from there.

Celtics Overtime Pick And Roll

With the game tied, the Boston Celtics had the basketball and needed a basket against the New York Knicks.  The Celtics started out running their familiar ISO set for Paul Pierce, but instead ran Kevin Garnett up to set a screen for Pierce.

Box 1 -The first thing to notice is the personnel around Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.  Rasheed Wallace, Eddie House, and Ray Allen.  All shooters who force the defense to stay home and not help.  As Pierce dribbles out the ball, Garnett sets a screen for him, with his defender (David Lee) trailing the play.

Box 2 -Pierce doesn’t come off the screen as well as he could, and he leaves way too much space in between himself and Garnett.  This allows for Pierce’s defender to get over the screen and stick with Pierce.  David Lee also shows to help prevent Pierce getting to the lane.  After the screen, Garnett rolls to the top of the key.  As this takes place, Rasheed Wallace sets a screen for Eddie House, occupying the help defense.

Box 3 -  Garnett makes the catch at the top of the key, and Rasheed Wallace’s defender tries to close out but he was so occupied with with the downscreen, that he can’t get there in time.

Box 4 – As a result KG is wide open and he knocks the game winning shot down.

What impresses me about this play is that it is so simple, yet so complex.

Blazers Get A Wide Open Lay-up

After getting a basket, the Suns had to either get a stop or foul being down by four points in the closing moments of their game with the Blazers.  The Blazers understood this and used the Suns’ aggressiveness against them to get a wide open dunk opportunity.

Box 1 – As the ball goes through the net, Andre Miller hurries to retrieve it and inbounds the basketball.  Everyone seems to be covered by a defender except for Marcus Camby.  Jason Richardson is responsible for him, but instead of sticking with him, he is playing centerfield trying to get a steal.  Nicolas Batum who is at the elbow, flashes to the ball and his man follows him.  Miller fakes the pass to Batum and Richardson bites, pulling him further away from Camby.

Box 2 – LaMarcus Aldridge then flashes to the ball from the opposite high post, and this draws Aldridge’s man to the basket and away from Camby as well.  Camby is wide open sprinting towards his basket.  As the pass is made, Richardson realizes he was the one responsible for Camby and tries to get back.

Box 3 – He doesn’t get back in time, and Camby has an easy dunk…that he misses.

Sure, Camby misses the dunk, but it doesn’t take away the fact that the play worked well.  You had two cutters going to the ball drawing their man in and freeing up the home run pass.

Jason Richardson Quick Hitter

Up by six points with about six minutes left, the Suns wanted a basket to try and pull away.  They used this quick hitting play to do it.

Box 1 – As Steve Nash brings the basketball up, he quickly enters it to Amar’e Stoudemire who is at the elbow.

Box 2 – After entering the ball to the elbow, Nash goes ball side on his way to set a screen for Jason Richardson.  As this happens, Grant Hill sets a down screen for Jared Dudley away from the basketball.  Just like in the Kevin Garnett game winner, this action is to keep the defense’s attention from where the ball is really going.

Box 3 – Nash gets into position and sets the screen for Richardson.  Richardson comes off the screen, dives to the basket, makes the catch, and finishes at the rim.

What made this play work so successfully for the Suns is that they ran a play similar where Richardson took that Nash screen and cut all the way around Amar’e.  I think the Blazers were expecting that, and when Richardson dove to the basket hard, they weren’t ready for it.

Jeff Green’s Back To Back Threes

With around two minutes left, the Thunder found themselves up by one point against the Boston Celtics.  Needing a basket, the Thunder drew up a play that used Kevin Durant flashing through the lane as a decoy.

Box 1 – Westbrook brings the ball up and takes it to the coaches box along the sideline.  As he does this, Kevin Durant uses a backscreen set by Jeff Green.  Westbrook passes the ball to Nenad Krstic and cuts to the middle of the floor.

Box 2 – Nenad Krstic quickly returns the ball to Westbrook and gets himself in position to be the second screener on a double screen.  As this is happening Durant quickly changes directions and uses another Jeff Green screen, this time in the opposite direction.

Box 3 – After using Green’s screen, Durant comes off of Krstic’s screen and dives through the lane hard.  The purpose of this is to draw the defense in and keep all eyes focused on Durant.  As Durant starts to make his cut off the second screen, Westbrook passes it off to Thabo Sefolosha.  Sefolosha makes the catch and fakes a pass to Durant, sucking in the defense even more.

Box 4 – Because all eyes are on Durant, Krstic is able to sneak up on Jeff Green’s man and set a solid screen for him.  Green flashes behind the three point line, gets a nice skip pass from Sefolosha, and knocks down the open three.

What makes this play so effective is the use of Durant as a decoy.  You can’t not help but be sucked in when a player like Durant flashes to the middle.  It worked so well that the Thunder ran the play again next time down the court.  It worked.

Play 1 (Two Points)

Above is a play from a sideline out of bounds set.  Immediately after Ron Artest inbounds the basketball and floats to the corner, Paul Pierce leaves him to float in the middle of the court.  Rajon Rondo, unsure of what to make of the situation decides to pick up Artest.  As the shot goes up, Artest uses his size advantage on Rondo to grab the rebound and put it right back in the basket.

Play 2 (Five Points)

In the play above, the ball gets swung around to Derek Fisher from the opposite sideline.  As this ball movement takes place, Paul Pierce leaves Ron Artest to defend Fisher and prevent him from shooting.  However, once he forces Fisher to take the ball into the paint he stays with him despite the two other Celtics in the paint.  Fisher finds a wide open Ron Artest, and he knocks down the three pointer.

Play 3 (Eight Points)

The play above is my favorite one of the four plays, so I am going to break it down with screenshots.

Here, Ron Artest gets the ball on the wing as Pau Gasol posts up.

Artest enters the ball into the post and then cuts off of Gasol, going along the baseline with Paul Pierce trailing him.

When it looks like Artest is headed for the corner (and gets out from under the basket), Paul Pierce leads him to double Gasol in the post.

When Ron Artest notices that Paul Pierce has left him, he curls around Lamar Odom and cuts right too the rim.  This is what I wanted to see Rajon Rondo do in game six and seven, but it never happened.  Nobody stops Artest as he gets right in the middle of the lane untouched.

Artest makes the catch, absorbs the contact, and finishes with the And 1.

Play 4 (Eleven Points)

This was the backbreaking play right here.  After a Celtics’ three, the Lakers came down and responded with one of their own.  It came from Ron Artest, after the Lakers left him open.  Kobe has the basketball here, and Paul Pierce settles into help position.  However, he sinks a little to far and when Artest gets the pass, Pierce isn’t able to get back to him and he knocks down the three.

An interesting little wrinkle with this play is Lamar Odom bringing the ball up.  This is important for two reasons.  When Pau gets the ball in the post, it is hard for Big Baby (the man covering Odom) to double off of him.  It allows allows for Derek Fisher to float off of the basketball.

Odom hits Kobe on the wing and cuts through to the opposite corner.  Big Baby has to stay with him to prevent any backdoor cuts to the basket.

Kobe then enters the ball into Pau Gasol.  After doing so, Kobe cuts through to the opposite wing.  There are two reasons why.  The first is that he prevents Ray Allen from being able to dig in on Gasol (this is because Ray Allen has to stay with Kobe).  It also frees up space for Derek Fisher to float to and get open for a three.

Now, the Lakers’ floor spacing on the opposite side of the hoop leaves much to be desired.  This is important because it allows for one Celtic defender to cover two Lakers.  However, the Celtics don’t take advantage of this mistake.  You can see Pierce wants to go double Gasol, but Rajon Rondo beats him to it.

As soon as Rondo doubles down, Gasol kicks the basketball out to Derek Fisher.

Fisher makes the catch, and despite a solid close-out he knocks it down.  The Lakers didn’t trail the rest of the game.  The big mistake made by Celtics on this play is that they didn’t send the right man on the double team.  Watching the play in real time below shows that Pierce wants to double, but Rondo (the wrong man) beats him to it.

After Ray Allen hit a three pointer with about 52 seconds left, the Celtics found themselves down three points needing to get a stop to keep it a one possession game.  They got their stop as Kobe chucked up a deep three pointer, but they were unable to secure the defensive rebound, and that was your ballgame:

After Ray Allen hits his three, things get a little hectic as Pau Gasol gets set to inbound the basketball.  All ten players are in the Lakers’ backcourt, and this leads to some confusions about matchups.  Initially you have Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett just kind of hanging around not responsible for any Laker yet.

As Kobe Bryant gets the ball, two Celtics head towards him.  Ray Allen goes over (which makes sense because he is covering him), but Kevin Garnett decides to trap the basketball too.  With nobody covering him, Lamar Odom starts down the sideline and Kobe hits him with the pass.

Odom makes the catch and continues down the sideline.  The Celtics seem to be in decent position, with Rasheed Wallace appearing to be matched up with Odom.  However, Wallace decides to stay in the middle of the court covering Derek Fisher despite Rajon Rondo in the area.

This forces Rondo to bust it down the court to pick up Lamar Odom.  Rondo actually does a really good job of making Odom pick up his dribble, slow things down, and kick it back out to Kobe Bryant.

Look at how the Celtics are positioned right now.  Rondo is covering Lamar Odom and Kevin Garnett is kind of just floating in the middle of the court.  Rondo is aware that Fisher is wide open and he is signaling for Garnett to go pick him up.

Garnett actually starts towards Odom, but Rondo again insists (by pointing towards Fisher) that Garnett gets to Fisher.  I guess Rondo didn’t think that he could get back to Fisher on time.  I think he did have time.  The Lakers were in dribble it out and shoot with no time left on the shot clock mode, so I don’t think Kobe would have hit an open Fisher (as Rondo was recovering to him), and if he did, Fisher wouldn’t force up the shot.

Now, as Gasol goes up to set a screen for Bryant, Rondo again directs his big man into a switch.  This time he has Wallace go down to cover Odom as he switches on Gasol.  This makes sense, because Rondo probably felt more comfortable covering a big on the outside rather than a big on the inside.

Kobe doesn’t use the screen, and pulls up for the jumper.  Gasol sees the shot goes up and he runs right at the rim.  Rondo, who was covering Gasol, is gets stuck behind him allowing for a clear lane to get an offensive rebound.

Gasol gets the rebound, kicks it out, and eventually Kobe Bryant gets fouled, effectively ending the game and the season for the Celtics.  Here is the play in real time.  Notice the chances the Celtics have for getting their matchups right but they don’t take advantage of it.

On the defensive end, Kendrick Perkins is the anchor, allowing for the rest of the team to play against more favorable matchups.  Kevin Garnett on Andrew Bynum is rough, but Kevin Garnett on Pau Gasol (the matchup when Kendrick Perkins is in the game) is much more manageable.

Perkins is also one of the reasons why the Celtics are so good at defending the pick and roll:

Perkins hedges out real hard here, but the Celtics probably gameplan it this way to get it out of Kobe’s hands. The Lakers actually counter with a nice play, a quick pass to Gasol who then hits a rolling Bynum (trying to take advantage of Perkins’ hedge).  However, Perkins is able to get back, use his body, and force Bynum under the basket.  This is something that Kendrick Perkins does very well.

Here is another look at Perkins defending the pick and roll:

In addition to the pick and roll, Kendrick Perkins does a number of things here. He picks up Kobe as he drives through the lane, forcing him to kick it out. When he does, the shot goes up and Bynum gets the rebound. Perkins crowds him and forces him into a miss.

So with Perkins out, what does the Celtics’ defense look like?  Well, it means that Rasheed Wallace is going to most likely be starting, matched up against Andrew Bynum.  On the second play after Perkins gets injured you see the difference:

This time it’s Wallace defending the pick and roll, and he does a very poor job doing it.  Remember when Perkins cut off Kobe, making him pass it?  Well, Wallace can’t even contain Shannon Brown.  Wallace allows Brown to easily take the sideline and force rotation.  This means that nobody is able to help on Ron Artest’s penetration, and he knocks down the jumper.

Where the Celtics find themselves at a real disadvantage is when KG needs a rest now.  Instead of taking Garnett out and putting Perkins on Pau and sliding Wallace to Odom.  Glen Davis and Kendrick Perkins have to share the court at the same time.  This means that Big Baby has to cover Lamar Odom and Rasheed Wallace has to cover Pau Gasol.  Mismatches galore, and here is the result:

As the ball goes up in the air, Wallace kind of just watches it.  This allows for Gasol to push him under the basket and get the rebound.  Gasol then backs Wallace down and hits the turnaround jumper.  Do you think that Perkins would allow either the rebound or the basket to be made?  I don’t.

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In the end, Perkins being out really hurts the Celtics defense and prevents them from being able to do what they really want to on the defensive end.  This is why I think the Lakers will take game seven tonight.

Ignoring Rondo In The Halfcourt

The Lakers were able to stop Rajon Rondo in the halfcourt by basically ignoring him as his defender (Kobe Bryant for the most part) played about 10-15 feet off of him the entire game, whether he had the ball or not.  It was as if the Lakers were saying, “If Rajon Rondo beats us with jump shots, then so be it.”

The above play is a perfect example of the Lakers’ strategy working as planned.  Here, the Celtics run a screen and roll with Rajon Rondo coming off of a screen set by Kendrick Perkins.  The Lakers switch the screen, and Pau Gasol ends up being forced to cover Rondo.  This is usually a point guard’s dream, and the way a point guard normally attacks this is by pulling the ball out and then just blowing by the big man covering him.  In fact, Rajon Rondo does try to do this, but Pau Gasol doesn’t take a step in Rondo’s direction and he stays in the paint.  Rondo is basically left with only one option (the pass to the mismatch isn’t there because Gasol is clogging the passing lane), and that is to take an awkward jumper that he misses.

Off the ball, it is more of the same strategy:

The Celtics run a pick and roll with Kevin Garnett setting the screen and Paul Pierce as the ball handler.  The Lakers quickly trap the screen in the corner, so Paul Pierce kicks it out to Kevin Garnett, who he thinks is wide open.  However, once Pierce dribbles the ball into the corner, Kobe just leaves Rajon Rondo to play free safety and he is able to come up with the steal.

In Transition

While stopping Rajon Rondo in the halfcourt is key, the most important aspect of Rondo’s game that you want to contain is his transition game, and the Lakers were able to do that:

In this first play, as soon as Rajon Rondo gets his hand on the rebound the Lakers retreat.  You don’t see anyone trying to cut off the basketball or anything like that.  The four Lakers back on defense (Pau Gasol falls and takes a while to get back up) pack in the lane, and then when the pass is made Kobe doesn’t return to Rondo, he just stays in the lane.  This prevents Pierce from driving and it is ultimately what leads to the turnover.

The Lakers also switched up looks they gave Rondo when he got the rebound.

Here, Rondo grabs the board and two Laker defenders quickly trap him, forcing the ball out of his hands.  I don’t know about you, but if I am the Lakers, I take Nate Robinson running the fastbreak over Rondo any day.

Adjustments

While the Lakers executed their defensive strategy on Rajon Rondo to perfection, I think some of the blame for his bad game falls squarely on his shoulders.  Rajon Rondo was far too passive for most of this game.  I say most because for the first few minutes, Rajon Rondo looked like he was going to play a major role in helping the Celtics win the championship.

Rajon Rondo really needs to make Kobe pay for floating around and not recovering quickly when he catches the ball.  Here, Rondo makes the catch and he doesn’t hesitate as he attacks the hoop strong before Kobe can get back to him and this allows for Rajon to get close enough to hit the floater.

In addition to that, Rondo needs to start moving and cutting when the basketball isn’t in his hands.  When he is standing around that makes it so much easier for Kobe Bryant to leave him, because he knows all Rajon Rondo is doing is just standing there.  Remember that play where Kobe leaves Rondo and gets the steal?  Well, let’s take a look at that again real quick:

With Kobe leaving Rajon Rondo to go play free safety and everyone else matched up with there man, a lane opens for Rajon Rondo to cut through opens up right in front of the basket.  Even more importantly, the cut would have been right in front of Pierce’s face, making it an easy pass.  In game seven, any time Kobe turns his head and leaves Rajon Rondo, he needs to cut right off of his back.  If he makes the catch he will either get a lay-up or force rotations to free up his teammates.  Even if he doesn’t get the ball, cutting like this will force Kobe to think twice before leaving Rondo.

Rondo’s lack of aggression also hurt him in transition:

The mistake Rajon Rondo makes here is he passes the ball entirely too early, and that kills the entire fast break.  What do I mean by passing too early?  Well, the Celtics have a three on two fast break with everyone else trailing them, and Rajon Rondo has the ball in his hands going full speed.  That should be a basket right?

But look at where Rondo stops his dribble.  He is close to 35-40 feet away from the basket.  He doesn’t force one of the two Lakers defenders to make a decision of who to cover, as he essentially makes the decision for them.  Rondo needs to keep his dribble alive and attack until a defender stops him THEN pass it, and if no defender steps up it’s an easy lay-in.

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Two adjustments for Rajon Rondo.  Be more aggressive and cut off of Kobe’s back when he leaves him.  They might sound like small little things, but they are very important to the Celtics’ success in game seven.  I am not saying that this will win them the game, but it will keep things close and then who knows what happens?

The Boston Celtics get the ball in Paul Pierce’s hands so he can initiate the offense.  Once he gets the ball, the Celtics run a pick and pop with Ray Allen as the screener.

Because Derek Fisher can’t leave Ray Allen to hedge, Paul Pierce is able to get himself into the lane.  This forces Kobe Bryant to leave his man (Rajon Rondo) and help on the driving Pierce.

This help by Kobe sets off a series of rotations from the Lakers as the ball gets kicked out to the wing.  As this is taking place, Rajon Rondo fades to the wing to clear the lane.

Eventually the ball gets swung back around to Paul Pierce on the wing.  The Lakers start the process of trying to recover to everyone, but nobody picks up Rajon Rondo.  At first thought Kobe Bryant seems at fault, but if you look at the above image, Lamar Odom is the man closest to Rondo and he seems to be responsible for him.

As the shot is in the air, Kobe boxes out Ray Allen so if there was any doubt of who was responsible for ray Allen and who was responsible for Rajon Rondo, that should have settled it.  Instead of finding Rondo and boxing him out, Lamar Odom ball watches.

As the ball comes off the rim, Rajon Rondo rises up and tips it home.  Lamar Odom’s mistake here is not boxing out and just trying to jump for the basketball.  If Odom gets a body on Rondo, there is no way that Rajon would be able to get a jump like this.  Here is the play in real time, notice how nobody picks up Rondo as the shot goes up.

In both of these videos, the individual parts of the defense aren’t the problem.  Kobe makes the correct decision in playing off of Rajon Rondo to prevent him from penetrating and the fronting of the post in itself is a decent strategy.  However, you can’t do both at the same time.  This is because if you front the post, you are basically daring the offense to throw a pass over the defenders head.  Give a guy like Rajon Rondo 10 feet, and he is going to make that pass 9 out of 10 times.

In the end this is all about communication.  If the Lakers get caught in front of the the Boston’s big men, they have to let Kobe know (because he can’t see it as he is focused on the ball and his man) so he can put pressure on the basketball.  I think being in front of their home crowd, the Lakers are going to be able to communicate easier and you won’t see mistakes like these.

When you are dealing with a superstar like Kobe you always here of two defensive strategies.  You can double him and force the ball out of his hands and let his teammates beat you, or you can let Kobe get his but not let anyone else go off.  The Boston Celtics decided to go with the latter and it worked for them.  Think about it, during Kobe’s spectacular run, did you see a double team?  No.  In fact, the Celtics didn’t overreact and completely change their defensive strategy:

This is Kobe’s first basket of the third, and it is a pretty good look at the Celtics’ defensive strategy.  Kobe gets the ball in the corner and starts to back Ray Allen down as no double comes (Paul Pierce fakes a double and stays with his man). Kevin Garnett eventually brings a double, but only when it is apparent that Kobe is going to take a shot. They force Kobe Bryant into a tough shot, but he is able to knock it down.

Maybe the only difference in the Celtics’ defensive strategy during this run was against the screen and roll.  Here, Perkins extends his hedge, but Kobe Bryant is still able to knock down the jumper.  That being said, this extension of the pick and roll also played a part in keeping Bryant from distributing the basketball.  Instead of quickly hedging and getting back (which would allow Bryant to get in the lane, force rotation, and dish it to an open man), Perkins extends the hedge and that keeps Bryant on the perimeter.

The above video is after Kobe already scored 10 straight points for the Lakers.  However, when Kobe posts up at the high post to get the ball, there is no deny or overplaying.  The Celtics are basically saying if Kobe is going to get the ball and hit a tough shot so be it.  It is interesting to watch Rondo on the above play, when Kobe makes the catch Rondo is close enough to bring a double however he stays with Derek Fisher.

In their defense, Celtics are basically admitting that Kobe Bryant is going to score no matter what.  Even if the Celtics send a double team, he is going to get his points and maybe more importantly he will be able to find his teammates.  So Doc Rivers had his guys stay home with only one defender on Kobe, that way they can defend the guys who need the open spaces to score (Doc Rivers said something to this effect during a timeout in the third).

Pierce attempted 11 shots from that right elbow area and he made 6 of them, and his six makes count for half of his total makes for the game.  Just by looking at the shot-chart, it is no surprise to find out that Paul Pierce had his best game of the series.  If the fans know that this is Pierce’s sweet spot, the Lakers have to know about it, so I think it is safe to assume that one of their goals when defending Paul Pierce is to keep him out of this area.  The Lakers failed to do this last night:

Make One

Ron Artest had a strange game defensively.  I don’t know what it was, but he was just lacking a physicality that he normally has.  This was most apparent when he was defending Paul Pierce in his sweet spot.  A few times, Pierce would just seal at the mid-post, and Ron Artest would just let it happen.  Artest normally uses his body to push a guy like Pierce out of position, but tonight he didn’t do that.  Once Pierce makes the catch, Artest gives Pierce too much of a cushion (especially when you have two seven footers in help position behind you), and Pierce takes advantage by knocking down the jumper.

Make Two

In addition to sealing Pierce on the mid post, the Celtics also liked getting the ball to Pierce up top and running a screen for him.  The Lakers were switching every screen and here Lamar Odom is now in charge of defending Pierce.  Odom keeps his hands down and lets Pierce just walk into his step back move without much of a challenge.

Make Three

Again, the Celtics run a screen for Pierce, getting a switch and forcing Odom to once again cover Pierce.  This time Pierce pump fakes, and Odom doesn’t bit (or react even).  He is late with his close-out and Pierce knocks down the easy jumper.

Make Four

This is probably the best defended play of the six I am showing you.  Artest gets a hand in Pierce’s face, but he is still able to knock down the step back jumper.  The mistake here is Artest once again just letting Pierce back him down in the mid-post with no real effort to try and push him out of position.

Make Five

This is just a really nice set run by Boston.  They get Pierce going off a screen away from the basketball, running towards his sweet spot.  Pretty good defense, but maybe you would like to see Bynum leave Perkins to help on Pierce running off of the screen.

Make Six

The Celtics push the ball in transition here, and it forces a few cross-matches and maybe the worst one (from the Lakers’ perspective) is Jordan Farmar stuck covering Paul Pierce.  Farmar tries to be physical with Pierce, but he is too small and Pierce just backs him down to the elbow and knocks down the jumper.