I usually try to keep the Nets away from NBAPlaybook.com.  For one, they are an awful team who gets blown out a lot, so there aren’t too many “key possessions.”  Also, along with Mark Ginocchio, I co-run the Nets Truehoop Network blog NetsAreScorching, so most of my Nets stuff goes over there.  The Nets’ game last night against Detroit showed us some things that I want to talk about here.

“The Nets have the talent, why aren’t they winning any games?”  Being the blogger that talks about the Nets, I hear a variation of this question at least once a day.  Whenever I am asked, I give a generic answer that involves “Injuries, them being young, and the fact that they don’t have a real coach.”  You know what though, those are just excuses.  When the Nets played the Pistons (a team that I think the Nets are equal with in terms of talent), you saw the real reason.  They don’t execute late, while other teams do.

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There were two really good games with some nice execution late.  The first game that we are going to take a look at is the Lakers-Raptors game from yesterday.  The Lakers had the lead lake, but two plays for the Raptors that lead in fouls were able to help the Raptors get the win.

The Shooting Threat Of Bargnani

The great thing about being a great three point shooter is the way that the defense plays you.  Defenses need to close out hard because they respect the shot, and if you have an ability to attack the basket, this gives you a great advantage.  When you are a shooting threat from the center spot, it is even better, because you are usually matched up against guys who don’t really know how to close-out properly.

Here Pau Gasol is in help position as the pick and roll between Chris Bosh and Hedo goes on.  Hedo then makes the pass to Bargnani.

As Bargnani makes the catch, he doesn’t even need to pump fake, because Pau Gasol is already closing out on him real hard.  Bargnani rips the ball through and has Pau on his hip.  This gives him a lane right to the basket.

The help actually comes on time, but Bargnani is able to avoid it, take the ball under the basket, and hit the reverse lay-up while getting fouled.

The Play To Get Hedo Fouled

Here, the Raptors run a pick and roll late with the goal to isolate Pau Gasol on Hedo (because, as we talked about in the past, most teams switch any screens in the final moments of the game).

The pick gets set and the switch is made.  Hedo explores the right side, but there is nothing there, and he crosses over and goes back to the middle.

Hedo uses another screen from Bosh.  Here, the Raptors actually gave the Lakers a chance to switch back.  Pau and Ron Artest choose not to though.

Because they don’t switch the screen, Hedo is able to use is athletic advantage on Pau to get him on his hip.  He does just that and starts his drive to the basket.

Hedo gets into the lane and as he attempts a lay-up, he is fouled.  He knocks down the two foul shots and the Raptors come away with the win.

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The next game that we arre going to look at is the Magic-Bobcats game from Saturday.  This was another good game (until it got into overtime), but instead of good execution, it was a defensive breakdown that almost cost the Magic the game

Outside Opening Inside

Before we get to the late game play, I just wanted to show what makes Orlando so dangerous.

As the clock winds down to end the quarter, Marcin Gortat sets a screen for Vince Carter.  Look how the court is spread out.  The Magic have 4 legitimate outside threats with the one center.  A great way to stretch the court out.

After he sets his screen Gortat dives to the basket.  This serves two purposes, the first is that it may suck a defender in and allow for an open shot.  The second purpose is that if/when the Magic shoot a three, Gortat diving to the basket makes himself available for an offensive rebound.

As Carter swings the ball to Jameer Nelson, there is a problem.  Stephen Jackson has to decide to go defend Rashard Lewis (who is wide open right now) or stay on Gortat.

Jackson chooses to go out on Lewis, leaving Gortat open.  Nelson makes a great look-away pass to get it to Gortat down low.

Gortat makes the catch in the paint with the defense on his back.  He is able to finish strong with the dunk.

The Defensive Breakdown

Now we get to the defensive breakdown.  This to me looks like a lack of communication either in the huddle or on the court (Maybe both).

This is a nice play run by the Bobcats.  Boris Diaw is going to quickly make himself available, and after the pass is made, Stephen Jackson is going to come off a backscreen set by Raymond Felton.

After Felton sets the screen, he is going to come and get a handoff from Diaw.  For the Magic, this is where the breakdown happens.  You can see Nelson pointing (and most likely yelling) to Vince Carter.  Nelson wants Carter to switch and cover Felton as he covers Nelson.

However, Vince Carter doesn’t here him (or chooses to ignore him), so now the Magic have two defenders on one, and Boris Diaw (it ends up being Diaw because the handoff turns into a screen, and that gets switched by Dwight Howard)  is going to be open.  In this hectic-ness, Carter and Nelson need to figure out who is going to go out on Diaw.  Instead of just one defender going out on Diaw, both do.

This leaves Stephen Jackson wide open under the basket.  Jackson is actually open for a really long time here, but Felton can’t see him, because Dwight does a good job of getting big and closing the court down.  He doesn’t allow for Felton to see how open Jackson is.

As Felton uses his speed to turn the corner, he is able to finally see Stephen Jackson who is still wide open.  Jackson shouldn’t still be this wide open, but again Vince Carter and Jameer Nelson can’t figure out who is going to run to Jackson.  Nelson, decides he is going to stay with Diaw, and this forces Carter to try and cover a longer distance to get to Jackson.

He is unable to do so, and Felton makes the pass to Jackson, and he is able to finish right at the basket, tying the game, and sending it into overtime.

We are going to quickly breakdown 3 possessions, and for a change, instead of the offensive end, we are going to look at the defensive end.  There were a few key defensive mistakes made late by both teams.

The Lakers’ Mistake(s)

Poor Double Down

When Shaq gets the ball down low, he is going to have the size advantage over just about every center in the NBA.  This means that you are going to have to double-down on Shaq to keep him from just backing down his defender.

As Shaq makes the catch, everyone freezes.  There is no immediate double-team because most teams like to double on the first dribble.  When you double as a center dribbles, you have a better opportunity to steal the ball.  Plus, it is harder for centers to pass off the dribble rather than passing on the standstill.  So everything is done right so far.

Shaq’s a veteran, so he knows that the double is going to come on the dribble (and he probably knows where it is coming from too).  So he quickly takes one dribble to get in position and spins baseline.  Derek Fisher takes a quick step towards him, but when he turns baseline, he returns to Anthony Parker.  That is where the mistake is made in my opinion.  If you are the double man (and I am pretty sure Fisher is), you need to double hard, the rotations are designed around the double, and your teammates have your back if Shaq does in fact pass it.

Shaq pump fakes and spins inside.  Shaq has a lane for the spin, because Fisher backed out of his double team.  If Derek Fisher was doubling on Shaq, he wouldn’t have the space to spin and get to the basket.

But instead, Shaq is able to get to the rim and finish with the basket.

The Cavs’ Mistake(s)

Late in the game, the Cavs made a bunch of mistakes that could have cost them the game.  They were up by 7 and pulling away, but a few defensive mistakes allowed the Lakers to tie the game up.

Not Boxing Out

The mistake was a lack of box out.  When you watch this play live, it looks like just a lucky bounce for the Lakers, but a poor box out is what allowed for the ball to bounce to Ron Artest:

As Kobe takes the turnaround, the Cavs seem to be in good position to grab the rebound.  They have 4 guys inside the paint, the problem is they are all looking at the basketball and not boxing out.  This allows for Lamar Odom to slip inside and get position.

His inside position is what allows for him to get his hands on the basketball, and the deflection bounces out to Ron Artest.

Artest makes the catch and drills the three, cutting the lead to 4.

Poor Pick And Roll Defense

It is under the two-minute mark so the Hack-A-Shaq tactic can’t be executed, and Shaq returns to the game.  Right after he returns though, the Lakers attack him, going to the pick and roll with Shaq’s man Pau Gasol setting the pick.  Here is Henry Abbott’s take on Shaq and the pick and roll:

Then the Lakers ran a high pick-and-roll with Pau Gasol setting a high screen for Bryant. The brilliant part of this is that the guy guarding Gasol is charged with slowing Bryant so Delonte West could catch up. That guy was … Shaquille O’Neal. There are a lot of things O’Neal can’t do anymore. One of them is slow someone like Bryant on the perimeter.

I totally agree with this, which is why the other Cavs defenders need to help Shaq out by doing things properly.

Here, Delonte West doesn’t.  As Bryant goes around the screen, West goes under it.  Team’s usually go under the screen when they have a mobile big man or a poor shooter using the pick.  None of that is the case here.

Kobe pulls up and with Shaq worried about the drive, he is unable to close-out on a jumper.  This gives Kobe a wide open shot.  If West went over the screen trying to stay attached to Kobe, he would have done two things.  One, he would have forced Kobe to drive, and Shaq is better equipped to handle Kobe on the inside instead of the perimeter.  Also, if West was chasing Kobe over the screen, he would have the opportunity to alter the shot from behind.

Instead, Kobe is able to knock down the jumper and tie the game.

By my count there was only 1 game in the NBA last night (yes, I know that the Pacers and Heat played each other, but the final score of that game means it doesn’t count), and it was a pretty good one.  We are going to breakdown a good amount of possessions from the Cavs and show you a number of ways they manage to get LeBron the basketball.  Here we go:

Getting Shaq Involved

I noticed this when I did my opponent breakdown for the Nets vs. Cavs match-up a while back.  When the game starts or whenever Shaq enters the game, the Cavs love to feed him the ball, get him some touches, keep him happy, and go from there.

The Cavs are coming off of a Cavs miss, and they quickly get it into LeBron’s hands.  That is a smart decision.  He is such a threat with the basketball and such a good decision maker that you want the ball in his hands as much as possible, especially on the break.  Notice Shaq busting it down the court.  This is because it is early in the game and he knows the Cavs are going to go out of the way to get him the basketball.

As LeBron pulls up, Shaq pins Chris Bosh right on his back.  The only way that the Raptors are going to be able to stop this is if one of the two defenders eying LeBron drops off.

This doesn’t happen though, and both of the defenders close out on LeBron as he rises up to shoot.  At the last second though, LeBron decides to pass it to Shaq who has fantastic position.

After making the catch, Shaq has deep position with Chris Bosh trying to body him up.  Who do you think is going to win this battle?

Yup, Shaq.

What Makes LeBron So Good

What makes LeBron great is not only the ability to pass, but the willingness to pass.

Here, LeBron is attacking the middle of a quick screen from Anderson Varejao.  Everyone is in proper help defense right now, but the man to focus on for the Raptors is Jarrett Jack.  This is the guy the Cavs are isolating on this play.

As LeBron starts his drive, Jack knows that Mo Williams is wide open.  Why?  Because he left him to help on the LeBron drive.  Right now, the Raptors have three guys basically covering LeBron.  This is where LeBron being a willing passer comes into play.  Teams can’t load up on him like this, because if they do…

LeBron just finds the open person.  In this case it is Mo Williams.  Another reason that LeBron is great?  He can hang in the air for such a long time.  You are convinced he is going up with the ball because he hanging on with it for so long you think he is going up.  But at that last second, he will pass it.

Mo Williams makes the catch and he is wide open and he knocks down the three.

Getting LeBron Touches

LeBron James can get his own shot whenever he wants, he is that good.  There are times though where he gets a little shot happy.  Normally you don’t mind because he is still hitting these bad shots, but when he isn’t the Cleveland staff does a great job of getting James the ball going to the basket.  You will notice that all of these end with a LeBron dunk.  This also gets the crowd going.

Pick & Roll As A Decoy

The first way they get LeBron going to the basket is by running the pick and roll away from him.  Since he is standing 30 feet away from the basket, opposing teams think that he won’t be involved in the play.

As the pick and roll gets set and run, LeBron is still hanging out 30 feet away.  This is key, because there are some plays where he actually stays there the entire set.  I think they do it in part to set this kind of stuff up later in the game.

The Raptors switch the screen and Mo Williams drives the baseline.  As this happens, the defense starts to focus on Williams.  With that happening, Big Z is now allowed to sneak up on LeBron’s man and set a backscreen without nobody noticing.

The screen gets set, and LeBron is now going fullscreen to the basket without anybody looking at him.  You have arguably the best player in the NBA, not being covered with the defense focusing on somebody else.  This is incredible, and such great playcalling.

LeBron makes the catch and finishes strong with the dunk.  Here it is in real time:

Lobbing To LeBron

Here is the next one.  This is another quick hitter that ends with LeBron getting the lob.

As Mo Williams dribbles out to the wing, LeBron cuts in front of him with Anderson Varejao setting the backscreen.  Anthony Parker is a three point shooter, so the defense needs to stick with him.

As the backscreen gets set, J.J. Hickson clears to the wing.  This is where the Raptors messed up.  Hickson’s man follows him instead of staying in help position to help defend the lob.  Bargnani realizes it and tries to back up into the lane, but it is too late.  LeBron has a ton of free space to make his catch.

LeBron makes the catch and finishes strong with the dunk.  Here it is in real time:

LeBron Moving Without The Ball

Here, the ball gets dumped into Shaq, and Mo Williams and LeBron switch positions.  The Cavs just ran this and hit Mo Williams for a three pointer, so the Raptors are naturally going to hedge to that.

As LeBron finishes his cut, instead of going to the top of the key, he quickly cuts to the inside.

Shaq dumps the ball to LeBron.  Bargnani is too close to Shaq (because he is trying to body him up and not let him get an easy basket in the post), so he is in no position to help, and once again, the lane is wide open for one of the best players in the NBA.

LeBron finishes strong with the slam.  Here it is in real time:

Every morning (or late-afternoon), I am going to breakdown the some key possessions from the previous night’s games.  Good possessions/bad possessions you can find them all here.

I know the Breakdowns have been “on break” for a while, but I am bringing them back today.  We are going to look at some stuff from the Spurs-Thunder game.  These two plays are very interesting, because they are basically the same play, with Kevin Durant being denied the ball.  In the second play though (the one from overtime), there is a chance for Durant to get the ball.  Is it Durant’s fault or Westbrook’s fault?  Let’s look…

Game Tying Shot:

Since there is 10 seconds left, the Thunder run a play to get Russell Westbrook the ball.  I don’t believe this means it was designed for him to get the final shot, there is enough time to run a play for Durant, but the way the Spurs defended Durant changed all that.

As Westbrook corrals the inbounds pass, Bogans is denying Durant fully.  The Spurs plan here is to not allow Durant to touch the ball, and whatever happens happens..

The deny gives Westbrook a lane to attack and he takes it.

Jeff Green sets an awesome screen for Westbrook, as he attacks the lane given to him by the deny.

Richard Jefferson is a little late with the switch, so Westbrook pulls up and hits the shot.  Bogans is still denying Durant, so that just shows you they were willing to let anyone else tie the game except for Durant.

Overtime Miss Attempt:

Here is the play from overtime.  It is similar up to a certain point, but then, Westbrook had a chance to get Durant the ball.

Here Durant is open for a brief second.  Sefolosha chooses not to give it to Durant that for away from the basket, so he gives the ball to Westbrook, who shows himself to Sefolosha and gets open.

This is where things get all Deja-Vu like.  Bogans is once again denying Durant all the way to half-court.  This deny opens up a lane for Westbrook to drive through.  Westbrook takes it.

The difference is Bogans actually comes off his deny to help cover Westbrook.  Durant is open, but he needs to make himself available to Westbrook.  Why would Westbrook pass him the ball when he is 40+ feet away.  As Bogans turns his head, Durant needs to cut backdoor and get himself in better shooting position.

Durant finally gets to the three point line, but it is too late (Westbrook is already pulling up) so Westbrook takes the shot and misses it.  Should Westbrook have looked for Durant?  Yes, but Durant was so far from the basket, he wasn’t really an option there.  I think the Spurs did a good job of denying Durant, and having him start the play at halfcourt.

Every morning (or late-afternoon), I am going to breakdown the some key possessions from the previous night’s games.  Good possessions/bad possessions you can find them all here.

After getting blown out in two straight games, the Nets found themselves in a close battle against the New Orleans Hornets Friday night.  The Nets made a big-time comeback to take a 1 point lead with about 11 seconds left.  The Hornets had the ball, let’s see what happened from there:

After getting the ball inbounds (which they failed at doing their last possession), the Hornets quickly go into a pick and roll.  David West comes up and sets the screen, and Chris Paul uses it.

Late in games, teams usually switch every screen.  The Hornets know this, so the purpose of the screen was to get the switch.  Chris Paul takes a dribble or two to isolate the mismatch.

He then attacks.  He quickly gets Jarvis Hayes on his hip, and he has a lane to the basket.  You would like it if Devin Harris was closer to the middle of the lane, but that is the beauty of how the Hornets set this up.  They put Peja (a knockdown shooter that you need to stay with) on the side Chris Paul was going to drive to.  This means that Devin can’t help.

Paul finishes the lay-up, and gets fouled, clinching the win for the Hornets.

OK, no Morning Shootaround today (although I am going to be sticking with the format I used yesterday, I liked how it turned out) because the only game yesterday was Knicks-Bobcats.  Because I live in the tri-state area, I couldn’t access the game via LPBroadband to get screenshots for a full game breakdown.

It was a real entertaining game though, and despite the Knicks turning the ball over at a comical rate in the 2nd half (including but not limited to throwing it to the wrong team, running into each other going for a pass, and throwing it to nobody out of bounds) they were able to pull out the win.  Another funny thing about this game is that if you look at the numbers, you would think that the Bobcats won.  Seriously, they hit the same number of 3s, went to the line more, had 11 fewer turnovers, 8 more steals, and had more offensive rebounds.  The Knicks were a tad more efficient of the offensive end (better FG% and 3P%) and got easier shots (more points in the paint).  That was enough to give them the slight edge.

As for the possession we are breaking down, it is the play with the Knicks up 1, around 1:30 left Danilo Gallinari hit a 3 after some nice ball-movement (we aren’t going to look at the 30 footer he drilled without hesitation).  The Knicks and the Bobcats were exchanging deep shots, and the first team to miss was probably going to be the team that was going to lose.  This three by Gallinari was basically the dagger.

The Knicks start the possession with a side pick and roll between David Lee and Chris Duhon.  Lee doesn’t really get a good screen set, but he is so mobile, that the Bobcats have to worry about his roll, so that prevents the Bobcats from getting a good hedge/switch on Duhon.

Because of that, Duhon is able to get his defender on his hip, and that allows for him to get a lane.  The Bobcats defender I underlined is in perfect help position.  He is in the middle of the lane, preventing any lay-up and forcing a pass outwards.

The next step is getting the correct rotation.  The Bobcats defender in the paint did his job and forced the pass out, the rest of the defense sort of fails on this possession.  The Bobcats send two players at Wilson Chandler, who catches the ball on the wing.  Only one player is supposed to run out on him,

The Bobcats defender who misrotated, realizes his mistake and tries to recover, but it is too late.

It’s funny, the mis-rotation by the Bobcats sets up the Knicks play even better.  The two steps over the defender takes allows for Jarred Jeffries’ screen to catch the defender and make the close-out even harder.

Gallinari makes the catch with enough space to pull up and not be effected by the close-out.  He hits the three, putting the Knicks up 4, and effectively winning the game.

Here it is in live action:

Every morning (or late-afternoon), I am going to breakdown the some key possessions from the previous night’s games. Good possessions/bad possessions you can find them all here.

Just one possession here today, you can probably guess which one it is…yup…the final play that Boston ran in Miami. Dwyane Wade did his usual Dwyane Wade thing and scored 4 points in5.5 seconds, giving the Heat a 2 point lead with .6 seconds left.

The Celtics ran an awesome play here, there is no question about it. However, the Heat made it easier for them to run the play. Paul Pierce is the man inbounding the basketball here. He is 6’7″. Quienten Richardson is covering him, he is 6’6″. You know that with .6 seconds left, this is going to be a lob play, so why not put a big man on him? If you aren’t comfortable with O’Neal going on him (you want him in the paint to defend the lob), take a reserve big man (Joel Anthony) and throw him out there. There isn’t enough time for Pierce to get the ball back, so you don’t have to worry about the mismatch. That would have made the pass harder to make. Plus look where Richardson is standing, he is a few feet off of him, as if to cut off the sideline pass, he should be up closer to him.

As the play starts to develop, Ray Allen (a decoy) runs to the three point line, since there is enough time to catch and shoot, you have to follow him out there.

Rondo comes off of a Big Baby screen, with his defender trailing him, expecting help from Jermaine O’Neal. Also, Udonis Haslem is a bit at fault here too. Brain Scalabrine is standing about 35-40 feet from the basket (the same spot he was standing at as the play started). Leave him out there. He should be closer to the paint to help on any cut to the basket.

The final part of the play is Big Baby releasing to the sideline. Jermaine O’Neal, probably remembering that shot he made against Orlando in the playoffs, follows him out there. You have no Heat defenders in the lane. Remember there is .6 seconds left, and the best chance the Celtics have to score is the lob…and there are no Heat defenders in the lane. Part of this is great playcalling (all of the player movements from the Celtics is what caused the empty lane), but the Heat should have recognized the situation and got at least one player in the paint. Brain Scalabrine is still in the same spot.

The lob pass gets made, and there is nobody there to defend it. Rondo makes the catch and finishes it, sending the game to overtime, where the Celtics win. Again, don’t let my critique of the Heat’s defense take away from the fact that this is an awesome…awesome…play.

Every morning (or late-afternoon), I am going to breakdown the some key possessions from the previous night’s games.  Good possessions/bad possessions you can find them all here.

Some more late game stuff here.  We have three clips that we are going to look at.  One from the Detroit vs. Dallas game, one from the Nuggets vs. Warriors game (bet you know which one I am talking about here), and one from the Blazers vs. Grizzlies game.

Detroit’s Late Game Attempt

First of all, the Pistons are missing someone on the court.  Seriously.  Charlie Villanueva was 4-6 from 3, and he accounted for 4/5 of the team’s three point makes.  The rest of the team was 1-11.  Even the Mavericks’ announce crew was wondering why he wasn’t out there.  I understand if you want to run a play for Ben Gordon, that’s fine.  The Pistons use him as a decoy though, so why not throw your hottest shooter out there?

That being said, this is a fantastic play run by the Pistons.  You have Gordon acting as he is going to curl around a screen, instead, he sets a screen for Stuckey and then pops out.

Look where Jason Kidd is.  He thought Gordon was going to curl through, so he cheated it.  Ben Gordon set the screen though, and there is nobody to switch onto Rodney Stuckey (late in games, most teams switch all screens.  It looks like the Mavs were doing this too).

The result is Stuckey wide open in the corner.  He misses the shot, but it was a great look.  What I can’t understand, is why didn’t the Pistons run this for Charlie Villanueva?

The Blazers Going For It

Before we talk about the play, I wanted to talk about something.  The Blazers are catching some stuff about running their play so early in the clock.  I like this call though, in this situation.  You are down 1, you want to extend this game as long as possible.  If you score you are up 1 and if you miss, you give yourself another chance to tie/win the game depending how the foul shots turn out.

This is a designed play to give Martell Webster the shot.  Roy is going to drive, forcing the help to come.  Juwan Howard sneaks behind Webster’s man to set a pick, giving Webster an open look.

By the time Webster makes the catch, his man has a foot in the paint, and he needs to close out.

Webster gets to step into the pass and take an uncontested jumper, he just doesn’t knock it down.  A shame too, it was a nice play.  Oh, and sorry Blazers’ announcers, it wasn’t a foul either.

The Warriors Foul

So here it is.  This is pretty bad, but what makes it even worse is that the Nuggets executed George Karl’s play so badly, that if the foul didn’t happen, I would be talking about the Nuggets poor execution.

J.R. Smith is supposed to curl off a screen set by Nene.

However, J.R. Smith takes a straight line and runs right to the basketball.  Because of this, Nene can’t even get a good pick in.  The circle is where the play was designed for J.R. Smith was to make the catch.  He wasn’t going to get a three right at the line, but a 30 footer is a good shot with this much time left (and with J.R. Smith shooting it, the kid has range).

Instead, Smith makes the catch right near half court.  The Warriors defend this perfectly, they have two guys closing in on Smith, not allowing him to get a good look of…but…

They both jump in the air.  Ellis’ foul was a tough call, but you can’t give the refs a chance to make that call.  I don’t understand what jumping does either.  Does Maggette or Ellis really think that they are going block that shot?  Just stand there with your hands up and get the win.  If he makes it, so be it, but more often than not, he won’t be making that shot.  No reason to jump and contest.

Every morning (or late-afternoon), I am going to breakdown the some key possessions from the previous night’s games.  Good possessions/bad possessions you can find them all here.

It was a slowish night in the NBA last night (just 4 games), but there was some good action.  I got two plays I wanted to look at this morning.  Chris Paul’s steal to clinch the game, and Juwan Howard’s dunk.

Chris Paul’s Steal

Chris Paul’s steal was great, don’t get me wrong, but the Jazz did play a part in this.  The way they ran the court, allowed for Chris Paul to be in position to make the steal.

The first thing that you notice is that even though this is a 3 on 1 fast break, the Jazz are too bunched together.  All three Jazz players are on the same side, and this allows Chris Paul to cheat over, knowing that the ball is going to end up on his right side, because that is where all the players are.  In a perfect world, you would hope that Deron Williams would be able to dribble the ball to his right a bit so he can force Paul into a tough spot.

The second mistake is where Deron Williams commits to make the pass from.  That’s like 35 feet away from the basket.  I can understand why he wasn’t really able to dribble out to his right (he is unsure who is behind him), but at least make Chris Paul make a decision.  Dribble at him until he stops you, and when he does, then make a pass.  If he doesn’t stop you, go in for the lay-up.  Here Chris Paul is still in the middle of the court, and that makes it easier (still a great display of athleticism to make the steal) to make the play on the ball.

Juwan Howard’s Dunk

This play starts with a pick and roll, and Chris Kamen is trying to hedge the screen (help, and then quickly return to his man).

Roy does a good job of forcing the action though, and this prevents Kamen from getting back to his man, and forcing him to cover Roy.

Roy gets to the baseline.  Notice how all 5 Clippers are just kind of staring at him.  This allows is what allows Juwan Howard to sneak in the middle unguarded.

Howard flashes to the middle and gets the ball.  Kamen does a decent job of recovering, but since nobody is in front of him, it allows him to load up and go up for the jam…