Down by one, the Bobcats were taking the ball out on the side. To the surprise of everyone, they decided to go for the three pointer to take a 2 point lead. I only like going for a three in that situation if you can guarantee yourself getting a real good look. The Bobcats were able to get themselves that look:
As Larry Hughes gets the basketball to inbound, Boris Diaw quickly takes a step out to make himself available for the pass. Doing this presents a quick option for the inbounder, which helps when looking to avoid a 5 second call.
Throughout the playoffs, we are going to be looking at the teams that lost their last game and look at what they can do to try and get a win.
Dwight Howard had 9 blocks in Game 1 against the Bobcats. 9! That is 9 shots at the rim (easy shots since they are in close) that Dwight altered. Part of it is because Dwight is a fantastic defender (he was announced as the DPOY yesterday), but part of it was the fact that he was able to sit in the lane and just wait for the Bobcats to attack the basket. If the Bobcats want to get some easy looks in close, they are going to need to force Dwight to move around on the defensive end.
Throughout the playoffs, we are going to be looking at the teams that lost their last game and look at what they can do to try and get a win.
Here, the man that Dwight is covering hangs around the elbow not moving. This allows Dwight to leave his man with no fear, because he knows where Nazr Mohammed is going to be. If Mohammed moves around a bit, Dwight is going to have to focus his attention to that (because if he doesn’t Mohammed will get himself a basket) and he might not be able to challenge shots.
Also, if Mohammed does a better job of spacing the floor and Dwight still tries to block the shot, the Bobcats can pass it out to the big man for an open look. If you make Dwight cover more distance to try and challenge shots, you can make him pay for it.
With the Bobcats down 5 points with about 2 minutes left, they really needed a stop to try and get back in the game. You know that the Bobcats have good set plays that they run late (with Coach Larry Brown drawing them up), but unless they string together a few stops, it doesn’t matter.
After a dribble handoff from Jameer Nelson to J.J. Redick, Redick makes the catch and comes off of a screen set by Dwight Howard. In this situation, the Bobcats are looking to have the big man hedge the screen to allow Redick’s defender (Larry Hughes) to get back to him. Theo Ratliff is the man hedging, and his goal here is to cut off Redick’s dribble and not let him get around the outside of him.
For these playoff previews we are going to take a look at each team individually, and then we are going to look at the match-up.
Orlando Magic
Strengths
What the Magic do well.
Shoot threes
Defend the paint
Inside-out ball movement
Weaknesses
Some problems the Magic struggle with
Can settle for outside jumpers and ignore their biggest strength, which is Dwight Howard.
Dwight Howard’s foul troubles.
Perimeter defense
Tendencies
Some things you are going to notice when watching the Magic play.
Obviously the Magic love to shoot the 3 pointer, and that makes sense, because they are very good at it (set the record for most threes in a season during their final game).
With the Bobcats down 1 (with 22 seconds left) and needing a win to clinch a spot in the playoffs, you knew that Larry Brown would draw up something special. As the Bobcats came out of the timeout, you just had a feeling that they were going to run something good. Even if they missed, Larry Brown was going to take this possession seriously, if only to work on late game situations for the playoffs:
As the ball gets handed to Stephen Jackson, Boris Diaw quickly turns and puts his defender on his back to receive the basketball. This is the second time in two days we have seen this, and I think we are going to be seeing this more often, especially if you are confident with how your PF handles the basketball. Why risk a 5 second violation running a play when you can quickly get it to your PF and run a play from there (its a given that you are talking about a situation where there is time on the clock. If there is 1 or 2 seconds left, teams won’t be doing this).
After the Wizards hit a three pointer to send the game into overtime, I thought that the Wizards were going to be able to use that momentum to steal the game from the Bobcats. However, the exact opposite happened as the Bobcats outscored the Wizards 13-4 in the final 5 minute period.
The key seemed to be the Bobcats willingness to attack the basket. The Bobcats seemed determined to get themselves inside the paint every possession of overtime. Each time, it resulted in one of two things; a trip to the foul line or an easy basket:
Possession 1 – Gerald Wallace Gets To The Line Using A Screen
On this play, the Bobcats set up what looks to be an ISO set for Gerald Wallace. At the last moment, Tyson Chandler comes up and sets a screen for Wallace. Wallace uses the screen and gets all the way to the rim, where he is fouled.
After Russell Westbrook hit a jumper with 3:22 left in the fourth quarter, he was able to cut the Bobcats lead to 4 points. Larry Brown took a timeout, and the possession following it was a pretty important one. If the Bobcats score, they can extend the lead to 6 with about 3 minutes left. If the Bobcats don’t score, the Thunder can cut the lead to 2 or 1 points, and who knows what will happen then. As it turns out, the Bobcats run a beautiful set out of the timeout and push their lead to 6, and the Thunder don’t come closer than that the rest of the ballgame:
Boris Diaw comes to the top of the key and receives the inbounds pass. The beauty of using Diaw (who himself is a pretty good passer for his size) is that you are pulling a front court defender away from the basket, clearing the lane for the potential lob. After Stephen Jackson makes the pass, he cuts through the middle of the lane, using a Tyrus Thomas screen. Over on the far side, Raymond Felton comes up off of a screen set by Stephen Graham. Nothing really important going on over there, as you can tell by the two players jogging through the motions.
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.
Every once in a while, we take a break out from breaking down possessions to look at some fundamentals. Late in the Clippers-Bobcats game last night, you had two very similar plays happen back-to-back. Both teams had their respective point guard attacking the basket with help coming over. The Clippers scored on their possession while the Bobcats didn’t. The reason? Baron Davis stayed under control while D.J. Augustin got caught in the air.
We are going to first look at Baron’s play that happens with under a minute left and the Clippers up 2:
After dribbling the shot-clock down until there was 10 seconds left, Baron Davis starts to attack the basket. Baron’s defender (Raymond Felton) is playing far too close to him, and this allows Baron to get around him.
Yeah, the title was an excuse just to post that video. Anyway, after Nazr Mohammed’s bucket with 1:38 left cut the lead to 1, the Bobcats were looking to get a stop to get a chance to win the game:
