Two weeks ago, I looked at a few sets out of the Triangle that the Lakers run to get the ball into the post.  One of the sets I mentioned over at SBNation was an inside outside set designed for the ball to go into the post and then out to an open three point shooter.  In their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Lakers ran a variation of that set to get an open three point look for Shannon Brown.  He missed it, but another result of the Lakers set?  Ron Artest was in perfect position for the offensive rebound:

The play starts with the Lakers in their triangle, Ron Artest has the ball in the corner, Pau Gasol is on the low block, and Shannon Brown is on the wing.  Artest enters the basketball into Gasol.

After Artest makes his entry pass, he heads towards Shannon Brown’s man, setting a screen for him.  Brown comes off of the screen and flashes to the corner, wide open.

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In the fourth quarter of their game against the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers turned a large deficit into a winable game.  With 1:39 left in the game, the Lakers had the ball on the baseline, looking to cut into the Warriors nine point lead.  The Golden State Warriors were able to make a great defensive stand on a curious SLOB ran by the Lakers, that essentially sealed the win:

As the trigger man Matt Barnes gets the basketball, Kobe Bryant uses a screen set by Andrew Bynum on the block, comes off of it, and gets to the corner of the court where he gets the basketball.

Once Bryant gets the basketball, the Warriors are smart enough to send two defenders at him, David Lee and Dorell Wright, getting the trap set.

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I do some writing at a few different places, and this week I have been given the opportunity to look at a few interesting things.  Instead of doing a separate post for each link, I decided to lump them all together.

Over at ESPN.com, there is a new feature called 5-on-5 where TrueHoop Network bloggers are grouped together with ESPN.com writers.  Yesterday, Graydon Gordian, Rahat Huq, Beckley Mason, myself, and David Thorpe looked at some coaching related questions, including who has done the least with least:

Sebastian Pruiti, NBA Playbook: George Karl. No disrespect to the players currently on the Nuggets’ roster, but Carmelo Anthony left the team and we all wondered if they would be able to score enough. Not only have they been able to score, but they are now the most efficient offensive team in the league, and a lot of it has to do with Karl’s offense.

Meanwhile, today at SBNation.com’s NBA page, I took a look at the Triangle, and how the offense creates scoring opportunities in the low post:

When people think of Phil Jackson’s Triangle offense, they think of an offense that is designed to cater to superstar wings (guys like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant), isolating them on the perimeter.  While there are options that lead to isolation sets, the Triangle offense is so much more than that, especially when it comes to the post-up game.  In the Triangle offense, there are a number of different sets/options designed to get the basketball on the block to the Lakers‘ big men.

Finally, over at Basketball Prospectus, Dan Feldman and I looked at the interesting case of DeMar DeRozan, a player who is a strong long two shooter, but very poor when it comes to taking threes:

College stats don’t always project smoothly to the NBA, but DeMar DeRozan‘s three-point shooting has held up.

Unfortunately.

DeRozan, who made just 6-of-36 three-pointers (16.7 percent) in his lone season at USC, has been quietly putting together one of the worst three-point shooting seasons in NBA history. With six games remaining, DeRozan has made just 4-of-41 three-pointers (9.8 percent). Just 10 players have posted worse three-point-shooting seasons (minimum: 30 three-point attempts). Here are the 20 worst three-point shooting-seasons in NBA history:

All of this is very interesting stuff and I hope you take the time to head on over to the links and check them out.  Thanks!

Trailing the Denver Nuggets by two points, the Los Angeles Lakers sent Nene to the free throw line for two foul shots.  After making the first, Nene missed the second, opening the door for the Lakers.  That door quickly slams shut however, as Kenyon Martin tips home the offensive rebound.

Before I get any further, lets get something out of the way, this was a foul on Kenyon Martin.  He basically bullies Lamar Odom under the rim where he is allowed to tap in the basketball, but that isn’t what we are concerned with right now.  We aren’t concerned with that because the Lakers, Ron Artest in particular, makes a key mistake here that allows Martin to get in position for the offensive rebound:

The Lakers box-out strategy for this free throw miss was to pinch it.  This means that on the side where the two Lakers stood, would both box out Kenyon Martin, “pinching him.”  As that takes place, a man from behind the three point line would come and box out the shooter.

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In the final seconds of the third quarter and at the start of the fourth, Lamar Odom scored 9 straight points on three threes, turning a 9 point lead into an 18 point lead in just three possessions.  While Odom was the one knocking down the threes, it seems that Dallas’ defensive strategy against Odom was the reason for the open shots rather than the Lakers’ offense.

On the first two threes, Odom was working off of a dribble handoff, and both times, the defense went under the man handing the ball off to Odom (basically turning him into a screener), giving up the three:

This is coming right out of a baseline inbounds set and Odom quickly gets the ball into Andrew Bynum and comes onto the court behind the three point line.  If the defense was worried about closing out on Odom, Shawn Marion shoot right out at him along the baseline.  Instead, Marion goes underneath Bynum as if he is more worried about an Odom drive.

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Down by two points, the Phoenix Suns were able to get a pretty good look for Vince Carter behind the three point line.  Carter missed, and Ron Artest grabbed the rebound and quickly got the basketball in the hands of Kobe Bryant.  Despite the shot clock and the game clock being in sync, the Suns didn’t foul right away, opting to try and get the steal.  They were unsuccessful, but before the Suns could foul Bryant he forced up a tough shot.  Luckily enough for the Lakers, he knocked it down, clinching the game for the Lakers.  Still, it was a strange decision, one that is worth looking at a little bit closer:

I have defended Kobe Bryant in the past when he has made some strange decisions regarding shot selection.  I don’t think I can here, except for the fact that he made it.  There are just so many things that can go wrong if Bryant misses this shot.  Especially considering that the Suns still had timeouts left.  If Bryant misses, the Suns now have a chance to tie/win the game, and they are coming off of a possession where they got a really good look (and they have been known to knock down game winning/tying three pointers from time to time). It isn’t like it was just a lay-up either (which you can understand taking), that’s a contested jumper with three defenders around him.  Furthermore, with the rest of the team standing around expecting Bryant to run out the clock, there is no chance for an offensive rebound.

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Over at Basketball Prospectus, I used a Kevin Ding article as motivation to take a look at the Lakers’ new pick and roll defense they are experimenting with:

Despite being one of the better defensive teams in the NBA this season, the Los Angeles Lakers and their coaching staff felt that it was necessary that they change how their team defended the pick-and-roll, catering more to Andrew Bynumand his skill set. Kevin Ding at the Orange County Register has the details:

Jackson noted how Miami was trying Sunday to have its big men come all the way out to show on pick-and-rolls by Chicago’s Derrick Rose–to no avail in stopping the ball. Rose could not be checked and thus was easily able to create offense for the Bulls–something that often happened to the Lakers with Bynum and Pau Gasol: “Now when that guard gets around that screen, you’ve got 5-on-3,” Jackson said.

“As a consequence, we’re starting to try and funnel them in to a place where we have Andrew in position,” Jackson said. “He’s a plug. He’s in there stopping penetration.”

Basically, the Lakers have determined that they don’t want Bynum showing hard on pick-and-rolls, opting to have him hang around the middle, with the rest of the defense funneling the play to him in the paint. The result is more midrange jumpers with the defense being able to contest threes and keep point guards out of the lane. The midrange jumpers are not troubling since the Lakers have determined that they want their opponents taking those shots, because who excels at that anyway?

Head on over and take a look at the whole thing.  This one was made available free without subscription needed, so there is no excuse not to check it out.

Late against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat decided to put the basketball in Dwyane Wade’s hands, letting him be the one who would create on the offensive end.  One way the Heat seemed to let Wade create was making him the ball handler in pick and roll sets.  Over the course of the final five minutes, the Heat ran the pick and roll with Wade as the ball handler four different times (these four possessions represented all of Wade’s 4th quarter PNR Ball Handler possessions).

Of those four possessions, maybe the most important one was the final possession of the four that took place with 1:00 left and the Heat leading by two points.  On this play, Wade goes away from the LeBron James screen, catching the defense, especially his defender (Kobe Bryant) completely off guard.  The question that needs to be asked is should they have been?

According to Synergy Sport Technology, Dwyane Wade goes away from the screen in pick and roll sets 25.4% of the time, which is 3rd most in the entire NBA (Behind Derrick Rose and Earl Boykins).  Even more, out of the 3 pick and roll sets in the final 5 minutes (before the final one with one minute left), Wade went away from the screen 2 times, scoring both times:

The first time that Wade goes away from the screen, he seems to catch the defense off guard.  Kobe starts to go over the screen and Gasol isn’t in the best position to help, allowing Wade to easily finish at the rim.

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With 9.8 seconds left, the Oklahoma City Thunder trailed the Los Angeles Lakers by three points with the ball on the side.  The Thunder ran a decent play, but a heads up play by Pau Gasol allowed him to challenge the shot, preventing Kevin Durant from hitting the three.

The play starts with a staggered screen for James Harden.  Gasol is positioned way off of his man, Nick Collison.  This is a very smart decision.  With the Thunder needing a three pointer, Collison isn’t a threat, so Gasol playing off of him doesn’t hurt the Lakers.  Also, it prevents the area where the staggered screen is being set from getting too crowded.

As Harden gets the basketball along the sideline, Kevin Durant now comes off of a screen of his own, set again by Collison.  Again, Gasol is playing off of the basketball with his head on a swivel.

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A team’s performance after a timeout may be the best way to judge a coach’s Xs & Os knowledge, and his ability to draw up plays. The Clipboard Awards is a competition where I choose the top three post-timeout plays each night, adding up the scores over the course of the season.

Play 3 (1 Point) – Phil Jackson/Los Angeles Lakers

This play starts with Derek Fisher bringing the basketball up and taking it to the wing wing as Kobe Bryant spots up at the top of the key.  Fisher gets the ball to Bryant, and it looks like the Lakers are running a play for Kobe.  However, after Fisher makes the pass, he flashes to the block and sets a nice pindown for Pau Gasol, who knocks down the shot.

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