With around 30 seconds left, the Grizzlies and the Hornets were in a tight game. The Grizzlies were up by 1 point with the ball on the side. They were able to execute, meanwhile, the Hornets who got the ball down 3 were unable to. That turned out to be the ballgame.
As the ball gets handed to Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph is going to set a downscreen to free up Mike Conley.
After Chris Bosh’s jumper extending the Raptors’ lead to 5 with 0:37 left, I thought that the Grizzlies were out of it. However, they way they played the final 37 seconds was very smart, and that is what allowed them to comeback, get the game into overtime, and win the game in OT. Let’s look at the three elements that allowed them to tie the game in the final 37 seconds.
The Quick Three
The Grizzlies come out of a timeout down by 5. Now they have two options they can either go for the 2 or go for the 3. The key though is that they need to get a shot at the rim quickly (we will get to that in a minute). Mayo sets the downscreen for Zach Randolph in attempt to free him up at the top of the key.
Last night’s Lakers-Grizzlies game was awesome. You had Kobe’s quick three, two missed foul shots from Mike Conley, then a missed game winning three from Ron Artest. With all of that action going on, it is easy to forget that the most important play was the one that happened right before the others I have mentioned. That play is the Rudy Gay 3 that took the Grizzlies lead from 2 to 5:
Up by two, the Grizzlies are in no rush here. They walk the ball up and kill 10 seconds before they even start their offense. Mark Gasol cuts through, and right after the cut, Zach Randolph comes sets a screen for Conley.
The Cavs have only lost 11 times so far this year in 43 total games, but there is a trend that is starting to develop when you look at who the Cavs have lost to. The Cavs really seem to struggle on the defensive when there is a shooter in the frontcourt. It doesn’t really matter if it is the PF or the C who can shoot because Anderson Varejao ends up covering them either way. The Cavs like to put Shaq/Big Z on the less active frontcourt player (for example they were matched up against Bosh when they played Toronto), with Varejao covering the outside shooting threat. Let’s look at 4 examples:
So why are stretch the court/shooting big men so successful against Cleveland? Because Varejao is so active on the defensive end, he tends to over-commit, leaving slight openings where shooters can take advantage. Here is an example:
Here the Raptors are running a play where there point guard, Jose Calderon, has an two screens to run off of. Calderon picks Chris Bosh to be his screener, and Big Z is hedging out.
Because Big Z is one of the slower big men in the NBA, Varejao slouches down to help out on Chris Bosh’s roll.
As Varejao slouches, Bargnani spots up at the three point line. He has a good 15-20 foot cushion.
Bargnani makes the catch with Varejao closing out, but Bargnani is so tall Varejao’s hand doesn’t effect the shot, which is knocked down. Check it out 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.
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.
