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) – Lionel Hollins/Memphis Grizzlies
This play starts with the Memphis Grizzlies bringing the basketball down the court and once Greivis Vasquez gets into position, Darrell Arthur sets a pindown screen for O.J. Mayo. After Mayo comes off of his pinrown, Arthur comes off of a cross screen set by Marc Gasol. Arthur comes off the screen open, makes the catch, and knocks down the jumper.
After a three point play by Darren Collison, the Indiana Pacers lead the New Jersey Nets by 11 points with 2:24 left in the game. Through a combination of threes, fouling to extend the game, and timely buckets, the Nets were able to cut the Pacers’ lead to just three points with possession and 15.9 seconds left. After a play that was doomed from the start (Sasha Vujacic fell down and Sundiata Gaines ended up taking a forced three), the Nets had the ball on the side with 13.5 seconds left. The Nets ended up running a great set and it looked like Vujacic was going to end up with a wide open look. However, Darren Collison was able to make a pretty heads-up play on the basketball, forcing a miss:
As the ball goes to the trigger man, Sundiata Gaines, Darren Collison is covering him, playing off with his back towards the baseline. The reason he is doing this is to prevent any pass to the corner. The Nets start their play with Jordan Farmer curling to the opposite corner.
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) – Avery Johnson/New Jersey Nets
This is a play that the Nets use coming out of a timeout to set up Brook Lopez in the post. It starts with Sundiata Gaines getting the basketball on the wing and coming off of a Brook Lopez ball screen. After setting the screen, Lopez comes off of two backscreens as Gaines takes the ball to the middle of the court, using another ball screen. Normally, this play is designed for a post up opportunity, but the defense overplays that and both Gaines and Lopez read it, Lopez stays on the opposite side of the rim, waiting for the lob. Gaines throws it, and Lopez is able to finish.
Boxing out a shooter at the foul line is of the things that happens so much in a basketball game that players tend to just go through the motions instead of doing everything as hard as they are supposed to. Most of the time, it doesn’t come back to hurt the team simply going through the motions. However, eventually it does, and against the Wizards, it cost the New Jersey Nets two points:
Towards the end of the third quarter, Avery Johnson threw out his small lineup, featuring Travis Outlaw at the 4 and Anthony Morrow at the 3. With John Wall at the foul line, Outlaw and Morrow were faced with the challenge of boxing out a bigger Trevor Booker. Normally when faced with a bigger man in the middle, the side with two players tend to “pinch” the bigger offensive player by having both guys boxing him out. That is what the Nets do here.
With the Nets trailing by five points with 1:28 left, the Chicago Bulls had the basketball and were looking to put the game away. With little time left, the Nets decided to use some full court pressure to try and create a turnover. The Nets were using a standard 2-2-1 press against the Bulls, and despite getting what they wanted from the Bulls, they ended up giving up a game-clinching three. The reason Chicago was able to get that three point look was due to a blown assignment by the Nets:
As the basketball gets inbounded to Derrick Rose, we get to see the Nets’ press starting to develop. The 2-2-1 press consists of 3 different levels with Deron Williams and Sasha Vujacic playing the first level.
As the Chicago Bulls start to advance the basketball, we get to see the second level of the press, with Kris Humphries and Anthony Morrow setting up just behind half court. Rose passes the ball ahead to Joakim Noah.
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) – Paul Silas/Charlotte Bobcats
This is a baseline set, but the Bobcats quickly get the basketball to D.J. Augustin at the top of the key so they can run their set. They quickly run Dante Cunningham off of a pindown screen, with Cunningham curling it to the opposite key. After Cunningham curls off the pindown, Gerald Henderson comes off the same pindown screen. Henderson makes the catch and knocks down the jumper. What makes this play work is the double run off of the screen. The defense is really focusing on Cunningham as he comes off of the screen, not prepared for Henderson to come off of the same screen.
In the final 16 seconds of the 4th quarter of the Clippers game against the Nets saw Los Angeles face an one point deficit on two separate occasions. Both times the Clippers entered the ball to Blake Griffin and then ran a cutter off of him. Both times, Griffin faked a handoff and used that fake to get himself to the rim. The fake handoff is so hard to defend because you can’t just ignore the man cutting off of the big. If you do, the handoff will be completed and it’s any easy lay-up. However, if you focus too much on the cutter the big fakes the handoff and takes it to the hole. Both times against the Nets, that pressure on the defense was too much:
Here, Blake Griffin gets a cross-screen set for him and he gets the ball on the block straight from the inbounds pass. After making the pass, Mo Williams cuts off of him on the outside. Griffin does a fantastic job of showing the basketball, and that show of the ball gets Kris Humphries (his defender) leaning ever so slightly. That slight lean/Humphries moving up on his toes, allows Griffin to quickly turn to the middle of the floor, where he uses that space to make a hook shot.
There aren’t many bigs you can go to late in the game, but as Avery Johnson showed in the past, Brook Lopez of the New Jersey Nets is one of them. Most of the time it is because the big is a poor free throw shooter, however Johnson has ran final plays for Lopez late in games because Lopez is a strong FT shooter (over 80% career from the line). Combine that with his post moves, Lopez is a pretty attractive option, especially on nights where the true #1 option (Deron Williams) isn’t around.
So with the Nets trailing the Los Angeles Clippers by one point with 12.4 seconds left, coach Johnson went to Lopez again. And while the play Johnson drew up was great, Lopez’s move was even better:
As the ball goes to the trigger-man, Lopez sets a screen for Travis Outlaw, who uses it to flash to the ball side corner.
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) – Avery Johnson/New Jersey Nets
This play starts with Jordan Farmar bringing the ball up for the Nets and quickly getting the ball in Anthony Morrow’s hands. Movement off of the ball results in both bigs on the strong side with Brandon Wright getting the ball on the wing and entering it to Brook Lopez. It looks like the Nets are setting up Lopez for the post up, but at the last second, Wright sets a screen for Morrow, setting him up for the wide open jumper.
Against the New Jersey Nets, the Phoenix Suns trailed by two points with 9.0 seconds left in overtime. On the road, coach Alvin Gentry decided to go for the win by setting up a three point play, and it was a solid play, but a mistake by Kris Humphries on top of the solid play is what really lead to the open shot for Channing Frye.
As soon as the ball goes to the trigger man, Grant Hill, Aaron Brooks dives to the corner. As soon as Brooks clears the area, Steve Nash comes off of a screen set by Channing Frye.
As Nash continues towards the basketball, Marcin Gortat sneaks in and sets a screen for Frye, who pops out behind the three point line.
