When the regular season starts, not many people are going to remember the buzzer beater that took place during the Wizards’ game against the Hornets, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from it.  Lester Hudson’s game winning shot showed how important a second option can be when running set plays late in games.  Off the top of my head, I can think of a number of sideline out of bounds plays that fail because their is only one option for the man inbounding the ball, and the result is usually a turnover or a bad shot.  Here, with the first option taken away, the Wizards’ simply moved on to option #2 and ended up winning the game:

This play is initially run to either get Cartier Martin an open shot on the curl off of a Javale McGee brush screen (he doesn’t really get set for the screen, they just rub off of each other) or to hit McGee on a backdoor lob.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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…