This is the set that can win Oklahoma City a championship.

For the past year, the Thunder have been criticized for their perceived inability to execute in the half-court, especially in the playoffs. But it appears Scott Brooks and his staff designed a play that fits their team’s personnel so perfectly it was almost impossible to defend.

The set usually begins with some false action that leads into a dribble flip (DF) between Kendrick Perkins and of the Thunders two primary ball handlers (Russell Westbrook and James Harden). Perkins then sprints out of the DF into either a rim run or a pin down with Kevin Durant moving off either action on the weakside. The strongside of the floor is usually spread opposite, giving Durant the option to tight curl into the paint and attack the rim.

That is the normal pattern of the play which, even without any wrinkles, poses enough problems for an opposing defense. But in the fourth quarter of last night’s game, the Thunder (perhaps by accident), introduced a new wrinkle that made it nearly indefensible.

Out of a dead ball walk-up, Westbrook passes ahead to Harden and shallow cuts across the key toward the opposite wing. Durant begins to position himself on the left block.

Harden swings the ball to the trailing Perkins who catches and immediately performs the dribble flip with Westbrook.

Here is where the new “wrinkle” comes in. As Perkins goes to pin down for Durant, Ibaka, instead of spacing the floor as a spot up option, begins to move toward Westbrook as if to set a ball screen. With the threat of a ball screen, Haslem must come up with Ibaka in order to be in a position to hedge should Westbrook choose to use it.

Due to Durant’s effectiveness as a catch and shoot player, the defender guarding the screener must be very active in help. Here, Chris Bosh shows well above the screen (which Perkins immediately slips) in order to make things difficult on Durant. Normally, there would be a low defender to rotate over to Perkins in order to prevent a lay-up, but Ibaka’s move toward the top has pulled everyone near or above the free throw line extended making a rotation extremely difficult.

The result of the play is a wide open dunk by Perkins with nary a Miami player in sight.

Here is the play in real time:

This type of outcome screams “blown rotation”, when in all reality, it’s not. Any help defender who might rotate over to help out on the pin down action would free up something equally destructive

James dropping leaves Westbrook free in the middle of the court to do as he pleases. A rotation from Wade (hidden behind Ibaka in the fourth picture) is not only impossibly difficult, but has the side effect of leaving Harden alone on the wing. Haslem, as mentioned before, is the closest rotation, but leaving Ibaka opens up three dicey propositions: Ibaka can

- sprint from the elbow to the right side of the rim for an uncontested lob
- screen away for Harden on the wing with no big to protect Wade
- screen on the ball for Westbrook without a big to slow the explosive point guard down as he turns the corner

Perhaps the simplest way to defend this play is for Bosh to stay flat with the screener, instead of hedging so aggressively out on Durant so no rotation is necessary. If that’s the choice, than the result is letting Durant tight curl for a shot or rim attack 10-12 times per game while his defender (Shane Battier in this case) trails helplessly behind. Oh, and if Durant’s defender decides to shoot the gap instead of trail, he’ll be met with a fade cut and a barrage of wide open corner 3’s.

Just when it seems all hope is lost for a defense, it’s important to remember that any offense with Kendrick Perkins will still have a weakpoint. On a set like this, the ball should be funneled to him, just not in the manner which leads to Perkins getting easy shots at the rim.

One way teams could try to slow this maneuver down is by switching the pin down between Durant and Perkins. Durant’s defender could jam Perkins while the big guarding Perk would switch out hard on Durant, looking to deny him the ball. The hope would be that the Thunder, if unable to get the ball to Durant, would either be forced to run secondary action or feed the ball into Perkins on the block. Given the aforementioned scenarios above, Perkins in the post against a wing defender seems like pretty palatable.

The danger would be Durant getting the ball against the switched out big. Whichever player ends up isolated on Durant, should pressure the ball (looking to deny a 3-point attempt) and force Durant baseline in hopes a swift rotation forces him to settle for a mid-range pull up. Not ideal, but something an opponent could consistently concede and still stay in the game. (The Heat, with Bosh, Ronny Turiaf, Joel Anthony and Haslem are probably better equipped to handle this strategy better than most teams.)

The play won’t work every time. Durant will occasionally get bumped off his curl by his primary defender, or another Thunder player won’t make the right read. But this set is just more proof that the Thunder no longer are searching for the best way to incorporate their outstanding talents into a cohesive whole on the offensive end.

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Against Angola, Team USA scored 121 points nearly doubling up their opponent.  There were a lot fast break opportunities and a lot of dunks, but that isn’t what impressed me about their performance.  What did was the ball movement and patient that Team USA showed in the half-court.  This is something that Team USA hasn’t been doing throughout the tournament, so it leads me to think that Team USA is finally starting to “get it” on the offensive end.  That’s a good thing, considering the road to the World Championship gets much tougher from here on out.  A perfect example of Team USA’s newfound offensive efficiency is this possession late in the 2nd quarter.

Derrick Rose 3

Watch this possession and you will see all the things that work against the zone combined into one play.  You have a screen against the top of the zone, a nice drive and kick, quick passes around the perimeter (forcing the zone to rotate), and an open three point shot.  12 seconds come off the clock as Derrick Rose knocks down the three.  So how is this play different than some of the stuff Team USA did earlier (and struggled)?  The passing.  In  previous games, you would see one pass and a shot (and the offense staying on one side of the court).  On this possession, you see five passes going from side to side, using the whole court.  This forces the defense to rotate and opens up a ton of lanes and shooting opportunities.

Here is another solid possession from Team USA, this one coming against man to man defense:

Chauncey Billups 3

Previous problems Team USA had was a lack of movement, with everyone waiting for the man with the basketball to make a move and do it all on their own.  On the above possession, you see a lot of off the ball movement, a pick and roll, and a pump fake that sucks the defense in.  The result is a wide open three pointer.  Those are the kind of shots Billups can knock down.

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Team Argentina won their two FIBA World games this weekend by a total of six points.  Normally when a team takes two close games back to back it is due to solid execution on both ends of the court.  However, this isn’t what happened with Team Argentina, as they ended up winning despite poor execution on the offensive end.  In both games Argentina suffered a key turnover late when they were looking to put the game away, forcing the defense to step up.

Poor Execution On Offense

Game 1 vs. Germany

Up by one with 47 seconds left, Argentina wants to run some clock and get a good look at the basket.  Argentina’s point guard dribbles the clock out for 12 seconds before they get into their offense.  When they do, they decide to run a pick and roll with Luis Scola as the screener/roll man:

As the PG comes off the screen with Scola rolling the German defense switches.  Mismatch for Argentina right?  Well, no, because Germany just doesn’t switch once, they essentially switch twice.  The German PG, passes Scola off to a bigger help defender, then picks up the open man.

However, good German rotation isn’t the only reason for the turnover.  Argentina shoots themselves in the foot pretty bad here.  Even with the good double switch, Scola still gets the ball in very good position.  However, he isn’t able to complete a move because Hernan Jasen inexplicably cuts into the lane right as Scola starts his move.

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