With Serge Ibaka, Confidence And Patience Is The Key & He’s Developing That With Spain
Serge Ibaka played his first game with the Spanish National Team yesterday against France and while he scored just nine points in about 16 minutes on 4/7 shooting, I came away extremely impressed with Ibaka and his development on the offensive end of the court.
The biggest thing that I noticed with Ibaka is not only the fact that he was knocking down jumpers, he was comfortable taking them, and he had a very good pace/rhythm with the basketball. This is important because with the roster Oklahoma City has, they don’t need Ibaka to be an offensive powerhouse, but they need him to be comfortable with the basketball and comfortable taking 15-17 footers. Before we get into all that let’s talk about Ibaka’s jumper. I always thought he had good form and when he shot it confidently he had a good shot a making it. The numbers show us this. When Ibaka took an open jumper (situations where he was the most comfortable), he knocked it down, shooting 50% (55-110 on unguarded jumpers according to Synergy). Against France, Ibaka looked comfortable:
Here, Ibaka makes the catch, sees that he is open, and simply pulls up. When Ibaka is being confident with his jumper, he seems to be more patient. When he is more patient, he’s better offensively. After knocking down that first jumper, look at how Ibaka reacts to the defense closing out hard on him:
The Thunder Play Good Defense, But Can’t Secure The Rebound
After their failed play with about a minute left, the Thunder were actually able to cut Dallas’ lead back to two points with about 40 seconds left. This gave the Mavericks the basketball with enough time left on the clock that the Thunder didn’t have to foul and could play straight defense, hoping to get a stop and a chance at the tie/win. The Thunder did a good job of playing defense initially, but as the shot came off of the rim, the Thunder failed to box out, and it probably cost them the game:
Picking up the play halfway through, we see that the Mavericks have isolated Dirk Nowitzki at the top of the key. Nick Collison is up on him (as he has been for much of the series), taking getting into his body and being physical with him.
One Possession Shows Us What’s Wrong With Oklahoma City’s Offense
With 1:14 left in game five and the ball on the side coming out of a timeout, the Oklahoma City Thunder trailed the Dallas Mavericks by one point. Unlike most possessions, the Thunder came out and tried to run an offense, however, it failed because of an issue that has been haunting Oklahoma City all series (and playoffs) long. No backside action/movement.
After James Harden inbounds the basketball to Russell Westbrook, Westbrook hands it off to Harden on the wing and then clears out to the weakside corner.
Did Kevin Durant Blow That Final Possession?
One of the biggest criticisms that I have for Thunder head coach Scott Brooks, is that he doesn’t really run any sets late. There have been far too many examples of the Thunder relying on Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook ability to create for themselves when they need a basket in the final seconds, and that is part of the reason why they struggle in late game situations. We saw a perfect example of this with 38.6 seconds left and the Thunder holding a two point lead:
Here, Kevin Durant gets a pindown screen, but this screen isn’t designed to put him in a catch and shoot situation. Instead, this pindown screen is designed to get Durant the ball on the wing and let him work out of an isolation situation. The result is Kevin Durant starting too early, skipping a pass to Thabo Sefolosha, who misses the three.
While in my opinion, this was a poor coaching decision by Brooks (letting Durant work isolation instead of running a set), the next Thunder possession (where they had the ball with 6.4 seconds left and the game tied) Scott Brooks actually tried to run a set for Kevin Durant.
Oklahoma City’s Offense And The Lack Of Creativity/Movement
Every time Oklahoma City loses (and sometimes when they win), the first thing that you need to look at is the Thunder’s offense, because more than likely, that is what is responsible for the loss. That was the case once again during game three of the Western Conference Finals, a game they loss due in large part to their inability to score (both early in the game and late).
And while there are those who are trying to blame the usual suspect (Russell Westbrook), the blame needs to be put on Thunder coach Scott Brooks. Game after game, the Thunder always seem to hit stretches where they just can’t score and those stretches usually coincide with the times they don’t really run an offense.
Plenty of times in game three, the Thunder had trips where they just didn’t have a set ready to run, player, or ball movement, often forcing players to try and create on their own, where they would fail to do so:
The Play That Got Russell Westbrook Benched: It Wasn’t His Fault
With 48 seconds left in the third quarter of game two, the Oklahoma City Thunder had the basketball and looked to retake the league. They were unable to as Russell Westbrook turned the basketball over, a mistake that got him taken out of the game and benched in the fourth quarter. Selfish Russell Westbrook at it again, right? As it turns out, Westbrook’s turnover and benching was a result of a poorly executed play by his teammates:
Thunder coach Scott Brooks promptly took Westbrook, who had four turnovers, out of the game. Brooks slapped the All-Star point guard on his backside as he walked by.
Westbrook turned around and glared at the court. Then, when Brooks walked toward him and made a comment, Westbrook yelled, “I’m trying to run the [expletive] play, man.”
Westbrook continued yelling on the bench for roughly a minute — saying, “Tell them to run the [expletive] play,” according to the source — prompting assistant coach Maurice Cheeks to console him as play continued.
From Westbrook’s response, it seems like Brooks was telling him that he needs to execute the play properly (probably not in those terms), and Westbrook responded by saying it was his teammate’s fault. Looking at the play, it turns out that Westbrook is correct:
The play that the Thunder are trying to run here isn’t an overly complicated one, it is just a simple pindown screen for Thabo Sefolosha with Kevin Durant setting the screen. With Kidd defending Durant and Durant setting the screen, Sefolosha would have two options after making the catch. Either take the shot or dump it into Durant for the post up.
Quick Hitter: Weakside Action Gets The Thunder A Wide Open Three
Daequan Cook is one of the better three point shooters in the league, and when you have a guy like him, the defense is going to focus a good amount of attention on him to keep him from getting open looks. This is where you need to get creative with your offense, and Scott Brooks does a good job of this (in terms of getting Cook open), by using weakside action to get him an open look.
Eric Maynor brings up the basketball and gets it to James Harden on the wing. It looks like the Thunder are setting up a situation where Harden is going to have his choice of screen (either use one to get to the middle or use one to go baseline). However, while that is happening, Nick Collison is sneaking behind Peja Stojakovic to set a screen. With all the Mavericks’ attention on James Harden, Peja doesn’t feel the screen coming, but not only that, Dirk Nowitzki (who is covering Collison) doesn’t call the screen out to Stojakovic.
Quick Hitter: Dallas Uses A Familiar Set To Get An Open Three
At the end of the second half of their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Dallas Mavericks had the basketball, looking to get an easy basket to extend their six point lead. To do so, they ran a creative set that they like to run from time to time, one involving a ball screen at the elbow.
The play starts with J.J. Barrea setting a pindown screen for Shawn Marion as Jason Kidd brings the basketball up. Marion uses the screen to curl to the elbow and wait for the ball.
Oklahoma City vs. The Zone: Too Much Settling/Missing Jeff Green?
As expected, the Dallas Mavericks ran trotted out their zone defense against the Oklahoma City Thunder in game one of the Western Conference Finals, and though they didn’t run it as much as they did during the regular season (I personally counted six zone possessions), it was just as effective. The main reason why the zone was so effective in game one was the same reason why it was effective during the regular season, the Oklahoma City Thunder settled for jumpers:
This is the first possession where the Mavericks threw the zone at the Thunder, and they just didn’t look prepared for it. You have guys standing around and pointing, trying to figure out what to do with the basketball. Eventually, after trying to penetrate, Durant is forced to kick it out to Westbrook on the wing. The defense drops off of him, and Westbrook settles for the jumper.
