My Favorite Sets is a weekly series looking at some of my favorite plays from the 2009-2010 and breaking them down using FastModel’sFastDraw program, and then showing you what it looks like live.
UPDATE: Corrected the Thunder set to show it correctly.
Last time, we looked at my favorite sets coming out of timeouts in dead ball situations. These are set plays drawn up in the huddle, so it is all on the coaches. During non-dead ball situations, it is more on the player to execute. Because it isn’t a quick hitter, where you see one or two quick passes and a shot, players are now forced to react to the defense and go from there.
Latavious Williams has had a pretty interesting journey on his way to the NBA. Williams was deemed ineligible for college, and instead of taking the Brandon Jennings route Williams chose to enter the D-League. In my opinion, this decision was very smart, and one that could lead to Williams having an impact for the Thunder this year.
So how has the D-League helped Williams? Well, he played for the Tulsa 66ers, who are a direct affiliate for the Thunder, meaning that he already has a year’s experience with the Thunder’s offensive and defensive systems. Even more importantly, Williams was playing in a league that has rules that are exactly the same as the NBA’s rules. Meaning that Williams already has a knowledge of the unique rules in the NBA, the key one being defensive three seconds. During his summer league performance’s Williams, looked very comfortable off the ball, and a lot of it had to do with his knowledge of the defensive three second rule:
D-League Doing A Good Job Of Preparing Latavious Williams
Before we even get to the real defensive play I want to talk about, Williams does a good job of rotating off to the roll man, to make sure he doesn’t get a wide open catch in the paint. Now that he is covering the roll man, Williams is standing in the paint. However, he knows the defensive three second rule and knows that because he is defending someone at arms distance, he can stand in the paint however long he likes. This means he is in perfect position for help defense, and he is able to get the block.
Throughout of the offseason, I will take a look at teams that most people will think are contenders and look at an area where they struggle. I will then offer up my opinion on how their weakness can be improved on so they can take the next step…today, we are going to look at the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Last year, the Thunder were the NBA’s surprise team. Their front office did a fantastic job of gathering young talent, but they weren’t expected to seriously compete for a playoff spot. The Thunder were able to sneak up on a lot of people. This year is going to be different, because teams are going to taking the Thunder seriously from the start.
To get where they want to be, the Thunder are going to need to improve on the offensive end. Using SynergySports you see that the Thunder’s weakest offensive option is the pick and roll. According to Synergy, the Thunder only had .80 points per possession on possession considered “Pick and Roll Ball – Handler,” which was good for 22nd in the league. As for possession considered “Pick and Roll – Roll Man,” the Thunder only scored .97 points per possession, ranking them 24th in the NBA.
Why Wasn’t It Successful?
Poor Shooting Ball Handler
Russell Westbrook is a fantastic point guard when he is getting to the rim, however he isn’t the best shooter. From 10-15 feet Westbrook shot just 33.9%, and from 16-23 feet Westbrook shot 37%. Those areas on the court are important during this discussion because that is where most point guards get their shots in the pick and roll, and Westbrook was the Thunder’s primary ball handler in the pick and roll (he had 513 of team’s 1049 PNR ball handler possessions).
During the season, teams got smart when defending Westbrook and the pick and roll:
Teams would just go under the screen when Westbrook was handling the ball, preventing the drive to the lane and basically begging him to shoot. More often than not Westbrook would comply, and miss.
Throughout the playoffs, we are going to be looking at the teams that lost their last game and look at what they can do to try and get a win.
For most of the first two games Thabo Sefolosha was the one responsible for covering Kobe Bryant. While Kobe got his, Sefolosha did a very good job of making him work for his points. However, in the final quarter of Game 2, Thunder coach Scott Brooks decided to match-up Jeff Green with Kobe Bryant, while he left Thabo on the bench (he sat the entire 4th quarter).
I understand why Coach Brooks made this decision (he wanted Jeff Green out there to be an offensive threat), but he has to understand that Green was even struggling on that end (2-11 for 12 points). With Green struggling, you can say that he and Sefolosha are even on that end, so with Thabo being the better defender he should have been in. Also, Thabo has been covering Kobe for 7 quarters, so he is familiar with his game and how he works. Jeff Green on the other hand, hasn’t been covering Bryant and it is hard for him to get the timing down. A perfect example of this is the following two plays:
After a Kobe jumper, the Thunder were down two points with two minutes left in the 4th quarter. Now Scott Brooks’ late game playcalling has been a source of much discussion around these parts, so I was real interested to see what Brooks would do in the playoffs needing a bucket.
This is what Brooks came up with:
Look familiar? Well, if you have been reading this blog for a little while, it should:
The play that the Thunder ran against the Lakers is the same play that Brooks used against the Celtics to get Jeff Green back-to-back threes. Now, I don’t mind Brooks’ call here. This play has worked very well for the Thunder in the past against one of the best defensive teams in the NBA (the Celtics), why wouldn’t it work against the Lakers. What I was really impressed with though was how the Lakers defended it, and that is what we are going to look at:
Throughout the playoffs, we are going to be looking at the teams that lost their last game and look at what they can do to try and get a win.
When you think of Kevin Durant, you not only think of a scorer, but you think of an efficient scorer. However, during Game 1 against the Lakers, Durant really struggled. Sure, he scored 24 points but he did it on 24 shots as he looked uncomfortable the entire game.
It is no secret that the if the Thunder want to win Game 2 (and eventually the series), they need to get Kevin Durant going. To do that, I think that the Thunder are going to have to get Durant moving off the ball much more:
Ron Artest is clearly much bigger than Kevin Durant, and if they stay attached Artest is going to have the advantage. This is why getting Durant on the move is so important. It isn’t just because he is quicker than Artest, but when Durant is on the move, it is easier for his teammates to get solid screens set on Artest. In the video above, that is exactly what happens. After a quick move, Artest is in trail position when he is hit in a screen. This gives Durant some space, and that is all he really needs with his length and quick release.
For these playoff previews we are going to take a look at each team individually, and then we are going to look at the match-up.
LA Lakers
Strengths
What the Lakers do well.
Kobe
Length creates mismatches
They take care of the basketball
Very good defensively (again, length)
Strong rebounding team
Weaknesses
Some problems the Lakers struggle with
PG depth
Tendencies
Some things you are going to notice when watching the Lakers play.
The Lakers are really good at using their length. What I mean by that is the Lakers long frontcourt is what create their rebounding opportunities, and their length really helps their defense.
If Lamar Odom gets it going, watch out.
The ball has been known to stick in Kobe’s hands from time to time.
This has been a talking point for me a couple of times in the past, and last night, the Thunder’s late game execution cost them another game. This doesn’t mean the Thunder haven’t been successful late, but those successes came from quick hitters, and when Durant is used as a decoy. However, the Thunder really seem to struggle (especially when coming out of timeouts) when they try to run sets to get Kevin Durant the ball. That is what happened yet again last night:
In the above play, you can tell that Durant really wants the basketball. He has what he thinks is a mismatch with Monta Ellis on him, and he wants to take advantage of it. However, there is a ton of confusion for the Thunder on the offensive end here. As Westbrook brings up the ball, there is a lot of standing around, and when the team finally gets into a set, they kind of just jog through the motions. Jogging through sets isn’t really effective, because when you are jogging the opposition knows that you aren’t a threat. When they know that, that is one less thing the defense needs to worry about (rewatch the video from an old post. Durant sprints through his cut, forcing attention and freeing up Jeff Green). Eventually the ball gets swung to Jeff Green, who to his credit tries to attack. However, the poor spacing causes the ball to get stripped.
After a broken play where Oklahoma City scored to put the Thunder up 1 with 5.0 seconds left, the Utah Jazz needed a basket coming out of a timeout, and Jerry Sloan sure didn’t disappoint. What happened afterwords (I am not even getting into it) shouldn’t take away from that:
The Jazz are set up in your standard box set coming out of a timeout. Usually, you will have your point guard come up from the low post off of a screen on the elbow. Instead, Carlos Boozer simply turns around, pins his man (Jeff Green) on his back, and makes the catch.
After getting a stop, the Thunder had a 1 point lead with 2:15 seconds left. The Thunder were trying to hold onto the lead, and to do so, they needed a basket. Fortunately, Scott Brooks had a play ready to go. One that used Kevin Durant as a decoy, and while coming out of timeouts late seem to cause problems for the Thunder, this situation did not:
As Westbrook brings up the ball, Kevin Durant runs along the baseline and stops in the middle of the paint as Russell Westbrook takes the ball from the wing to the center of the floor.
As Westbrook gets to the center of the floor, he turns and returns to where he started coming off of a Jeff Green downscreen.
After Durant comes off Green’s screen, Nenad Krstic sets a second screen for Durant, freeing him up and letting him get to the middle of the paint.
As Durant comes off of the second screen, he dives right through the middle of the paint towards the opposite block. This sucks in the two Boston defenders on the weakside. As all of this action is taking place, the ball gets swung from Russell Westbrook to Thabo Sefolosha on the wing.
With all of this attention on Kevin Durant, Nenad Krstic sneaks behind Kevin Garnett undetected and sets himself up for a screen.
After a pump-fake by Sefolosha to draw the defense in a little more, he throws a skip pass to Jeff Green. Green makes the catch and gets a wide open three that he makes. Here it is in real time:
Notice how Krstic doesn’t even have to get a solid screen on Garnett. He just needs to get in his way, and that is what he does, giving Jeff Green more than enough time to rise up and knock down a three. After a three point play from Ray Allen cutting the lead down to 1 once more, the Thunder needed yet another basket. Scott Brooks figured since the play they just ran worked so well the first time, why not do it again? You tend to see this once in a while during games. If a play works and works well (as the first play did), coaches tend to go right back to it. The “run it until they can stop it” philosophy, and that is exactly what happens here:
If you watch the second play closely, you can see that Kevin Garnett (Jeff Green’s man) is aware that the Thunder are running the same play. However, the threat of Kevin Durant is so great that he needs to stay in the middle of the paint for a split second longer than he wanted to. This split second is enough time for Krstic to get his body in front of Garnett, freeing up Green for another open three that he knocks down. The Thunder were able to once again extend their lead to 4 points, and this time, they didn’t look back.
You tend to see this once in a while during games. If a play works and works well (as the first play did), coaches tend to go right back to it. The “run it until they can stop it” philosophy.
