In the first clip, the Thunder come out of a sideline out-of-bounds looking to run Durant off a screen from Kendrick Perkins on the left side of the floor. KD comes off and immediately kicks to Russell Westbrook sliding on along the 3-point arc after delivering the pass. Westbrook attacks hard rip off the pass back and draws a foul in the middle of the paint.

What makes this opening possible is Memphis’ Tony Allen stunting ever so slightly on his catch to ward off a middle drive by Durant as his defender, Rudy Gay, recovers through the screen.

This movement and quick pass back to Westbrook creates a small closeout situation that the explosive Westbrook easily exploits.
The next possession is something most fans are used to seeing, Durant curling off a screen and draining a mid-range jumper.

What allows this to happen is Marc Gasol failing to offer curl protection on a trailing Gay. If Durant has a trailing defender and doesn’t see a hard show, it makes his read very simple; catch and shoot.

Perhaps overcompensating from Durant’s open jumper the previous trip down the floor, the Grizzlies Mareese Speights shows out a little too early on the next screen in the following possession. Durant and Ibaka combine to read the play and the result is an uncontested dunk by Serge Ibaka.

We’re starting to see how complicated this seemingly simple action can be. In the following picture, we’ll realize that if Speights hedges hard to contest a Durant jumper. With Durant making such an efficient read coming off the screen, the only saving grace is an extremely quick rotation from Gasol over to Ibaka.

Gasol’s rotation, as the video showed, doesn’t get there and it’s two more Thunder points.

With all this attention centered around the screening action itself, it’s easy to forget about the weakside of the floor. Durant takes care of that by coming off another screen from Ibaka, taking one dribble toward the middle of the paint, then kicking out to a wide open Daequan Cook for 3.

In the following freeze, you’ll see that literally all five Grizzlies defenders are in the paint, focused on the Durant. Cook is left with more than enough space to knock down the shot.

After making great reads to find teammates, Durant’s read the next possession allows him to find his offense. Durant comes off an Ibaka screen that Speights is now hesitant to show on. Durant is then able to hangs in the air and nail a right-hand runner.

Taking a closer look, we see that Speights failure to show forces Tony Allen to attempt to disrupt Durant’s move toward the middle of the paint. Allen, unable to get his body in front of KD and force and non-penetrating pass out, can only swipe at the ball.

As this crazy saga continues, we see that Durant’s last attempt causes the newly inserted Dante Cunningham to focus too much on him. This time, Westbrook finds a slipping Ibaka for a two shot foul.

The final result of this series is similar to how it began. This time, the defense is so focused on defending the pin down action, they forget all other help responsibilities. Westbrook, taking advantage of Tony Allen perhaps shading toward Durant’s side of the floor, blows by him toward the rim en route to another foul.

Cunningham, focused entirely too much on the possible screen coming away from the ball, doesn’t realize Westbrook is barreling toward the rim until it’s too late.

This entire sequence of playcalling allowed the Thunder to be incredibly efficient and stay in the game until Durant took over late in the fourth. Scott Brooks, sometimes maligned for his offensive acumen, does a great job during this stretch of simply pounding Memphis with an action they were unable to contain. If the Thunder and Brooks can continue to exploit defense like this, OKC won’t be falling back to the pack anytime soon.

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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:

Here, Ibaka makes the catch, turns to see Ronny Turiaf closing hard at him after he knocked down the jump.  Instead of panicing, Ibaka jab steps, takes a couple of dribbles, and gets in a position where a turn around jumper isn’t a crazy shot from him, using his height to get a shot over Turiaf.

Where confidence in his jumper helps Ibaka the most is on the block.  According to Synergy Ibaka was a below average post player.  Working from the left block (where he posted up 72.9% of the time) Ibaka was most dangerous when facing up, something he did 42.6% of his left block posts.  Ibaka used his speed, being most effective when facing up and driving to the middle.  However, once teams realized this and backed off of him, he was forced to take a jumper, and he struggled with those.  Again, Ibaka’s newfound confidence and patience helped him here against France:

Watch how Turiaf is playing off of him, worried about the dribble penetration because of Ibaka’s quickness.  Instead of rushing into a move, Ibaka faces up, identifies how the defense is playing him, and confidently takes a jump shot.  If that starts happening consistently, Ibaka will be pretty tough to guard when facing up (you have to play the shot, but if you get too close he’ll go right by you).

With all this being said, it is still obvious that Ibaka isn’t all the way there, as a few times against France he went back into “rushing it” mode:

When he rushes, Ibaka looks very sloppy, falling down and getting blocked in this particular instance.

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With Serge Ibaka, I don’t know if he needs to develop any physical skills during the offseason, but he does need to develop mentally, and watching Spain play against France, you can start to see that development.  Now, whether this is Ibaka doing work on his own, becoming more comfortable with his shot (therefore being more confident), or getting all this experience working with Pau Gasol watching him work, either way you can see that he is already way ahead of where he was at the end of the postseason with Oklahoma City.

If this continues, and Ibaka plays well during EuroBasket, teams in the Western Conference have another reason to be scared of Oklahoma City.  After Durant, Westbrook, and Harden, you know have a guy like Ibaka playing confidently and smartly.

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.

As Nowitzki makes his move, Kevin Durant leaves his man and gets in the middle of the paint to prevent any drive from coming.  Continuing the rotation, James Harden comes down and picks up Shawn Marion (the man Durant left), which is a good play from Oklahoma City.  They are sending a help man at Dirk and giving up the pass to the corner, to J.J. Barea, who is not a strong three point shooter.

As the shot goes up, we now see the Thunder’s defense failing.  Instead of turning and finding a player to box out, all four defenders who are around the basket simply look up to watch the basketball in the air.  With everybody watching the ball and nobody boxing out, Shawn Marion is able to get from the block to the front of the rim untouched.

With Marion at the front of the rim, he is able to cause havoc as the basketball comes off of the rim, getting his hands on it and backtapping the basketball.

Marion backtaps it to Jason Kidd (also not boxed out), who is able secure the ball and kick it out to Dirk Nowitzki, forcing the foul and essentially ending the game.  Here is the play in real time:

It is said that a defensive possession doesn’t end until you secure the basketball, and this is the perfect example.  Oklahoma City (and Nick Collison in particular) played great defense initially, but a lack of a box out allowed Shawn Marion to get his hand on the basketball and clinch the game for the Mavericks.

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.

The primary action (which is a solid one) is a double screen for Harden with both Durant and Collison coming over and setting a screen for Harden, giving him an option to go whichever way he wants.  Harden decides to use Collison’s screen and take the basketball to the middle of the court.  Dallas does a fantastic job of stifling the play by switching as Tyson Chandler steps up to pick up Harden and Jason Terry picking up Collison.

With Chandler stepping up to play defense, it forces Harden to take a dribble backwards.  Now, with the first option (the Harden/Collison) pick and roll dead, the Thunder should be moving on to the second option.  However, there is no second option.  Instead the three Thunder players not involved in the pick and roll (Durant/Maynor/Westbrook) just stand there, watching the action.

The Mavericks’ defense on this play shouldn’t be ignored, because it was solid, as the Mavericks do a good job of switching back and recovering on the pick and roll, eventually forcing Harden to pick up his dribble at the three point line.  Now forced to try and pass it, Harden looks around for a pass as all three players not involved in the pick and roll continue to stand around.

Eventually, the ball goes to Eric Maynor, who sees Dirk Nowitzki covering him and trie to take advantage of the mismatch, waving off his teammates to work one-on-one.

Maynor is unable to get to the rim, so he is forced to take a fall away jumper with Nowitzki closing out on him, forcing Maynor to shoot an airball.  Eventually, Nick Collison saves the ball right to the Mavericks, and that leads to a dunk plus the foul, stretching Dallas’ lead to four points.  Here is the play in real time:

Much like Russell Westbrook, Eric Maynor really isn’t at fault here.  In my opinion, coach Scott Brooks is for not providing a second option or any weakside action off of the basketball.  Without a gameplan to stick to, you have your young guy (Maynor in this case) deciding to try and go with the basketball.  This has been a problem for Oklahoma City all postseason long, where the Thunder run don’t run an offense, or they run one set and just expect it to work.  You look at the best coaches in these situations (Doc Rivers and Gregg Popovich in my opinion), and one of the common threads in their sets is that they run a ton of backside action.  Whether or not this action will directly result in a shot, the defense has to respect it, and it makes everything easier.

Maybe the most frustrating thing about the Thunder’s offense is when they have movement and have action on the weakside, they are usually successful.  Take a look at a similar play from earlier in the series:

You have the same starting action with the Harden getting the basketball and the play starts with the Thunder setting a double screen for him. As this takes place, there is a backscreen for Cook off of the ball. With everyone watching Harden, Cook is able to get wide open for the three.

Now, I’m not saying run that exact play (they didn’t really have the personel to run it in that situation), but the concept remains the same. Why not as Harden comes off of the screen have Eric Maynor set a pindown screen for Russell Westbrook, allowing him to curl off of that pindown and get the ball on the move (something Westbrook was doing a great job of doing all game long), allowing him to finish on the cut.

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.

In his postgame interview, Brooks talked about the possession failing due to it being poorly executed.  While I scoffed at the notion when first hearing the quote, taking another look and breaking the possession down, you notice that he was correct.  The player who failed to execute?  Kevin Durant:

The play starts with Kevin Durant turning and setting a pindown screen for Russell Westbrook, who uses the screen to flash to the basketball.

After Westbrook fights through Jason Terry and Jason Kidd, he gets the basketball from Thabo Sefolosha.  Now, it appears that the play was designed for Nick Collison to set a backscreen for Kevin Durant, who was supposed to flare off of it to the corner.

As Westbrook makes the catch, spins off of Kidd and takes the ball to the middle of the court, and takes the ball to the middle, Durant sprints to the basketball instead of flaring to the corner as he was supposed to.

The result is Russell Westbrook dribbling it straight to Kevin Durant, getting caught off guard by him, and basically handing the ball off to him.  Look at what we have now, something we have talked about in the past, poor spacing as the Thunder’s two best scorers are standing next to each other 40 feet from the hoop.

Durant panics, and tries to fire up a shot from 40 feet away with 3 seconds still left on the clock.  The shot gets blocked, and the result is the Mavericks actually getting one more chance at winning the game in regulation.  Here is the play in real time (with a slow motion version as well):

Watching the play, especially in slow motion, it becomes obvious that Durant is supposed to come off of a backscreen from Collison.  Instead for whatever reason, he flashes to the basketball.  Now, why does he do this?  It could be a number of reasons, maybe he thought that Westbrook caught the ball too far away from the middle of the court or he didn’t have faith in the play, but either way, you can’t break off the play there.

Westbrook makes the catch and he is dribbling hard to the middle to try and create a passing lane for himself.  With Durant breaking off the play, he brings his man right to Westbrook.  Westbrook gives the ball to Durant and tries to make the best of it by setting a screen for Durant, but Durant is already in the middle of throwing up his 40 footer.

It’s interesting.  We criticize coaches for relying on isolation late in games, because it makes it easy for the defense.  Then a coach tries to run a play (which is what happens in the Thunder’s final possession), and it doesn’t get executed correctly and nothing comes of it.  It is going to be interesting to see if the next time he gets put in this situation how he reacts.  Will he run an isolation, where he will probably get a shot up, or will he roll the dice and run a set?

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:

This time down the court, you have Russell Westbrook bringing the basketball up and attempt to try and call something while dribbling the basketball to the wing.  Then nobody moves.  After waiting for a while, Kendrick Perkins finally comes over and sets a screen, and Westbrook uses it.  After coming off the screen, he tries to kick it out to James Harden, but Shawn Marion is able to get his hand on it and create the turnover.  Now, the lack of movement is what allows Marion to get the turnover.  He knows that James Harden isn’t a threat to cut off of his help, so he is able to dive in, stop penetration, and then shoot back out to get his hand on the ball.

Far too often, the Thunder run one action and think that is enough to get the job done.  Here, Durant sets a screen for Westbrook in an attempt to run a pick and pop and then gets a screen on the backside from Kendrick Perkins.  Durant kind of jogs through the motions, and since Perkins isn’t a threat on the offensive end, Chandler is able to play the passing lane and take the over the top pass away from Westbrook.  Now once this action finishes, it is stand around time as everyone stands and watches Westbrook dribble the basketball.  Westbrook is forced to try and create, missing the jumper out of isolation.

Here is another example of just one action (setting a screen up top) with everyone standing and watching.  This time, we at least get to see a pass, but it goes to Kevin Durant who is stepping back to about 30 feet away from the basket.  Durant makes the catch, but because he is so far out, his dribble penetration takes him just to the elbow, where he misses the jumper.

So as we can see, the lack of sets and an offensive gameplan leads to a lack of movement.  This lack of direction/movement creates confusion among the players, and this confusion creates poor spacing.  Poor spacing makes it even tougher to try and create something from nothing.

Here, Kevin Durant gets the basketball on the block and it looks like he is going to go to work.  At the last second, Thabo Sefolosha flashes through the paint, looking for a pass, but he also takes away Durant’s option to attack the middle.  So instead of Durant working one-on-one, he is now forced to kick it out to Westbrook, who gets blocked (not by his man – also due to poor spacing) as he attacks the rim.

The thing about Sefolosha’s cut is that this is the kind of thing that happens when there is no direction on the offensive end.  Nobody knows that is getting run, so everyone is going to do their own thing, not really knowing what their teammates are doing.

Here is another example of confusion leading to poor spacing, leading to a turnover.  Everyone is just standing around as Russell Westbrook gets a ball screen from Kendrick Perkins.  Again, the team has no direction and no movement, so James Harden tries to do something and set a backscreen off the ball for Durant.  This isn’t anything designed though, so Durant isn’t expecting the backscreen, so he just doesn’t know to use it.  The result is Harden and Durant standing right next to each other, so when Westbrook tries to make the pass, it gets stolen.

Almost as frustrating as their lack of sets, ball movement, and spacing on offense, is coach Brooks’ stubbornness when it comes to running sets that don’t work over and over.  There is one action in particular that the Thunder like to run that hasn’t really worked all season, but that hasn’t stopped them from running it over and over (including three times in a row during game three).

The action that they like to run is a staggered ball screen up top, and then running another screen off of that (whether it be a staggered off ball screen or a dribble handoff).

The reason why this set never seems to work is because the double screen up top never gets the job done, as if the two bigs are just going through the motion.  This kind of action works when one of the two defenders covering the screener is forced to react to Westbrook, but because that screen is never effective that never happens.  In fact, the only time this action worked in game three is when Russell Westbrook just broke off the play and attacked the rim, drawing a foul.

What really makes this frustrating is that when the Thunder are actually spaced properly and are moving, they look great (as they should with two of the better players in the league).

On this possession, you know that the Thunder are running a set from the start.  Russell Westbrook quickly gets the basketball out of his hands and cuts through as the Thunder start a set.  Eventually, Westbrook attacks, but with good spacing, he has a teammate making himself available, kicks the ball out, and then the ball quickly shoots around the outside, forcing Dallas to recover.  Eventually, Sefolosha gets it, pump fakes, and gets the easy lay-in.

Here is that staggered ball screen yet again, but this time, the set isn’t predicated on whether or not a big gets a good screen.  Instead, that staggered screen is a decoy as Durant is involved and then he quickly gets a screen from Nick Collison.  This gives Durant the space to make the catch and get a jumper off at the foul line.

When I am talking about ball movement and spacing, it doesn’t have to be these intricate sets.  Here, Durant gives Westbrook a screen, but instead of popping out, Durant rolls to the rim hard, getting open.  With the rest of the offense on the other side of the court, there is no help in time to stop Durant.

Again, nothing crazy here, but when Russell Westbrook attacks, Kevin Durant trails him and gets the basketball in the lane, drawing a foul.  If Durant just stands around on the outside, that is a tough shot by Westbrook.  Durant doesn’t stand there, makes himself available, and Westbrook makes the right decision.

Small Lineup

The fourth quarter saw Scott Brooks finally go to their small lineup, playing Westbrook, Cook, Harden, Durant, and Collison all for the entire fourth quarter.  This was very successful as we saw the Thunder get back in the game and make things interesting.  Even with this success, it wasn’t because the Thunder were running offense, quite the opposite.  With shooters all around him, Brooks just put everything on Westbrook’s shoulders, expecting him to create, and he responded by having success early in the quarter:

Look at all of these plays Westbrook scores on.  It is the same problems with the Thunder offense, no direction and no movement.  However, because shooters spread the floor and Westbrook made some shots, it tricks everyone into believing the Thunder are running a real offense.

Eventually, the Westbrook stopped making shots, and that is exactly when the Thunder’s offense sputtered yet again:

Watching these plays it is hard to convince me that the Thunder (and Russell Westbrook specifically) are doing anything different when they had success early in the quarter.  In my opinion, the lack of direction finally caught up with them.

While Russell Westbrook made a few mistakes (that transition three late was a terrible shot), it is hard to say that he is the man to blame here, both for shooting the ball too much and for not getting the basketball to Durant.  Their is just a lack of direction, and too often that means Westbrook trying to create late in the clock.

For those who say that Westbrook needs to learn how to create for his teammates better, even when the plays break down, they need to understand Westbrook is still a 22 year old learning the position.  If the Thunder are running a set, Westbrook makes good decisions and get the basketball where it needs to be.  It’s when things breakdown that he goes a little crazy and the ball sticks in his hands.  As the coach, it is Scott Brooks’ job to put his players in the best position to succeed.  Anytime that Brooks allows the Thunder to have a possession with no direction, he is doing a disservice to his young point guard.

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.

However, Sefolosha takes way too long to come off of the pindown screen, in fact it takes Westbrook motioning his arm in a circle (as if to say, “come off Durant’s screen) to get Sefolosha to do what he wants.  However, by the time Sefolosha comes off of the screen, it is too late.  Harden tries to v-cut and bail Westbrook out, but that doesn’t work.  Now, with 10 seconds left on the shot clock, Westbrook dribbles backwards and attacks, eventually turning it over.

Here is what the play is supposed to look like:

As I mentioned above, based on Chris Boussard’s report, it appears that Brooks blamed Westbrook for the mishap, when it was actually Sefolosha’s fault.  There is a good chance that without the benefit of replay, Brooks assumed that this was his fault until he got back into the locker room and watched the tape, leading to Brooks keeping Westbrook on the bench (Westbrook’s response to Brooks’ comment probably played a factor as well).

Every time the Thunder play, it seems we hear the same thing over and over when it comes to Russell Westbrook.  He’s selfish, he’s not a true point guard, he can’t get his teammates involved, but this isn’t really the case.  While there are some plays where Westbrook gets a little isolation/shot happy, we also have to look at Westbrook’s teammates when he turns the ball over, because they are young too, and they will make mistakes as well.

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.

Harden throws a great pass over the top of everyone, and when Stojakovic goes to steal it, Collison’s screen keeps him from getting in position.  With Nowitzki focused on Harden as well, he is out of position to make a play either.

Nowitzki is unable to close out on Cook in time, and Cook is able to knock down the open three point shot.  Here is the play in real time:

What makes this play is that the Thunder use James Harden on the wing to make the pass.  What is so great about this is that the Thunder have plenty of sets where this initial action (the point guard bringing the ball up and getting it to Harden to initiate the offense) takes place.  So seeing that doesn’t raise any flags or shows the Thunder’s hand because they repeat this action plenty of times during the course of the game (and it is really effective, which is why all five Maverick defenders are focused on the ball instead of their man).

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.

As Marion is getting to his spot, Tyson Chandler sets a cross screen for Peja Stojakovic, allowing Stojakovic to sprint to the ball side corner.

Once Marion gets the basketball, Barrea rotates over to the wing as Stojakovic gets to the corner, to give proper spacing.  As this happens, Tyson Chandler comes over and sets a screen for Shawn Marion, who uses the screen to take the ball to the foul line.

After setting the screen, Chandler rolls to the rim.  What is interesting about running this pick and roll at the elbow is that Chandler has a much shorter path to the rim, making him more of a threat to catch the lob.  Because of that threat, Thabo Sefolosha is forced to sink in the middle and help on Chandler’s roll.

This leaves Stojakovic wide open in the corner and Shawn Marion does a great job of spotting him and making the pass.

Stojakovic makes the catch and fires the three before Sefolosha can get back to close out on him.  Here is the play in real time:

What makes this set is using Shawn Marion as the ball handler.  This play isn’t designed to get a score for the ball handler, so you don’t need a quick guard to come off of the ball screen.  You need a taller player who can see over the top and pick out the right pass (whether it be Chandler rolling to the rim or Stojakovic in the corner), and Marion does a very good job of that.

If you were paying attention during the Mavericks’ series against the Lakers, you would have remembered this play, because the Mavericks’ got Los Angeles with this play as well:

This time, instead of helping in the middle, Stojakovic’s man sticks with him and that frees up the paint for Chandler to catch the lob on the roll and finish with the dunk.

This is a great set run by Dallas that really puts pressure on the defense.  Do you defend the lob?  Do you stay with the shooter in the corner?  You can’t even really go under the screen because if you do it is simply a foul line jumper and even Marion with his funky release can knock that down.  This play is almost impossible to stop.