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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
In each of the previews that I have done for a Dallas Mavericks’ series, I looked at the Mavericks’ zone and how their opposition might attack it. Despite playing only half as much zone as they did in the regular season (10.5% of all possessions vs. 5.2% of all possessions – 45 total – in the playoffs), I am going to be looking at the Mavericks’ zone yet again.
The reason why I am doing so is because I think the zone will be vital this series. The reason is because in the three matchups against the Thunder, the Mavericks ran a lot of zone, and had a lot of success with it. Out of the 268 total halfcourt possessions that the Thunder had, the Mavericks played zone 12.7% of the time, or 34 possessions in total (up from their season average of 10.5%, which was the most zone any team played by far). Out of those 34 possessions, the Thunder scored on just 10 of them, or just 29.4% of the time (compared to scoring on 45.7% of possessions vs. Dallas’ man to man defense. It is pretty obvious that the Mavericks are going to have to play zone, and that the Thunder’s success offensively in this series comes down to how they do against the zone.
When Oklahoma City attacked Dallas’ zone they had one set that they used, and in fact, it is pretty similar to Dallas’ zone offense with one major exception, player movement. Much like Dallas, Oklahoma City ran a 4 out 1 in style of zone offense, but instead of the type of movement like Dallas got, the Thunder players usually hang around the perimeter and stand there. The only player that seems to be working and moving is Serge Ibaka, the middle man, moving with the basketball and working to get open. When the Thunder let Ibaka work, their offense can hace success:
The Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook pick and pop with Durant coming off of a screen away from the basketball is a play that the Oklahoma City Thunder ran against the Memphis Grizzlies in the past with mixed success. When they ran it against Tony Allen, the Thunder struggled to score:
The reason that the Grizzlies are able to stop the Thunder’s pick and pop here is because Allen has absolutely no interest in hedging on Russell Westbrook coming off of the screen. This allows him to stay attached to Durant’s body and prevent the pass from going to him.
However, when they ran it with Shane Battier covering him, they had some success due to Battier’s tendency to hedge on Westbrook coming off of the screen:
For whatever reason, Battier decides to hedge and this allows Durant to get off of his defender’s body and cut to the rim where he gets the pass and the dunk.
With 6.1 seconds left in the 2nd quarter, it looked like the Oklahoma City Thunder were going to go into the half with a 13 point lead and some momentum. However, with the Grizzlies taking the basketball out on the side, the Thunder were forced into a mistake, allowing the Grizzlies to get a three pointer at the buzzer that completely shifted the momentum in Memphis’ favor. That mistake? Poor communication between Thabo Sefolosha and Serge Ibaka:
As the ball goes to Battier, the trigger man, Sefolosha is playing off of him a little bit. This allows Battier to have a clear passing lane to Darrell Arthur who flashes to the wing, looking for the basketball.
After making the inbounds pass to Arthur, Battier quickly cuts off of him, getting the ball back from Arthur. This essentially sets up a screen situation with Arthur setting the screen after handing off the basketball.
Most of the Memphis Grizzlies’ offensive firepower comes from the block with Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol posting their men up. As an offense, once you establish that post threat, you can do some things working off of that post threat, using it as a decoy, and setting up other stuff. In the first quarter of game six against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Grizzlies gave us a perfect example of how to use a post threat to open up stuff for others:
As Mike Conley brings the basketball down the court, Marc Gasol sets a pindown screen for Shane Battier. Battier uses the screen and flashes to the pinch post, where he receives the basketball.
After setting the initial screen, Gasol continues to walk to the block where he sets another screen, this time for O.J. Mayo. Mayo comes off of the screen with his defender Thabo Sefolosha trailing him.
