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.

The Oklahoma City Thunder found themselves in yet another late game situation.  This time, Kevin Durant is able to get the ball in his hands and he eventually gets a shot up.  It’s not a good look (contested), and Durant misses.

The play starts with Durant on the ball-side block.  Russell Westbrook is going to come down from his position and set a screen for Durant who is going to come up the middle of the floor.

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Kevin Durant scored 45 points against the Spurs last night, so when the Thunder needed a basket to send the game into overtime/take the lead (after a fantastic Serge Ibaka block), it was obvious where the Thunder were going.  The playcall (and the execution) weren’t the greatest, but the real reason Durant didn’t get off a shot attempt was because of how the Spurs played defense, getting the ball out of his hands and forcing a teammate to take the shot.

As Thabo Sefolosha receives the basketball to inbounds it, Jeff Green is going to set a screen for Russell Westbrook while Serge Ibaka is going to set a screen for Kevin Durant.  This is the one critique I have of the Thunder’s play.  Ibaka is standing behind Durant, and they way the play is drawn up Ibaka has to run around in a circle to set the screen.

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After Russell Westbrook hit a jumper with 3:22 left in the fourth quarter, he was able to cut the Bobcats lead to 4 points.  Larry Brown took a timeout, and the possession following it was a pretty important one.  If the Bobcats score, they can extend the lead to 6 with about 3 minutes left.  If the Bobcats don’t score, the Thunder can cut the lead to 2 or 1 points, and who knows what will happen then.  As it turns out, the Bobcats run a beautiful set out of the timeout and push their lead to 6, and the Thunder don’t come closer than that the rest of the ballgame:

Boris Diaw comes to the top of the key and receives the inbounds pass.  The beauty of using Diaw (who himself is a pretty good passer for his size) is that you are pulling a front court defender away from the basket, clearing the lane for the potential lob.  After Stephen Jackson makes the pass, he cuts through the middle of the lane, using a Tyrus Thomas screen.  Over on the far side, Raymond Felton comes up off of a screen set by Stephen Graham.  Nothing really important going on over there, as you can tell by the two players jogging through the motions.

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Part of what makes Kevin Durant’s stretch of 25 point games so incredible is that teams are keying on the guy and he is scoring.  Some of it is just incredible talent (he has one of the smoothest strokes in the game), some of it is savvy and awareness (the way he gets to the line), and some of it is the playcalling.  That is what we are going to talk about today.

In the fourth quarter of a really good game, the Thunder are coming out of a timeout under their own basket.  Everyone in the building knows that the Thunder want to get the ball to Durant, and somehow they still get him an open lob-pass.

The play starts with the lane being real crowded.  You have 3 guys in there already, and as a result there are 4 defenders in the paint. It looks like the Thunder are going to go away from the paint to a corner, away from the defenders.

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Every morning (or late-afternoon), I am going to breakdown the some key possessions from the previous night’s games.  Good possessions/bad possessions you can find them all here.

I know the Breakdowns have been “on break” for a while, but I am bringing them back today.  We are going to look at some stuff from the Spurs-Thunder game.  These two plays are very interesting, because they are basically the same play, with Kevin Durant being denied the ball.  In the second play though (the one from overtime), there is a chance for Durant to get the ball.  Is it Durant’s fault or Westbrook’s fault?  Let’s look…

Game Tying Shot:

Since there is 10 seconds left, the Thunder run a play to get Russell Westbrook the ball.  I don’t believe this means it was designed for him to get the final shot, there is enough time to run a play for Durant, but the way the Spurs defended Durant changed all that.

As Westbrook corrals the inbounds pass, Bogans is denying Durant fully.  The Spurs plan here is to not allow Durant to touch the ball, and whatever happens happens..

The deny gives Westbrook a lane to attack and he takes it.

Jeff Green sets an awesome screen for Westbrook, as he attacks the lane given to him by the deny.

Richard Jefferson is a little late with the switch, so Westbrook pulls up and hits the shot.  Bogans is still denying Durant, so that just shows you they were willing to let anyone else tie the game except for Durant.

Overtime Miss Attempt:

Here is the play from overtime.  It is similar up to a certain point, but then, Westbrook had a chance to get Durant the ball.

Here Durant is open for a brief second.  Sefolosha chooses not to give it to Durant that for away from the basket, so he gives the ball to Westbrook, who shows himself to Sefolosha and gets open.

This is where things get all Deja-Vu like.  Bogans is once again denying Durant all the way to half-court.  This deny opens up a lane for Westbrook to drive through.  Westbrook takes it.

The difference is Bogans actually comes off his deny to help cover Westbrook.  Durant is open, but he needs to make himself available to Westbrook.  Why would Westbrook pass him the ball when he is 40+ feet away.  As Bogans turns his head, Durant needs to cut backdoor and get himself in better shooting position.

Durant finally gets to the three point line, but it is too late (Westbrook is already pulling up) so Westbrook takes the shot and misses it.  Should Westbrook have looked for Durant?  Yes, but Durant was so far from the basket, he wasn’t really an option there.  I think the Spurs did a good job of denying Durant, and having him start the play at halfcourt.