A closer look at Ryan Anderson’s breakout night
In case you haven’t noticed yet, Ryan Anderson is really good. Sure, the phrase “breakout performance” could be applied to his 30 point, seven rebound effort against New York, but Anderson has been quietly lighting it up all season. He currently owns a 25.95 PER a mark that puts him eighth in the league.
Looking back through yesterday’s game, 21 of Anderson’s 30 points came from behind the arc (in 13 attempts). While there is a tendency to rate every 3-point shot as being equal, they often come in a variety of ways. Anderson’s case is no exception.
The first of his seven 3s came in a pick and pop situation out of transition in the second quarter. Chris Duhon dribbles right off a double ball screen set by both Anderson and Glen Davis. As Davis rolls, Anderson pops toward the left wing. Duhon throws the ball back and the floodgates open.
Late in second, Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson engage in a middle pick and roll. This time, Anderson and JJ Redick combine for some nifty off-ball movement and shape up behind Howard’s roll to the rim. Redick cuts hard to the right wing while Anderson simple circles from the short corner to outside the 3-point line. Nelson creases (cross-grains back to the middle) and finds Anderson for a nice spot-up opportunity.
The next clip is out of the Magic’s “Horns” series (Horns/A-set alignment has two bigs at elbows and two wings in the corners). Anderson catches a Duhon pass on the left elbow and let’s Duhon cut through before performing a dribble hand-off with Hedo Turkoglu rising up from the corner. Turkoglu keeps coming hard toward the middle of the court toward another screen, this time from Howard.
Pay attention to Anderson’s subtle movement here. After the exchange with Turkoglu, Anderson doesn’t drift and waits for Turkoglu to come off the Howard screen. Carmelo Anthony, being the lone weakside defender, must jam Howard’s dive to the rim. This frees Anderson to cut or fill-behind Turkoglu’s drive. With Anthony caught down low from a combination of Howard’s roll and Turkoglu’s penetration, Anderson has a clean look at a 3 from top of the key and drains it.
Anderson’s final 3-point make of the night comes off a transition push. Running the right lane in a delayed break, Anderson and Nelson engage in a quick give-and-go that baits Iman Shumpert to jump at a potential steal. Anderson reads space well and slides toward the corner to receive the return pass from Nelson and put the Magic up five late in the fourth.
If the Magic are to make a push for a championship) Anderson will be a major reason why. While Stan Van Gundy does an excellent job of putting him in good spots, Anderson still has to make the shots. Should he continue to do so at such a blistering rate, D12 may have to rethink his plans to leave.
Glen Davis’ scoring opportunities playing with Dwight Howard
There are countless advantages to playing alongside a top-five talent in this league, but there’s an added bonus when said talent requires constant attention in the painted area. That’s what Glen Davis has now in Dwight Howard.
Davis steps into an offense littered with jump shooting specialists intent on spreading the floor open for Howard. With stretch-fours and capable wingmen, it’s no surprise that the team has led the NBA in attempts from downtown the last two seasons. Even though it’s a highly criticized philosophy, that’s the Magic way — 4 out-1 in, three-pointers or layups.
Davis doesn’t have three-point range but he has a reputation for being a solid jump shooter because he made one on a big stage one time and attempted 355 shots from 16 – 23 feet last year, 7th most among all power forwards, despite only shooting 35% from that distance. Playing with Howard will only continue to provide him with those opportunities, but will it be the best option available? It was against the Heat.
The Magic repeatedly ran the same double-screen set during their third-quarter comeback against the Heat on Wednesday with Howard and Davis setting screens and Jameer Nelson attacking based on his read.
Examining Orlando’s Final Play
Trailing the Atlanta Hawks by three points, the Orlando Magic had the basketball on the side and were looking to tie the game coming out of their timeout. Stan Van Gundy decided to run a set for Hedo Turkoglu, but he was unable to get off a comfortable look:
The set starts with Hedo Turkoglu coming off of two screens set (one at each elbow) as soon as the ball goes to the trigger man, as if he is flashing to the basketball.
After setting his screen for Turkoglu, Dwight Howard comes over and sets a pindown screen for Gilbert Arenas. Arenas comes off of the screen and gets the ball at the top of the key.
Atlanta Uses A Familiar Set To Get Joe Johnson In The Lane
In game three, the Atlanta Hawks utilized the pick and pop with one side of the court cleared out to get Al Horford a wide open jumper to clinch the game. In case you didn’t see the play, here it is:
The whole design of the play was to clear out the left side of the court, run the pick and pop with Jamal Crawford as the ball handler, force Orlando to hedge, and hit Horford popping out in an area where nobody can rotate over.
Communication And Rotation Stops The Magic Late
After proper floor spacing lead to their go-ahead basket, the Atlanta Hawks needed to stop the Orlando Magic coming out of a timeout. The Magic looked to run their bread and butter play, putting it in the hands of their playmaker Hedo Turkoglu. The Hawks were able to stop the Magic by communicating and rotating properly:
After getting the ball to Turkoglu, Dwight Howard comes over to set a screen. It’s a very good screen and Joe Johnson ends up getting caught in it, forcing Al Horford (Howard’s man) to switch onto Turkoglu. There is a lot of action taking place up top, but the man to watch here is Josh Smith, who has help responsibility.
Proper Floor Spacing Leads To Atlanta’s Go Ahead Bucket
In the aftermath of the Hawks-Magic game three, a lot of the talk will be about Jamal Crawford’s crazy isolation banked three pointer to put game away. However, the possession before that gave the Hawks the lead is the play that should be talked about. It wasn’t an intricate play, just a simple pick and pop, but the spacing on the floor lead to a wide to a wide open shot for Al Horford, one he knocked down:
With Jamal Crawford bringing the basketball up, it looks like the Hawks are going to run a simple isolation set with Crawford on the left side of the court and the rest of the players on the right side.
Dwight Howard’s Three Second Violations Weren’t His Fault
To start the fourth quarter, Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic turned the basketball over on two straight possessions. Both of these turnovers were due to three second violations on Dwight Howard. While the turnovers are chalked up to Howard, these three second violations were more the fault of his teammates than his fault. Both times Howard had deep post position and his teammates didn’t pass him the basketball:
The Magic’s first possession is a set play to try and get Dwight Howard the ball in the post after a dive. Howard sets a ball screen and then dives to the paint, looking to get strong post position. This happens as Arenas kicks the basketball out to Ryan Anderson. Howard is in the paint right under the basket, but Anderson doesn’t even look at Howard to make the entry pass. The ball finally gets entered into Howard, but it is one pass too late, and by the time he gets the ball in the paint the whistle blows for three seconds.
Atlanta’s Strategy For Dwight Howard
Going into their series against the Orlano Magic, a lot was made of Jason Collins and his ability to stop Dwight Howard one-on-one. That didn’t happen in game 1, as Dwight Howard scored 46 points on 23 shot attempts (16-23 from the field 14-22 from the FT line). Despite the big numbers, this is exactly what the Hawks wanted as they were determined not to allow kick-out passes from the post. The Hawks were so determined to prevent these kick-outs to outside shooters, that on 22 post up opportunities for Howard, the Hawks only committed an extra defender twice according to Synergy Sports Technology. This didn’t mean that the Hawks didn’t have guys digging down on Dwight, but they would only do so partially and when it looked like Dwight was committed to his post move:
Here, Dwight Howard makes the catch on the block, and there is no help initially as the Hawks stick with their men on the outside. However, once Howard commits to his post move, you see Hawks’ defenders digging in. These defenders are digging in only after you see Howard commit to his move because that means he can’t kick the basketball out to a three point shooter. Sure, this means the defender digging in probably won’t get their hands on the ball, but they are willing to live with that. In this case, the result is a make, but that doesn’t matter since the only goal is to prevent a kick out pass.
Round 1 Preview: Orlando vs. Atlanta – Key Sets
Orlando Magic – Post Timeout Sets
The Stats:
0.940 PPP | 2nd best | 45% Shooting
Clipboard Award Final Standing: 24th
The Plays:
Coming out of timeouts, the Orlando Magic like to run a set with both bigs at each of the elbow as Jameer Nelson brings the ball up.
Once Nelson picks a side and enters the ball to the elbow, he immediately cuts off of the man he passed it to.
Nelson cuts off of the big with the basketball and heads straight to the corner, setting a screen for Hedo Turkoglu. Turkoglu works off of the screen, heading towards the top of the key.
