Here is what the Magic were facing every single time they entered the ball down low (Dwight missed a hook on this possession).  Single coverage on Dwight with the remaining Celtics in the passing lanes, not allowing for any of the Magic’s three point shooters to make a catch.  As we talked about yesterday, the Celtics really did a good job of limiting the Magic to 9 three point attempts in the first half (when they averaged 27 a game in the regular season), and this is why.

So what can the Magic do to adjust?  Well, they need to create three point looks and easy baskets from the outside instead of inside-out (which is what they normally do).  They did this at the start of the second half when they made their little run.

Pick And Pop

The Magic like to run a quick-hitting pick and pop every once in a while with Rashard Lewis as the screener and either Jameer Nelson or Vince Carter as the ball handler.

Here, the Celtics switch it, and with Kevin Garnett worried about Nelson driving on him he plays back a little.  This gives Jameer room to knock down a three.

This time the pick and pop is run with Vince Carter as the ballhandler. Again, the Celtics switch it and again, KG is worried about the drive, giving up space for the shot. He knocks it down.

Pick And Roll

I know what you are thinking, “the Magic run the pick and roll all the time.”  They do, but usually it is designed to try and hit the roll man (Dwight Howard).  In fact, the first screen shot is off of a pick and roll designed to get Dwight an easy post up.  However, in the second half the Magic started running the pick and roll to free up the shooters.

After Nelson comes off the screen, Dwight doesn’t even roll. Nelson doesn’t look for him and he is able to find the space for his own shot. In the second half, the Magic did a lot of this, using the pick and roll to free up shooters rather than using it to free up Dwight.

The Result

With the Magic using the pick and pop and the screen and roll to free up guys on the outside, the Celtics start focusing their attention on it. This then frees up the lane:

Using Dwight Howard to set the screen pulls Kendrick Perkins out of the lane, which frees up room for a backdoor cut. Look at Ray Allen (the man responsible for Matt Barnes). He gets caught watching the ball, and this is what allows Matt Barnes to become open on the cut.

Another thing I would like to see the Magic do to take advantage of the Magic’s outside game is on the pick and pop. The Magic could run the pick and pop with Jameer Nelson coming off a Rashard Lewis screen. Instead of looking for the outside shot (either from Nelson or Rashard Lewis on the kickout), Dwight can dive in and quickly seal Perkins. The goal is to catch Perkins off-guard and allow Dwight Howard to get really good inside position. Improving Dwight’s position really increases Dwight’s chances against Perkins, and it can be achieved by going outside-in rather than inside-out.

After the Mavericks cut the Spurs’ lead to 5 in the fourth quarter, the Spurs answered by going to their best player Tim Duncan.  The Mavs tried to single cover him with Brendan Haywood, but it didn’t work and Duncan was able to work him.

If the Mavericks want to keep Duncan from putting up another 25 points on him, they are going to need to double him.  So how do they go about doubling Duncan?  It might sound strange, but the Mavs should take a page out of the Nets’ playbook.  No, don’t laugh.  I’m serious.  The Nets were able to effectively shut Duncan down by aggressively attacking him on the double.

The key when doubling Duncan is stopping the off the ball movement.  What the Spurs like to do when Duncan gets doubled is send a cutter right through the paint.

If you don’t defend it, there will be a wide open lay-in.  So if the Mavs want to double, they got to make sure they handle things off the ball as well.

The Celtics pretty much blew the Miami Heat out of the water in Game 2, so there were a lot of things I could have picked for this.  I decided to go with the most obvious one, the Heat and their need to stop Ray Allen from shooting that corner three point shot.  How important is that shot, well, let’s take a look at Allen’s shot chart from Game 2 (via J.E. Skeets’ twitter):

All of Ray Allen’s three point makes (and attempts) came from that spot, and if the Heat can figure out how to defend it, they can limit Ray Allen’s ability to score.  Here is the three point attempt that really stuck with me:

First off Dwyane Wade does an awful job of fighting through the stagger screens that the Celtics set for Ray Allen.  That isn’t even the worst mistake during this play though.  Udonis Haslem sees the screen and just stands as Ray Allen spots up.  What he should do is switch and close out on Allen so he can at least close out on the shot.

I am not saying the Heat are going to win Game 3, but if they can keep Ray Allen from going 7-9 in the corner they will have a better chance.

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:

Above are two plays with similar situations (a Kobe Bryant pump fake), and you can see how Thabo and Jeff Green handle it differently.  Thabo Sefolosha stayed down with his hands in his face, avoiding the foul, and forcing Bryant into a tough jumper.  Jeff Green on the other hand bit on the pump fake hard and fouled Bryant, giving him 2 free points.

This is because Sefolosha has prepared himself for defending Kobe.  He probably watched a ton of tape and knows when Kobe is going to throw up a pump fake, and knows when to stay on his feet.  Jeff Green on the other hand is covering Bryant for the first time this series, and he was put in a tough position.  He doesn’t know when Kobe is going to pump fake and how to handle it, and he bites on it.

If the Thunder are in a similar situation in Game 3, I expect to see Thabo on the court covering Kobe.

Dirk was phenomenal in game 1 against the Spurs, and while 12-14 from the field isn’t going to happen again, I think  the Spurs need to change up some things when covering Dirk.  The biggest adjustment I would make is I would have the Spurs front Dirk when he is on the post.  When Dirk makes the catch on the post with the defender behind him, he is so tall and so good at that little fade away jumper that it is almost guaranteed that he will get a good look when he makes the catch there.

So how do you stop him?  You don’t let him make the catch, and do to that you need to front him. Not a half-front either, the defender needs to completely front him and get in-between Dirk and the basketball.  The Spurs actually tried that little half over one shoulder front, but Dirk can come out so far and still be a threat it negates that.

So what does fronting do?  Well, first of all it takes Dirk out of his comfort zone.  Dirk is at home on that low block extended, and if you can make him catch it somewhere else he won’t be as comfortable.  Also, if you front him, you force a lob pass to go into him (to get it over the defender), this allows time to send help behind him and get an effective double team.

I think if you can make Dirk work a little harder, he won’t be going 12-14 from the field.  He is still going to put up numbers because he is a great player, but you need the Spurs need to try something different.  Playing behind him with a smaller defender obviously isn’t working.

Dwight Howard had 9 blocks in Game 1 against the Bobcats.  9!  That is 9 shots at the rim (easy shots since they are in close) that Dwight altered.  Part of it is because Dwight is a fantastic defender (he was announced as the DPOY yesterday), but part of it was the fact that he was able to sit in the lane and just wait for the Bobcats to attack the basket.  If the Bobcats want to get some easy looks in close, they are going to need to force Dwight to move around on the defensive end.

Here, the man that Dwight is covering hangs around the elbow not moving.  This allows Dwight to leave his man with no fear, because he knows where Nazr Mohammed is going to be.  If Mohammed moves around a bit, Dwight is going to have to focus his attention to that (because if he doesn’t Mohammed will get himself a basket) and he might not be able to challenge shots.

Also, if Mohammed does a better job of spacing the floor and Dwight still tries to block the shot, the Bobcats can pass it out to the big man for an open look.  If you make Dwight cover more distance to try and challenge shots, you can make him pay for it.

Again, here is another drive by the Bobcats.  Larry Hughes attacks baseline but since Tyson Chandler is right on the opposite block, Dwight is right there to challenge the shot.  Now, if Tyson Chandler would have faded out along the baseline instead of moving towards the middle, Dwight would have had to make a decision.  Challenge the shot or stay with Chandler.  Here, he can do both because everything is so bunched up.

If the Bobcats are able to get Dwight to move around on the defensive end, he won’t be able to challenge as many shots as he did game 1.

During the regular season, the Miami Heat were one of the best teams at limiting turnovers.  Their turnover rate (the percentage of their possessions that ended in turnovers) was 9th in the league with a rate of 12.77.  However, against the Celtics, the Heat committed 19 turnovers.  Against a tame like Boston, that is way too much.

The biggest culprit in my opinion was Michael Beasley.  Beasley committed 5 turnovers during the game, and while Wade committed 7 himself, you can ignore those because he is the only option on the Heat.  That means more attention on him, and with more attention comes more turnovers.  Anyway, back to Beasley, while the Celtics are a good team, they didn’t really force any of these turnovers.  A lot of them were ones that could have been prevented:

Here, Beasley gets the ball on an ISO set, and there is no real options for him.  However, Beasley tries to force the issue and penetrate through a gap that isn’t there.  He compounds the over-penetration by leaving his feet before he knows what he is going to do with the basketball.  Caught in air, he tries to kick the ball out.  However, Rondo is able to get his hand on the pass and make the steal.

Again, this turnover is due to Beasley’s over penetration.  Here, he makes the catch and starts to go before he knows what he can do with it.  Again, he tries to squeeze into a gap he can’t fit in, and in his attempt to avoid the dig steal from Rondo, he travels.

Watching through all of the Heat’s turnovers (again, using the fantastic MySynergySports - which is available to the public now).  I counted 6 or 7 turnovers similar to this one.  In a 5 point game, 6 or 7 possessions is pretty important, and it probably cost the Heat the game.

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.

Another thing I would like the Thunder to do a little more of is use Durant on the ball in pick and roll situations.  The video above is the only time I saw it happen (coming off of a set play where Durant was on the move) the whole game, and it was pretty effective.  Another thing I would like to see is Durant bringing the ball up into a pick and roll situation.  Durant has the ball-handling ability, so it is something that could work.  See if Artest can defend him when Durant has some space to work with.

The purpose of getting Durant on the move is to create some space for him.  The above video is what happens when Durant doesn’t get any space.  Durant gets it on the post (where Artest clearly has the advantage), and he is unable to do anything with the basketball but force up a jumper.

When you think of the Suns, you think of a fast-breaking run and gun style that leads to a ton of transition points.  However, according to Synergy (which is now available to everyone – and it’s awesome), the Suns only were able to score 4 points in transition on 7 opportunities.  The Blazers are trying so hard to contain the Suns transition game that when the Suns do get opportunities to score on the break, they really need to take advantage of it:

When you think about the Suns’ transition game, you think of the free-wheeling style where they aren’t afraid to pull jumpers running 1 on 3.  However, the Blazers did such a good job of getting back the entire game it seemed like the Suns tried to force their transition opportunities.  Here, Goran Dragic takes the inbounds pass and runs it upcourt.  Instead of hitting Leandro Barbosa on the wing, Dragic forces it and attempts a contested lay-up.  He misses it.

Here is another transition opportunity for the Suns.  After the rebound, the ball is quickly placed into Steve Nash’s hands.  As this happens Jared Dudley does a fantastic job of busting it downcourt and getting to an area where he spaces the court out.  Of course, Nash finds him, however after making the catch Dudley does a poor job of finishing.  He kind of shies away from the contact and that leads to the block.  If you want to get picky, you can also say he should have hit Barbosa in the corner for the open three, but that would have been a tough pass.

The Suns missed three more opportunities in similar fashion.  In all, that is 5 chances wasted which could have lead to 10 points.  In a game decided by 5 points, 10 points that the Suns’ didn’t get looks pretty important.

Against the Bucks, the Hawks were 6-11 from the three point line, which is good for 54.5%.  The thing is, it could have been even worse for the Bucks.  The Hawks had three or four wide open looks that they missed in addition to the three point shots that the Hawks made.

The big reason for the Hawks getting open at the three point line was that the Bucks were getting “sucked in” to the lane.  Now this is understandable, the Bucks lost their best post defender due to injury and the Hawks have an all-star center, but perimeter defenders can’t get sucked in to the point where they are giving up wide open threes:

This play is right off the opening-tip and after the baseline drive, the ball is passed to Josh Smith right in the middle of the lane.  Though he is pretty well defended (Smith’s man helped, but was getting back into position) Joe Johnson’s man comes flying down the lane to try and help.  Smith recognizes this and kicks it out for the open three pointer.

On this play, the Bucks are playing a zone.  As the ball gets pass to Marvin Williams on the wing, a cut gets made through the middle of the paint.  This sinks in the Bucks’ zone defender responsible for covering the three point line, and this gives Jamal Crawford enough space to knock down the three.

Let’s look at one more play.  After Mike Bibby makes the entry pass into the post, he spaces himself out to the wing.  Bibby’s defender is sucked in and he turns his head to watch the post.  This allows for the Hawks to run a pick for Bibby, and free him up for a three point shot.