For these playoff previews we are going to take a look at each team individually, and then we are going to look at the match-up.

San Antonio Spurs

Strengths

What the Spurs do well.

• Execution
• Movement without the ball
• Tough defense

Weaknesses

Some problems the Spurs struggle with

• Aging stars
• Tony Parker’s rust

Tendencies

Some things you are going to notice when watching the Spurs play.

• The Spurs aren’t a team that will run you to death, as they like to work in the half court.  That doesn’t mean they can’t score.  The Spurs are really good at executing their stuff in the half court.

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Not only did the Nets avoid infamy last night, but they might have also provided the rest of the Western Conference with a blueprint on how to stop Tim Duncan.  Duncan really struggled last night, scoring only 13 points on 15 shots in 31 minutes and in my opinion it was because of how the Nets defended him.  With Ginobili and Parker out, the Nets were determined to let the rest of the Spurs roster beat them, and they brought a double team just about every time Tim Duncan touched the basketball.

Step 1:  Bringing The Double

When you double team a post player, there you have three options when sending the double.  You can either go on the catch, on the first dribble, or on the first attack dribble.  The Nets decided to bring the double team right on the catch against the Spurs (their strategy most of the season has been to come on the first attack dribble), refusing to allow Tim Duncan to even dribble without two defenders on him:

After Matt Bonner makes the entry pass, he is going to go to the high post to set a screen for George Hill (or at least I think that is the play design here).  The double team will be coming from Yi, the man defending Bonner.

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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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Usually when I talk about plays late in games, they end up resulting in a win or a tie.  Last night against the Cavs, the Spurs missed a game tying three point shot, but we are still going to talk about it here.  Why?  It was one of the best late game play calls I have seen in a really long time.

The Spurs start this play by sending George Hill into the far corner, Manu Ginobili into the near corner, and Roger Mason off of a Tim Duncan screen right to the ball.  It looks like the Spurs are trying to set up a quick hitter for Roger Mason off the inbounds, but Richard Jefferson inbounds it to Manu instead.

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The Phoenix Suns were down 8 with three minutes left.  They made a bunch of big plays to get themselves back into the game, only to give it away.  First let’s look at how they got back in it.

After an Antonio McDyess jumper to extend the lead to 8, the Suns took a timeout.  Now with three minutes left, 8 points is a pretty big lead, so on offense, you want to get the best quick shot you can.  That is exactly what the Suns do out of this timeout:

The first thing to notice is that Steve Nash lets the ball bounce all the way to half-court without touching it.  Even with 3 minutes left, every second is important, and Steve Nash understands this.

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Jesse Blanchard of 48 Minutes Of Hell took a very interesting look at the garbage time from the Spurs’ game against Houston on Friday.  Blanchard’s reason for examining garbage time was because it was on of the few times Malik Hairston and Ian Mahinmi got extended run in a meaningful game.  Here is an excerpt of the analysis:

Fans have been clamoring for an extended look at the Toros “Big Two” (their “Big Three” ended when the Spurs released Marcus Williams) for some time now, but did these performances merit an extended look?

Hairston is probably further along than Mahinmi in gaining a rotation spot, though one can still see why Popovich still hasn’t inserted him into the rotation. His team and pick and roll defense were exploited twice for backdoor cuts and once for a three-pointer.

Still, the Rockets isolated one of the league’s better scorers, Martin, on Hairston five times and came away with no points. Martin is considered an efficient scorer, even though his field goal percentage (9-24) can be terrible, because he can hit threes in bunches and gets to the free throw line.

Martin was 14-14 for the game from the line and the starting backcourt of Hill (6 fouls) and Bogans (four fouls in 14 minutes) each spent time on Martin contributing to that. Hairston, meanwhile, had Martin five times without fouling (no matter how hard Martin tried to draw one, or how bad he looked).

That is just a small part of such a fascinating post, so I highly recommend that you head over and read the full thing.

Also, this gives me a chance to let you guys know if you write/come across a Xs and Os post, don’t be afraid to send it over to me.  Sebastian@nbaplaybook.com.

When you have two of the best coaches in the history of the NBA going up against each other, you know there is going to be some good Xs and Os stuff to look at.  Turns out, they didn’t disappoint.

Spurs’ Pick & Roll

I know what you are thinking.  A pick and roll?  How is that good play calling?  Well, let’s take a closer look to see how good it is:

Tony Parker gets the pick, not from Tim Duncan, but from Antonio McDyess.  Tim Duncan, as you can see is setting up on the low block.  The purpose of this play is to isolate Duncan’s defender, Pau Gasol.

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The Hawks are third in the NBA when it comes to offensive efficiency.  They score 109.2 points per 100 possessions, but they do it without running the ball.  They are in the lower half of the league in terms of pace, only creating 93.6 possessions per 48 minutes.  What makes the Hawks so difficult to stop, is that they have four legitimate scorers.  Crawford, Johnson, Smith, and Horford.  If you can contain one or two of those guys, you win.  The Spurs really shut down Al Horford.  Horford 13.6 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per game.  Last night, he had 4 points and 9 rebounds.  So how did the Spurs stop the Hawks, and more specifically Al Horford and get the win?

Kept Him Away From The Foul Line

For a big man, Al Horford is a solid foul shooter, he shoots 75.6% from the line.  Combine that with the fact that he gets to the line a fair amount (his FTR of .3 is right at the league average).  He shots 0 free throws last night.

They Pushed Him Outside

The farther out Al Horford goes, the worse he his at making the basketball.  Look at the percentages (according to HoopData.com):

• At Rim:  73%
• >10 feet:  51.9%
• 10-15 feet:  42.4%

The Spurs did a great job of pushing Horford out of the post and then allowing him to shoot from the outside:

In the video, you got McDyess bodying him up, pushing him out of the block, and (most importantly) when he makes the catch he backs up off, letting Horford shoot it (Horford was 1-4 outside 10 feet).  Also, when Horford shoots from the outside, he isn’t in the paint working for the offensive rebounds.  So that is an added bonus right there.

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.

I was actually working on a post about DeJuan Blair’s 20 and 20 game last night against the Thunder, but then I clicked over to Truehoop and saw Kevin Arnovitz’s great breakdown of it.

He basically talks about what I was going to talk about…and it’s in video.  So go over there and check it out.  He does it a lot better than I could have done (a ringing endorsement for the site huh?).