After making two foul shots, Marcelo Huertas cut Argentina’s lead down to one point with 1:28 left in the game. Argentina needed to respond, and they did so by going to Luis Scola who was, as his boss put it, in “video game god mode.”
Scola In The Post
As Argentina brings up the basketball, we see Scola setting up on the ball side elbow. Make sure to focus on him here.
After a foul shot from Luis Scola, Argentina was getting back on defense looking for a stop with 30 seconds left and the game tied. Based on past performances, you would think that Argentina would get the stop. However, this time Argentina made a few mistakes on this possession, and it eventually cost them the game.
The set starts earlier, but this is where it makes sense to start looking at it for our purpose. The matchup we are paying attention to here is Leonardo Gutierrez from Argentina against Dusko Savanovic from Serbia.
Team Argentina won their two FIBA World games this weekend by a total of six points. Normally when a team takes two close games back to back it is due to solid execution on both ends of the court. However, this isn’t what happened with Team Argentina, as they ended up winning despite poor execution on the offensive end. In both games Argentina suffered a key turnover late when they were looking to put the game away, forcing the defense to step up.
Poor Execution On Offense
Game 1 vs. Germany
Up by one with 47 seconds left, Argentina wants to run some clock and get a good look at the basket. Argentina’s point guard dribbles the clock out for 12 seconds before they get into their offense. When they do, they decide to run a pick and roll with Luis Scola as the screener/roll man:
As the PG comes off the screen with Scola rolling the German defense switches. Mismatch for Argentina right? Well, no, because Germany just doesn’t switch once, they essentially switch twice. The German PG, passes Scola off to a bigger help defender, then picks up the open man.
However, good German rotation isn’t the only reason for the turnover. Argentina shoots themselves in the foot pretty bad here. Even with the good double switch, Scola still gets the ball in very good position. However, he isn’t able to complete a move because Hernan Jasen inexplicably cuts into the lane right as Scola starts his move.
