With the Boston Celtics trailing the New York Knicks by one point with 19.3 seconds left, the Celtics were looking to take the lead from a sideline out of bounds set. After the two great sets that he ran in game one, the Knicks must have been on edge thinking about what could be coming. Instead of an intricate play with a number of different options, the Celtics ran a simple post up set. However, it wasn’t as simple as it looked, as the way Coach Rivers was able to prevent the Knicks from sending a double team to Garnett:
As soon as the ball goes to the trigger man, Rajon Rondo, Garnett goes from the elbow and sets a pindown screen for Paul Pierce. Pierce comes off the screen way out by halfcourt, essentially taking himself out of play.
As soon as Rondo gets the inbounds pass, he dives to the rim, standing in the paint right underneath the basket as Garnett starts to go to work on the post.
Now this might be odd considering the lack of spacing on the court, but if you think about it, it does make perfect sense. Rondo’s weakness is his jump shot, meaning that if the Knicks were going to double Garnett, it would be from him. The only place where Rondo is a threat offensively is in the paint, so they stick him under the rim knowing that KG is going to be taking his hook shot against the smaller Jeffries. With Rondo under the rim waiting for a dump pass if Garnett is double teamed, Toney Douglas decides to stick with him and not double.
In addition, Paul Pierce is far enough from the rim where a double from Bill Walker would take too much time. If Walker would double, Pierce would just step up to the three point line and get the basketball, so Walker stays with him.
This means that Garnett was given the opportunity to take a few dribbles without the threat of a double team, get to his spot on the court, and take his hook shot.
Garnett gets it off clean, and with the height difference there is no chance that Jeffries is going to bother the shot (if you look, Jeffries is playing perfect, defense going up straight, extending his hand up high). Here is the play in real time:
This is just a great decision and tactical move by Doc Rivers. He knows his players’ weaknesses and how defense will try to attack them and he comes up with counters. Sending Rondo quickly to the rim after making the inbounds pass is a counter, preventing a double team and letting Garnett go to work.
