Welcome to “Basketball, Neat.” This is an intermittent column throughout the 2015-16 NBA season where DIME will discuss some basketball play or trend without extraneous information.
If you’re a fan of single-malt Scotch, you should be familiar with ordering a drink, neat. That’s what this is, but with basketball. So, there will be none of the usual contextual or superficial noise you might hear on Twitter or even in our pieces at DIME. This isn’t some referendum on basketball coverage or anything quite so lofty; it’s just a tiny place to talk exclusively about hoops. We’d like to nerd out about basketball for a little bit before we go back to the overarching culture of basketball and the NBA we normally cover. We hope you like it, but it’s primarily just a selfish way to publish what we’re already talking about with each other.
https://i.giphy.com/kum7CVLoODZ3G.gif
Let’s keep it simple: Basketball is beautiful, and plays like this are among the many, many reasons why.
Jack: No, the Atlanta Hawks didn’t beat the Utah Jazz on Sunday night. Mike Budenholzer’s team lost one of the young season’s best games by a score of 97-96. But the Hawks wouldn’t have even had the chance to steal a victory sans the injured Jeff Teague if not for the late-game brilliance of their head coach.
Atlanta trailed 97-93 after the ascendant Derrick Favors nailed a jumper as the clock read 38 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Budenholzer called for timeout immediately after the Jazz’s make, allowing his team to advance the ball with no time ticking off the clock. That’s crucial. The Hawks were down two scores, and would preserve a 2-for-1 opportunity if their ensuing possession ended both successfully and quickly.
Mission accomplished. Who cares if Atlanta lost? How Budenholzer leveraged the unique strengths of his players versus the weaknesses of Utah’s was basketball genius, and indicative of just how much coaching matters in waning moments of a close game.
Kyle Korver in-bounds with Al Horford standing at the near elbow, Thabo Sefolosha on the far wing, Denis Schröder in the opposite corner, and Paul Millsap on the right block. The positioning of each individual Hawk and the specific Jazz defender checking them matter. If Atlanta had been stationed or guarded any differently, it’s fair to say the outcome of this play would have changed. And it’s just as safe to say that Budenholzer knew it, too.
A few things to remember before getting into the pristine nitty-gritty: Korver is a dead-eye shooter from all over the floor; Rudy Gobert, for all his defensive glory, is still plodding compared to the Hawks’ big men; and Al Horford is attempting nearly four three-pointers per game in 2015-16.
Got it? Perfect. Let’s drink some basketball.
The set begins by Horford turning to set a cross-screen for his frontcourt teammate. Favors immediately alerts Gobert to switch that action, and the Jazz’s bigs do it as Millsap rushes up court to receive the coming pass. The 2014 All-Star catches just below the three-point line as Korver immediately darts his way to initiate a hand-off.
In a way, this is where Atlanta wins the play – one pass and some 25-feet from where it gets a wide open shot.
Korver, remember, might be basketball’s most accurate marksman not named Stephen Curry. He needs less than an inch to let fly, and certainly doesn’t require his feet set to produce a makable attempt, either. Korver terrifies defenses. Utah reacts to his threat accordingly, with Gobert frantically jumping out high to contest a potential attempt as Millsap sticks the ball toward his sharpshooting teammate in efforts to give it right back to him.
But it’s a ruse. Millsap pulls the ball back as he sees Gobert cheating to cut-off Korver, then turns to attack the rim with an unencumbered right-handed dribble. Favors notices his teammate’s mistake, turning his full attention to stopping the penetration and preventing an easy layup.
Utah is scrambling now, though, which is exactly what Budenholzer anticipated. The more a defense bends, the closer it gets to breaking. And as Favors leaves his man to cover someone else’s, Atlanta is distracting remaining help defenders with decoy movement on the weak side of the floor.
Tell us how, Spencer.
Spencer: Bud ain’t reinventing the wheel here, and this decoy action likely stems from his time under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio; the Spurs are the progenitors of much modern-day offensive chicanery. But it’s also a pretty simple pin-down screen; except, like everything in these sets, the timing is key.
If Thabo Sefolosha sets the pin-down too early for Dennis Schröder, then the decoy is useless. The Hawks know Utah has a lineup on the floor that’s switching everything, and they’re counting on Gordon Hayward and Alec Burks to do the same bit of switching we saw Gobert and Favors do to guard against Kyle Korver’s presence beyond the arc.
But you can see Thabo hesitate for a beat before committing to a throwaway screen that’s really just a lure for Burks. Being that Alec has already hedged close to the paint when he saw Millsap make his move and break free of Gobert and Rodney Hood, it’s easier for him to make the switch after Thabo pushes past Hayward and forces Burks to take notice under the free throw line extended. Come into my web, said the spider.
But while the decoy seems superficial to the real action (the threat of Korver), it’s actually the perfect way to complete the play.
Because as Al Horford is sneakily drifting towards the near corner, someone has to make Burks worry enough to stay where he is — close to the paint. By design, Thabo is that guy, and because Hayward is forced to switch out onto Schröder along the perimeter, he’s not able to spot Horford in time, either.
The real key is the patience Thabo shows. Jason Kidd talked about the importance of slowing down in his Players’ Tribune piece about the greatest advice he ever got, and the same can be said about Thabo on this play. Timing is everything, and if Sefolosha goes a little early to set the screen, maybe Burks isn’t picking him up on the switch and has time to rotate to the corner and stymie Horford. If Thabo goes too late, Burks might have a clear path to block Horford because no one is tying him to this place near the paint.
The play worked to perfection — with Millsap, Korver, Schröder, Sefolosha and Horford all playing their own unique roles — even if the outcome of the game did not.
Now I’m thirsty.
