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Going for the 3 makes sense if you're down by 2, if you're down by 1 it only makes sense if it's either your best shooter or the most open shot available (this situation.)
Oh, it's more than just the pass. To really appreciate it, you have to look closely. After Manu dishes that pass to Patty, he keeps running at Beverly and "accidentally" gets their arms tangled.It's not a full-scale grab, but it definitely delayed Beverly enough to make sure that he didn't have any chance to close on Patty. Look really closely at this pic, and you can see Manu's arm around Beverly's waist. In the video, you can see Beverly shake himself loose - but too late.
Those kinds of things are part of the under-appreciated genius of Manu.
Going for the 3 makes sense if you're down by 2, if you're down by 1 it only makes sense if it's either your best shooter or the most open shot available (this situation.)
That bum-ass looking was feeling himself with his "best defender in the league" remarks
That play was actually more amazing than you'd think for something being broken. Green's cut forced an awkward internal switch, which gave the Spurs Harden on LMA and Nene on Manu. That gravity did force Pat to stay inside on Manu's drive. But had Beverly been closer to Patty in the first place, it would have been a better stunting angle.
So here's a clip of the whole possession:
Rockets look to be in a 2-3 zone. They make the first switch very well to keep Nene on Manu, though it's a puzzle why he wasn't on LMA in the first place. Anyway, what s everything up is Green cutting while Manu drives.
The Rockets have to make five switches here, but they only get one. Harden passes Green to Ariza. That's good. But then Ariza has to pass Green to Nene, and Nene has to pass Manu to Harden. But there's no time for Ariza to make that switch and get back to LMA, so Harden has to stay on LMA, and Nene has to stay on Manu. So ideally, Harden steps up to stop the drive, Ariza jumps in to prevent the layup and Gordon steps up to stop Green's three.
But then there's Mills and Beverly. Patty is not supposed to be Pat's man when he moves to the wing. That cut is supposed to mean that Harden is responsible. But Harden is too busy in the paint guarding LMA to come out, so Beverly would have to break the zone and run out Mills. He doesn't realize this immediately, which is why there's a gap. He was anticipating getting the hand-off of Manu, but with Nene in pursuit as opposed to a wing, there was nobody to get back to the three-point line.
In maybe a better tl;dr way: Beverly was on step four or five of the rotation, but the rest of the team wasn't able to get past step one. It was supposed to be Harden>Ariza, Ariza>Nene, Harden>Ariza & Nene>Harden and finally Harden>Beverly.
No, you're right. I was doing something else while catching up here, and just blew that one.
I was actually sitting there thinking how Houston ending that game with two 3-point attempts was a weak-assed way to go for the home team. I know they shoot lots of 3's, but when you're the home team and have a chance to make 2 to tie and send it to OT, that's the percentage play - unless you don't think you can win it in OT. Posted before thinking.
I don't care if it's Game 7 of the Finals. If they're giving Patty Mills a totally uncontested 3 to win, that's at least as good as an easy deuce to get to OT. But even better with that much time left on the clock. If he misses, the Spurs could still foul and have time to get a 3 to tie.
Meh. IMO, that play broke down because Harden didn't hand Green off to Ariza. Harden picked Danny up heading into the paint, but when Ariza picked him up, Harden continued to chase him.
You can see in the last shot, Harden chased Danny all the way across the paint, even after Ariza had picked him up. You can even see Ariza looking over his shoulder at LMA standing alone near the basket. If Beverly moves toward the open Patty, Manu slings a pass to Aldridge for the dunk - without question.
I know the thread is about Beverly's defense, but Harden continuing to follow Danny to the other side of the paint was the killer. Nene came over to double Kawhi, and lost sight of Manu, so he was behind the play the rest of the way. And I still love the fact that Manu "accidentally" tangled up Beverly after he made that pass, to keep him from even thinking about closing on Patty.
You're not going to have to work hard for me to say Harden played bad defense. But I think what really broke the zone was the two things happening simultaneously with the largest gravity wells. Manu going immediately off the bounce meant Nene had no time to take Green, so Harden never got to his real responsibility, which would be Manu. Had James been a step faster in releasing Danny, maybe he would have been in better position to help on LMA. But I guess the end result would have been an open three anyway. No way would Harden on LMA end well for Houston. Someone's doubling off that.
I agree. The first three by Eric Gordon was definitely weak. The second by Harden wasn't executed properly, but I think he's a tough guard in that situation because you have to worry about him flopping and drawing the foul shooting a 3. Still can't believe we won that game. Hoping eventually Dedmon gets a chance to start some games though. Not a knack on Pau I think he's fit in well but against the Rockets I think he hurt us when guys wanted to drive to the basket on him.
Harden followed Danny because they were man to man ( even though it looks like a 2 -3 zone it wasn't). If it was a 2-3 Zone Harden never follows Green all the way the the basket. Ariza and Harden simply switched ( which means Pringles told them to switch everything).Meh. IMO, that play broke down because Harden didn't hand Green off to Ariza. Harden picked Danny up heading into the paint, but when Ariza picked him up, Harden continued to chase him.
You can see in the last shot, Harden chased Danny all the way across the paint, even after Ariza had picked him up. You can even see Ariza looking over his shoulder at LMA standing alone near the basket. If Beverly moves toward the open Patty, Manu slings a pass to Aldridge for the dunk - without question.
I know the thread is about Beverly's defense, but Harden continuing to follow Danny to the other side of the paint was the killer. Nene came over to double Kawhi, and lost sight of Manu, so he was behind the play the rest of the way. And I still love the fact that Manu "accidentally" tangled up Beverly after he made that pass, to keep him from even thinking about closing on Patty.
Nene never doubled Kawhi. Nene showed at Kawhi for a brief second and recovered back into position to contest a potential pass to Manu. He was guarding Manu and didn't see Manu slide over to the wing with his peripherals. Nene was a step behind Manu moving over to the wing from the corner and by the time Manu got the ball, Manu was in attack mode and got Nene out of position and out of the play.
It's a good thing MVPatty was on the court. If that was LVPorker, he'd have bent over for Beverley like so:
Call it what you want to. There's no screen being set - Nene just comes over to help on Kawhi (and totally loses sight of Manu). When they cut Kawhi off, he recovers back toward Manu, but it's too late. If you look at the video, you'll see that Nene was actually coming back to help on Kawhi again, when he saw Manu moving and started chasing. That's the second pic below - Nene starting to come back to help on Kawhi a second time, and losing Manu.
Houston was up enough to relax and once they did they couldn't get back to speed while SA was playing like a wounded animal.
He sincerely looks like someone who has benefited from Zeke's dive in the Salvation Army pot!That bum-ass looking was feeling himself with his "best defender in the league" remarks
The breakdown of that last play in this thread is probably more detailed than what D'Antoni would have presented his players with.
I think the odds are about the same, he had to chose his poison and in this case he lost.
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