Last night’s loss, like all losses, can be attributed to a series of breakdowns. No one single player torpedoes a team, and no one play — even in the closing possessions of a tie game — is ever truly decisive. It’s like that old trope in baseball: The games in April mean every bit as much as the games in September. In basketball, the three points yielded by a blown possession in the second quarter count as much as a 3PM in the final set. Some might argue that the second quarter possession is even more important, because it informs both teams’ tactics down the stretch.
The Spurs go 8-20 from the arc on Monday night. For our purposes, let’s take a look at the combined effort of Roger Mason and Michael Finley, because they’re the guys a defensive team must attend to. Nothing against George Hill or Ime Udoka, but if they’re launching 3PAs en masse, that’s not necessarily a bad thing for your defense.
Mason and Finley are killers, and they combine for a 6-10 night from beyond the arc. Though the Clips put together a fairly solid defensive showing, their failings on the perimeter cost them the game:
- [1st, 9:49] Mason drops the ball into Tim Duncan at his favorite spot just off the left block against Marcus Camby. After the pass into Duncan, Mason cuts to the weak side corner. Mobley follows him. So here’s what you’ve got: Hill and Finley are way up high, being monitored by Baron and Thornton at the left and right elbows respectively. The double-team on Duncan is Baron’s — if the Clips decide that’s what they want to do.Here’s where San Antonio is do damned good, no matter who’s on the court with Tim Duncan. Every other Spur is waiting for Baron Davis to force the action. The instant Davis leaves his guy — Hill — to double Duncan, Hill dives to the hoop. This forces Thornton who, remember, is at the right elbow covering Finley, to pick up Hill. So now who has Finley?Mobley rotates over.But now who has Roger Mason?That would be no one.Finley passes the rock over to Mason, whose 3PA is good.Kaman was on F. Oberto, and had to make a tough call. Leaving Oberto directly under the basket with the ball in Finley’s hands at the top of the arc is probably a bad idea. But leaving Roger Mason open on the right wing with a wide open 3PA is also a bad idea.
The San Antonio Spurs: Forcing your defense to choose between two bad ideas since 1997.
Finley/Mason: 1-1 3PA
- [2nd, 4:37] This attempt is an object lesson in the value of transition offense. The Spurs race the ball upcourt — this is a relative term for San Antonio. Mason is Mobley’s cover. Cat beats Mason downcourt, but quickly settles at the top of the circle. This allows Mason to receive a pass from Finley and step into a 3PA. Mobley doesn’t have much time to close and gets away with one.
Finley/Mason 1-2 3PA - [2nd, 4:18] The whole league is upside-down. PHX is now a bottom-half pace team, and since when did the Spurs become a transition team? This parallel universe is confounding. Mason pushes the ball upcourt, which completely scrambles the Clippers. Finley immediately darts to the left corner, and only Mike Taylor — not his natural cover — is there. Before th Clips can get set, Finley has already launched a 3PA over Taylor.
Finley/Mason 2-3 3PA - [3rd, 7:37] This is an individual breakdown and requires no detail: Al Thornton is somehow under the impression that he’s covering Kurt Thomas off the ball on the weak side, when his guy is actually a few feet over. And that guy’s name is Michael Finley. And he’s standing where Michael Finley was born to stand — in the corner of a basketball court beyond the three-point line. So while Baron Davis and Marcus Camby are doing a beautiful job on the Hill/Duncan S/R switching and recovering, Al Thornton is wrestling with Thomas on the weak side block. Hill sees Finley all alone and makes an easy pass to him.You can see a deflated Thornton — with the guilty lunge of a defender who knows he fucked up royally — scamper to close. Forget about it.
Finley/Mason 3-4 3PA - [3rd, 2:55] Those transition buckets aside, everything for San Antonio materializes from the Duncan S/R. Here it’s with Vaughn against Baron/Camby, who both do a nice job cutting Vaughn off from Duncan. The ball goes into Bonner in the left corner, and Kaman steps up to smother him. So far, so good.Bonner puts the ball on the floor and drives toward the center of the court. Kaman stays with him, but as penetrates into the lane, the Clippers freak out. Camby converges on him, which makes sense. But why does Cuttino Mobley feel the need to leave Roger Mason all alone on the weak side? Since when does a driving Matt Bonner — already well-accounted for by Chris Kaman and now meeting Camby — demand a third defender?Bonner passes the rock off to Duncan under the basket, who gets it over to Mason with an easy touch pass. 3PM.
Finley/Mason 4-5 3PA - [3rd, 0:47] The Clippers man up nicely on this set, and get the defensive result they want. Now part of this is the fact that Oberto is a helluva lot easier to deal with on a high S/R than Duncan. But credit where credit is due. Vaughn/Oberto run the S/R on the right side against Taylor/Kaman. It doesn’t yield much. So the ball goes over to Mason on the weak side for a reset. They try again, this time a Mason/Oberto drag. Kaman covers it pretty well. The right play for Mason here is to get the ball over to FInley in the left corner, because EJ is cheating a little bit. But Mason isn’t all that great a passer and instead settles for a contested 3PA with about :08 left on the shot clock with Mobley’s hand in his face. No good.
Finley/Mason 4-6 3PA - [4th, 10:52] Nothing much to report other than some more lousy transition defense. After picking Al Thornton’s pocket, Vaughn pushes the ball up. Gordon is ahead of the play. He and Udoka are the first guys across the court for their respective squads, so Gordon follows Udoka to the right corner. Only problem? Who’s picking up Finley?Nobody.
Finley/Mason 5-7 3PA - [4th, 10:37] Ironically, Gordon does a much worse job on this set about 15 seconds later. Vaughn pushes it up, albeit it’s not a full break. Vaughn drives into the heart of the lane. Thornton is there to contest him, but Gordon — rather than staying at home on one of the best three-point shooters of his generation in his favorite spot — decides to come over to help defend the likes of Vaughn, who can’t finish to save his life, and certainly not when he’s flailing into the lane against a guy who has 4 inches on him. You know what Vaughn can do? Dart a little pass over to a wide open Finley.Though Finley misses the 3PA, this is a lousy decision by the rookie. The Clips are lucky a nine-point game doesn’t become a 12-point deficit.
Finley/Mason 5-8 3PA - [4th, 2:51] San Antonio Spurs basketball at its finest. You know the set: Mason sends the ball into Duncan at the left post, then cuts to the weak side. Meanwhile, Vaughn and Finley are hanging out up top, being monitored at the respective elbows by Baron and R. Davis. Baron has to decide when to double. The second he does, his guy — Vaughn — dives.Here’s the problem. In this instance, Kaman’s guy, Matt Bonner, is pretty well sealed off in the right corner. Kaman is a much better candidate to pick up the cutting Vaughn. And even if that weren’t the case, there’s absolutely nobody in position to rotate over on Finley.
Ricky Davis has to read this. He has to be able to say, “You know what? Given the choice between letting Jacque Vaughn dive through a crowded lane vs. leaving Michael Finley completely alone at the top of the arc, I’ll choose the former — particularly since my center is pretty well-positioned under the hoop.” Ricky Davis isn’t very good at making those sorts of judgment calls. And this is why a 28-year-old athlete of his talent is coming off the bench for a 1-9 team.There’s nobody to close on Finley when Duncan passes it over to him.Finley misses the shot, but that’s not the point. You don’t hit on 16 against a 5, just because it worked on a whim last time.
If Nate Silver ran a simulation of this set 10,000 times with Ricky Davis trailing Vaughn on all 10,000 instances, Finley nails that wide, wide, open uncontested shot about 6,500-7,000 times, I’m guessing.
Finley/Mason 5-9 3PA
- [4th, :08.4] Reprint from Game Recap: Everyone in the building knows what’s coming: A high S/R with Tim Duncan and the Spurs’ best shooter. Tonight, that’s Roger Mason. At this point, he’s 8-15 from the field [2-4 from beyond the arc]. He holds the ball up top against Ricky Davis as the clock winds down. There’s about a five second differential between the shot and game clocks. With about :12/:07, Duncan finally comes up from from the low post. Camby follows him closely. The pick is solid — a thick wall to Davis’ left. Mason dribbles right and there’s no way R. Davis is getting around Duncan before Mason can find a warm spot on the arc. Another, even bigger problem: Camby overcommits left. By the time he can recover, Mason has elevated for the 3PA. Camby isn’t in close enough proximity to close.
Finley/Mason 6-10 3PA
Playing defense in the NBA is a series of events. We tend to dwell on the familiar ones: The epic one-on-one isolation set between the top scorer and top defender, or a fierce trap on a S/R, or a rugged battle in the post, or steals that turn into transition buckets. These are the flashy moments we use as reference points when measuring the quality of a team’s defense.
The truth, though, is much more prosaic. Most nights, a team isn’t going to fail because they can’t cover a scorer on the wing. They’re going to fail because they make the wrong call on decisions like whether to stay at home on a hot Michael Finley or to converge on Jacque Vaughn. Or whether to leave Roger Mason to be the third defender to collapse on Matt Bonner.
These are the little moments that decide basketball games on the defensive end — not getting beat off the dribble by Kobe Bryant or Allen Iverson. Everybody gets beat off the dribble by Kobe Bryant or Allen Iverson. But not everyone leaves sharpshooters wide open in order to converge on lesser talents who are diving to the hoop, even though there’s already an adequate defensive presence to meet him.
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On a side note, I stayed late after the game last night to watch my friend, Mike, in the Los Angeles Dodgeball Society’s match between Bandanarama and Fun Active Gentlemen’s Society [F.A.G.S.] for the Silver Lake Division championship. After the Clippers slunk off to their locker room, the Staples Center crew converted the hardwood to a dodgeball court. The FAGS, 8-1-1 going into the finals and decked out in purple tank tops with glittered gold script, took down Bandanarama 5-2 to win the title. They dominated the hipsters of Bandanarama on the attack line, in catches, strikes – in virtually every facet of the match.
Though the F.A.G.S. were playing on the Clippers’ home court, the vibe was far more electric than a Clips game. For one, the Clippers don’t play Le Tigre during live action, and they certainly don’t have a bikini-clad muscle dude cavorting on the scorer’s table.
For those of you threatening to give up your Clips season tickets, I highly recommend the LADS as a solid recreational alternative for your leisure time.
23 Responses
It was kind of hard to stomach Baron Davis, Al Thornton, and Ricky D chucking up three pointers at will so early in the shot clock. Coach D got outsmarted by Poppovich on the last play and I knew that Mason was going to get the ball for the last play. The defense and hustle in the 4th was pretty good to see and the Clips definitely had a chance to win. BD has not shown us any thing clutch and I’m worried that taped finger is worse that we think.
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Posted on November 18th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Which Le Tigre song?
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Kevin Arnovitz Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Deceptacon, natch.
Though I tend to prefer the stripped-down stuff the most, I have to say that the DFA Remix of the song is quite fucking good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1almETqkkU
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Posted on November 18th, 2008 at 10:57 am
On that final play Camby has to talk and Ricky Davis has to overplay, forcing Mason away from the pick. Make him improvise something going to his left. There is a reason R. Davis has been traded 32 times. He’s dumb. The sooner he’s gone, the better. Dunleavy made a huge mistake in bringing him in. He needs to be dumped. You certainly don’t play him defensively at crunch time.
The next thing that needs to be dumped is Dunleavy’s 1955 offense, where they kick the ball into the post and four guys stand around. It was one thing when you had Elton Brand down there and you had a beast to deal with, but Kaman isn’t up to it.
Watch the shot quality in the games. How many difficult shots the Clippers take vs. the opposition. How many times can Mobley expect to make that spinning fall away from the right post (while everyone else stands there watching)? How many times does Thornton end up with some ridiculous spinning fall away jumper as the clock winds down? Or Tim Thomas forcing his way, out of control, into a crowd in the paint? Camby doing the same?
Dunleavy says he wants the run, but he has to trane the team to do so. It has to be designed into the system and ALL THE PLAYERS MUST RUN… The way it is now, the Clippers get a steal or rebound and everyone starts jogging up the floor. They need to transition to offense rapidly to get a numbers advantage or the concept of running is just an idea… Why trade for Baron Davis if you’re going to play slow ball… Why play slow ball after losing Brand?
Why is it that every time a Clipper catches the ball, he holds it for five seconds and everyone stands around watching him hold it. Gordon is learning to think that offense is standing on the weak side at the foul line extended, waiting for a bad shot to be taken so he can turn and go back on defense. This is Dunleavy’s fault.
Dunleavy seems to get worse every year. He doesn’t adjust to his talent… His teams are outhustled and outsmarted. It’s time for him to go… Bring back Bob Weiss.
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Posted on November 18th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Question… What coaches are out there that could be brought in?
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Kevin Arnovitz Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
These guys: http://www.sitcomsonline.com/photopost/data/559/coach5379.jpg
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Posted on November 18th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Clippers need to get rid of Dunleavy as coach and GM, then ask Baron who he wants as coach. All this analysis is useless because no one is buying into Dunleavy’s system which hasn’t worked anywhere.
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Posted on November 18th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
It’s really not that complicated…
Share the ball.
Pass the ball.
Share the ball.
Get an open, high-percentage shot.
All the good teams do it consistently. When the Clips do it, they win.
This season, I’ve seen very little sharing and passing. One or two passes, if any at all, followed by quick, low-percentage shots… That’s why they’re losing. That’s why they need a new coach.
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Posted on November 18th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Rosen says it all:
# Mike Dunleavy needs a translator when he tries communicating with his players.
# The players have already tuned him out.
# Or perhaps this specific roster is absolutely, completely dysfunctional to begin with.
The correct answer may very well be all of the above.
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Posted on November 18th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
It’s painful to watch Mobley and TT and Thornton isolate and try to create their own shots.
Ya, Mobley scored 11 straight points, but i was cringing every time he took a shot. I mean, ya it’s nice that he made those shots. But I knew it wouldnt last. That’s not the way to win ball games. Can we get a damn assist once in a while from anyone not named BAron Davis?
Tim Thomas’ excuse for not being in game shape is tired. He is constantly being beat to loose balls and is not as sharp offensively as he was at the beggining of the season.
Ricky Davis has been horrible. Eric Gordon, for all his rookie mistakes, busts his ass out there and should be given most of those backup 2 minutes.
Sighhhhhhh
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Posted on November 18th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Some available coaches off the top of my head (there are a lot more, but these are intriguing to me and a little out of the box):
- Paul Westhead (out of mothballs…remember when he was coaching LMU to 150 pt games? The Clips would prob still lose, but at least they’d be entertaining and I could justify continuing to get season tix)
- Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, Mike Smith (all out of the broadcast booth, a la Larry Dierker with the Astros years ago… Jax and Smith are also former Clippers)
- Danny Manning (my all-time favorite player… prob too inexperienced at this point, but has been assisting KU for the last few years… one of the all-time Clipper greats… one of the smartest players to ever play the game)
- Pat Summitt (one of the all-time greatest coaches in basketball history… would kick the shit out of lame brains like TT, Kaman and RD… hey, if we can elect a black president, why not a female coach in the NBA?)
- Phil Johnson (Jerry Sloan’s right hand man… could instill Utah’s spectacular motion offense)
- Michael Cooper (some NBA experience and success in the WNBA… a smart and tenacious player back in the day)
These are just a few forward-thinking suggestions, none of them based on any rumor or fact. But they are all probably available (with the exception of Summitt, who enjoys goddess-like status in Knoxville). And, c’mon, don’t ANY of the above names seem like a better option than Dunce at this point? Even the most ardent of Dunleavy’s supporters have to acknowledge that this guy is a train wreck as an NBA coach and GM. He’s been here for 6 years and has led us to the playoffs a whopping ONE time. And, not only have we lost, we’ve lost while being the most boring team in the NBA. At least when the Clips were missing the playoffs with Gentry, we could count on a few alley-oops and fast-break dunks per game to keep us interested.
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Posted on November 18th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
An ardent Dunleavy supporter says, “Fire Dunleavy!”
He hasnt only lost the team, he lost the fans.
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Posted on November 18th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Some of the earliest forms of government recognized the fact that when too much power is given to one source, then adaptations to it’s evolutionary body are impossible.
A.K.A.:
Dunleavy as GM and Coach: He’s the person who is in charge of firing him; therefore, he ain’t going no where!
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Posted on November 19th, 2008 at 2:29 am
What about Kareem Abdul Jabbar as a head coach? How’s that for an out of left field good for marketing and interesting for us to see perspective? It fits Sterling too, because he’d probably take a smaller salary than any others out there. But he’s a legend, a Hall of Famer and has that zen quality about him. When you are 1-9 why not take a flyer on a guy that could at least sell some tickets and have the immediate respect of the players? I know its crazy, but its a definite step up from where we are and I have no problems rooting for Kareem even though his only coaching experience is with high schoolers.
And whatever happened to Pat Croce? That dude really had the Sixers rolling when Iverson and Brown were going to the Finals. He could be the breath of fresh air this team needs at the executive level. He had an excitement and dynamism about him that you just dont see in other GM’s.
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Posted on November 19th, 2008 at 6:05 am
May I throw a recommendation in for Bill Laimbeer?
I’m a longtime Michigan resident and Pistons supporter who started following the Clips about eight years ago. Laimbeer’s waiting for an NBA job an I was a little disappointed Joe D didn’t at least give him a look before promoting Curry in the off season. You can crack jokes about winning WNMBA titles all you want but basketball is basketball and three title is six years and taking a team from last to first in one year is still something. You know his teams would at least play aggressively both offensively and defensively.
All wishful thinking aside I don’t really think Dunleavy is going anywhere anytime soon. I’m still optimistic about this season. This team is so…. close to where it needs to be that you get the feeling if one more thing clicks we’ll be alright.
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Posted on November 19th, 2008 at 6:42 am
Dunleavy is working on my last nerve as a Clipper fan. Let’s bring back Bill Fitch…at least he won 17 games with a real B-league team, and not this overpaid bunch of underachievers.
FIRE DUNLEAVY AS COACH, TRADE THAT NO BRAIN HAVING KAMAN, AND WAIVE THE LAZY GOOD FOR NOTHING THOMAS.
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Posted on November 19th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I haven’t posted here in awhile, but I’ve been watching the games, just like everyone else, I’m disappointed, discouraged, and disgusted by what’s happened in the first ten games. It’s quite obvious that Dunleavy and his non-senseical coaching schemes have to go. I’ve been pretty quiet about getting rid of Dunleavy, not such as giving him the benefit of the doubt because of injuries, giving him a chance to see if this whole thing will work. To me, it’s apparent already they most of these guys have quit on Mike (namely Chris Kaman), and as long as Dunleavy sticks to his stubborn and unworkable approach, it’s not going to get better. The ming-boggling thing here is that Dunleavy has spent his entire adult life in organized basketball, whether as a player, coach, broadcaster, and executive…but makes the same stupid bone-headed mistakes over and over and over again.
Looking back at the Golden State game from this past Saturday, when Coach Egomanic inserted Tim Thomas in the starting lineup instead of Marcus Camby, I just knew things would go bad, and after the shitty start by the Clips, it set the tone for the rest of the game.
Besides getting rid of Dunleavy, Kaman, Thomas, and Ricky Davis need to sent packing too. Also, Cuttino Mobley needs to come off the bench (like he already suggested before), and insert Eric Gordon in the starting lineup, and see what the kid can do with starter’s minutes. And…tell Al Thornton if he makes another jab step while continuing to the hold for 15 seconds without doing anything else, plant his ass on the bench for the rest of the game.
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Posted on November 19th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I won’t blame it on MDSr. a bit. But his player movement has been mindless. Look at ONE game vs.Mavs. We won. And Dunleavy still doesn’t know how we won that game. Tim Thomas didn’t play. Eric Gordon gave 30 solid minutes. Paul Davis, Mike Taylor & Brian Skinner played well. That’s how we won. Someone needs to give MDSr. a dose of Gingko.
DEFENSE. DEFENSE. DEFENSE. It’s OK to score under 80. But force your opponent to work EXTRA hard to get their points.
Atleast try to trade for some solid defensive minded players. We don’t need more than 4 scorers. We need solid supporting cast. They facilitate victory.
We need more of them.
1. Trade Baron Davis to Nuggets and get Chauncey Billups.
2. Trade Tim Thomas & Mobley for 3 solid defensive minded players.
3. Hire someone who’s high profile as General Manager.
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Benjamin Sandoval Reply:
November 19th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
oh and one more HUGE thing ….that i think alot of us have ignored
did you ever start to think ITS THE JERSEYS?
i mean really….they are so closely related with LOSING
that i think getting new jerseys would do sooo much for the players psyke …..
GIVE IT A SHOT…….
anyone with any power or voice to the clippers should highly suggest it
WE NEED A NEW IDENTITY AND IT BEGINS WITH NEW JERSEYS
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Posted on November 19th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
wow great work and great analysis
imagine how much better reading your pieces would be when you are analyzing
a WIN
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Posted on November 19th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I desperately need a win tonight to keep my hopes for a decent season alive. 1-9 v. 1-10 … kinda sad, but as long as we get the win, I’ll have a little faith restored.
BTW, Ricky Davis needs to sit.
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Posted on November 19th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Change the jerseys? Why not change the name on the jerseys, too!
Let Ralph Lawler coach the team.
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Posted on November 19th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
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