Stan Van Gundy is considered one of the best coaches in the league. Maybe he told his team to foul when the Magic were up 87-84 with 10.4 seconds left and LA was inbounding the ball in the back court. (Ed. note: He didn’t. See update below). And, yes, fouling intentionally is sometimes harder–and riskier–than fans imagine. And yes, you have to find a way to get Howard off the court so the Lakers wouldn’t be be able to foul him when the Magic get the ball back.
But holy hell, how many teams have to screw this up before it just becomes a universal rule to foul?
As I’m writing this, I haven’t heard an explanation yet as to what Orlando’s strategy was on that play. I’m guessing it didn’t include: “If your guy is dribbling just beyond the three-point line, just sag off of him a little. He’ll probably miss.” Bad defense by Jameer, but, wow, did Jeff Van Gundy put all the blame on Nelson. It’s like he’s related to the Magic coach or something. (For the record, I don’t mind JVG doing commentary on his brother’s games. But that scenario–a possible coaching blunder that goes almost unmentioned in the booth–is the nightmare scenario for ABC).
And, yes, I understand you can’t boil an NBA game down to one play. The Magic committed 17 turnovers (seven by Howard, who is way too turnover prone) and they shot 22-of-37 from the line. So cumulative mistakes put them in position to lose on a bad play. But, wow, was it a bad play. As bad as bad plays get.
In any case, the Lakers are going to win their 15th title. That will put them back to within two of Boston. Enjoy watching Kobe celebrate, because it’s coming. Damn.
***Update: Here’s SVG, via Kevin Arnovitz at TrueHoop, on the call not to foul: No, we thought 11 seconds was too early, especially the way we were shooting free throws tonight. So we thought it was too early. But you know, in retrospect, we gave him so much space to shoot the ball. We played like we were trying to prevent the layup. I thought we did a good job, we denied Bryant the ball, and then we just didn’t play Derek Fisher, just didn’t guard him. But no, it was my decision with 11 seconds not to foul. Yes, I regret it now, but only in retrospect. I mean, normally to me 11 is too early. You foul, they make two free throws, you cut it to one. You’re still at six or seven seconds … I thought it was too early at 11, though when they took it full court, I’ll have to go back and look at that. That one will haunt me forever, but we could have played that play a lot better.
Stan (barely) has a point here. We’ve all debated exhaustively where that line is when it’s too early to start the foul game. I think these playoffs have taught us that it’s a bit earlier than we think. The right call here was to foul. I said it before the play on my live blog, the guys at Ball Don’t Lie said it before the play on their live blog, thousands of basketball fans on their couches everywhere said it before the play.
Someone with really great computer programming skills should go through every “up by three with less than 15 seconds” scenario from the full season and find out what teams did and how often it worked. I may sit down next week and do that just for the playoffs.
Honestly…that possession–the decision not to foul, Jameer Nelson’s inexplicably poor defense–has to go in the top five all-time worst game-deciding possessions in NBA history. You literally could not play that scenario worse than Orlando did.
And it cost them their season.
Loading ...
Confessions of a Pau Gasol Fan
May 31st, 2009Look: I’m not comfortable saying that. I’ve hated the Lakers since I can remember being alive. But if you missed that game against Denver Friday night, you missed an incredible display of team basketball–a type of game even the Lakers (or the Cavs, or the Magic or the Celtics when healthy) are only capable of pulling off a few times per season. They scored 119 points on about 88 possessions against a top-10 NBA defense on the road. That’s about 140 points per 100 possessions. They shot 57 percent–only the third team all season to hit that mark against Denver–made all 24 of their free throws, hit better than half of their three-pointers and turned the ball over just three times in the last 30 minutes of the game.
All insane numbers. But what’s more amazing to me is that if you re-watched that game, I’ll bet you wouldn’t find more than a half-dozen high degree of difficult shots among the 75 field goals the Lakers attempted against. Frankly, I’m surprised the Lakers “only” recorded 28 assists on their 43 field goals. Almost every look was, in NBA terms, easy. The cuts were precise, the passes were timely and on target, and the shooters were open. It was gorgeous basketball. And it is hard for me to truly hate a team that can take basketball to that level. Perhaps I should hate the Lakers because they have this ability but can only put it all together occasionally.
The beauty of the offense, for me, starts not with Kobe Bryant, but with Pau Gasol. Bash the Gasol-Gasol trade all you want, and it deserves criticism, but the bright spot for me has been the opportunity to watch Pau Gasol more often. I like basketball and all, but I have a job and a life, so I am not going to watch many Memphis-Houston games in January.
The easy criticism of the Laker offense before Game 6 Friday was: “Why in the world is Gasol taking just 10 shots per game?” I was as guilty as anyone of voicing that opinion. Perhaps we missed the point. He took “only” 12 shots in Game 6, but he was still the fulcrum for the Laker offense during stretches of the game. Maybe we just misunderstand Gasol’s game and his nature when we demand greater volumes of shots from him. He has averaged 13.5 FGAs/game for his career, and never more than 14.9.
He’s just an unselfish player. I’ve said this regularly to fans I talk to: There is nothing prettier in the NBA than watching Gasol and Lamar Odom pass the ball in the interior.
Is Gasol the best passing big man in the game? His assist rate–the percentage of teammates’ baskets a player is credited with assisting while on the floor–was 14.8 this season. That would have placed him second among centers, behind only Brad Miller, and 12th among forwards, according to Basketball Reference. With two exceptions (Boris Diaw and Mike Miller), the 11 forwards ahead of Gasol dominate the ball to an extent Gasol never will with Los Angeles.
If you are a fan of NBA halfcourt offense, there may not be a more enjoyable thing to watch than Gasol facing up at the elbow as the other four Lakers are moving around and the defense is deciding what in the hell they are supposed to be doing.
That said, of course I will be rooting for Orlando against Los Angeles. Just not with the fierce, nearly irrational, throw-the-remote-at-the-wall hatred I have reserved for the Lakers and the Yankees in the past. This is about history for me. I want to be able to call the Celtics the winningest franchise in basketball when I’m 75. I want to be able to lord that over my friends forever. I never want Phil Jackson to pass Red Auerbach. I never want anyone to pass Red Auerbach.
So, yes, Orlando: BEAT L.A! But just don’t ugly up the series too much. (Official prediction, after the jump). » More: Confessions of a Pau Gasol Fan
14 Comments »
Posted in Commentary, Playoffs 2009