Breaking Down Utah's Offense - Last 5 minutes

[vslice02]

Not to rain on the Jazz's victory parade - but in reality the game was pretty much business as usual for the Jazz: Compete in the 1st-quarter, take the lead into halftime thanks to the defense & energetic play of the bench, lose momentum in the 3rd-quarter then fall apart in the 4th as the execution by the bench dwindles and then as Ty Corbin inexplicably relies on Big Al down the stretch. Once again, Ty fell into the pattern of giving the ball to Big Al on the left-block every possession during crunch time. The only difference is Devin Harris bailed out Corbin and the Jazz and their opponent missed a wide-open jumper to win it.

Utah had 10 offensive possession in the final 5 minutes against the Heat:
-They ran 8 post-ups to Al Jefferson on the left block.
-The other 2 possessions that did not involve posting Big Al were a missed layup on the fastbreak by Howard; and a 1-on-1 CJ Miles iso with 26 seconds left - where Miles badly missed a layup in traffic but Big Al was there for the putback.

Of those 8 Jefferson post-ups:
-Al shot on 5 of them - scoring 4 points on 2-4 shooting, and was fouled once in the act where he missed both FT's.
-Al passed out of a double team to Harris at the 3pt-line on 2 of them (Harris was fouled on a 3pt-attempt (made 2 FT's) and then drove the lane and hit the game-winner).
-Finally, on the other Al postup the Jazz used 15 seconds of the shotclock but couldn't get Al the ball on the left block, so w/the shotclock winding down they ran a pick&roll w/Harris&Jefferson - where Harris was able to hit Al in the lane who kicked it to Howard for a wide-open 3pt that missed.

Al was pseudo-doubled (LeBron didn't double but dug a little on the final possession) on 3 of the post-ups - on two of them he of course kicked it out to Harris and on the other he forced a shot against 2 defenders that missed badly.

After all the close losses - it was nice to see the Jazz finally pull one out in the clutch and they 100% earned this win - but the damper for me was there was no difference in Ty's late-game strategy. IMO Wade made a stupid play in fouling Harris on a three and of course Harris made a fantastic play on the floater, but we've already seen all season that relying exclusively on Big Al in the final 5 minutes will lose more games than win. There's all this talk of Utah "taking the momentum from this game out onto the road" but Utah has shown it can compete on the road through 2-3 quarters. Until they learn to execute down the stretch and not to over-rely on Al the results will be the same.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Yeah, it's pretty boring. I understand it a bit, because it's really hard to run traditional offense in the final minute against Miami because they lock down and pressure hard defensively. If Al can get deeper position, and find the open man, then it really isn't that bad. It is just incredibly boring.

 

[DutchJazzer]

big al gots to go yo

 

[NAOS]

THANK YOU. Playing this way is like putting in your opposing team's batting-practice pitcher to close the 9th inning for you. Thrown at predictable speeds, right over the middle of the plate. Lucky for Corbin, everyone misses, sometimes.

This is one reason why I have deep admiration for the Spurs. They've always had a game plan they execute down the stretch of close games that is different from the bread and butter of the earlier quarters. Popovich is king. Corbin is starting to really aggravate the **** out of me.

 

[HeavenHarris]

yeah i agree the offense really does suck, and not just in the clutch, but at least we had devin to save us whooooooooooooooooooo

 

[vegas]

Great post! I have found myself praying that we don't reduce our offense to an Al iso down the stretch of these close games. I believe it has been thoroughly scouted. I give some credit to Al for increasing his passing slowly but surely, but I believe the premise of repeatedly running an Al iso on the left block is mind boggling. I cringed last night when Corbin game Al a congratulatory butt slap during a timeout, which must have been after he made the two shots he did. One was an answered prayer I might add.

I'm not an Al Hater, but it's clear that he is NOT the guy who is going to be successful in taking over a game down the stretch.

Also, this is a repeated strategy, not just a "Miami strategy". And often he doesn't get deep position, because it has been so thoroughly scouted.

 

[JimLes]

The Heat are a paper thin team up front. Joel Anthony, their center last night, is an inch taller than Gordon Hayward, who played both SG and SF last night. Now, as much as I love Millsap, why not put in Favors in during the last minute or so last night, and have some screens so that big Al might actually get a ball closer to the basket instead of high left block, where he has to back down Anthony, who despite his size does weigh about 250? Why not try and get Al actually free before getting him the ball?

Not to repeat what people have said above, but it's the sheer predictability that is infuriating.

 

[northeast]

vslice, so what you are saying is that Al converted or got to the line or got a good shot for a teammate on 6 of 8 possessions for the win down the stretch against the hottest team in the league, and the two times the team didn't go through Al they got diddly squat. Got it.

 

[My2Cents]

Not that I wouldn't mind a little variety down the stretch, but Harris, Millsap, Hayward, Miles, and Howard were a combined 18 for 52. That's 34.6%. Al was 10-20 for the game and on the 5 shots he took in the last 5 minutes was 2-4 and got fouled once. I also thought he was fouled by Pittman on one of his misses. Doesn't that make him our most reliable offensive player? I do wish he would post a little deeper sometimes, or pass out and reset, but hard to fault Corbin for going to Jefferson given that Miami was most vulnerable in the post and that Millsap was struggling.

 

[Deleted member 848]

As annoying and predictable that it is, its ironic that Big Al pretty much won the game for us. I seriously didn't think that he was going to pass it out with 9 seconds left in the game. I was definitely floored.

But yeah, we need to improve our late-game offensive execution. It is currently beyond-awful.

 

[Powshredder]

I think big al is fine within our offense, but he can't be our go to guy at the end of games...Wayyyy too risky, and the rest of our players become stagnant, hoping for big al to come through. It's become a huge issue with this team, and it obviously doesn't work out as much as they would like it to.

 

[vslice02]

vslice, so what you are saying is that Al converted or got to the line or got a good shot for a teammate on 6 of 8 possessions for the win down the stretch against the hottest team in the league, and the two times the team didn't go through Al they got diddly squat. Got it.

Actually I"m saying we went to Al literally every possession in crunch time - just as we did in the closing seconds of the January loss the Lakers, just as we did in the loss in Indianapolis, just as we did in the final minute against San Antonio, just as we did in the collapse in Minneapolis, just as we did in the loss to Sacramento... you get the picture? The difference is we got lucky (yes I would call Wade fouling a 34% 3pt shooter fortunate) and Harris bailed us out with an outstanding play (driving past LeBron, pulling up to hit a floater over Wade and getting fouled). If your usage includes 5 touches on the block and you end up with 4 points - that's a primary reason the Jazz had only won 5 of their previous 19 games prior to last night.

I suppose one bright spot is - unlike the final regulation against LA (tied) and the final minute vs. Sacramento (down 2 chance to tie) - we were able to actually get the ball to Al instead of resorting to plan B and improvising with the game clock winding down.

Not that I wouldn't mind a little variety down the stretch, but Harris, Millsap, Hayward, Miles, and Howard were a combined 18 for 52. That's 34.6%. Al was 10-20 for the game and on the 5 shots he took in the last 5 minutes was 2-4 and got fouled once. I also thought he was fouled by Pittman on one of his misses. Doesn't that make him our most reliable offensive player? I do wish he would post a little deeper sometimes, or pass out and reset, but hard to fault Corbin for going to Jefferson given that Miami was most vulnerable in the post and that Millsap was struggling.

This sounds like Corbin's reasoning. If Haslem makes an open 16-footer I don't think many people would be defending that strategy today. I can understand it to an extent - but you also have to own up to it when it doesn't work - and I've seen it fail quite a bit over the past several weeks.

 

[northeast]

I agree that you don't want to be too predictable. I felt the same way even back in the Malone days sometimes, but come on, let us feel good for 24 hours.

 

[vslice02]

I agree that you don't want to be too predictable. I felt the same way even back in the Malone days sometimes, but come on, let us feel good for 24 hours.

W/Malone we oftan ran pick&roll w/Stock in crunch-time which forced teams to guard the whole floor - but you got it - a muchneeded victory that the Jazz definitely deserved to win. My concern is with our phisosophy but a huge positive has been Harris' play down the stretch of the Sacramento and Heat games. If he continues to be aggressive driving the ball I hope/pray Ty will reconsider.

 

[orangello]

As annoying and predictable that it is, its ironic that Big Al pretty much won the game for us.

Big Al was on the game on the final seconds but I wouldn't say that he won the game for us. I wouldn't even say that Harris won the game for us. It was the bench that brought us this win.

Without the big lead that the bench provided the Jazz lose last night. Just to be a little proactive, James and or Wade were always on the floor while the bench was. The bench won the game last night.

Look at + /- all the starters were - and every bench player was +.

 

[My2Cents]

This sounds like Corbin's reasoning. If Haslem makes an open 16-footer I don't think many people would be defending that strategy today. I can understand it to an extent - but you also have to own up to it when it doesn't work - and I've seen it fail quite a bit over the past several weeks.

Not just Corbin's reasoning. I think most coaches would rather find shots for a player shooting 50% than for a group of players shooting less than 35%. You have to play the percentages. Given the absence of any other reliable shooters, I would have defended that strategy for last night’s game even if we had lost. You can play the 'what if' game, but Haslem didn't make the shot and the Jazz won. I get it though that you are concerned more with the trend than with just last night's game.

 

[Weezur]

The only time this season I've liked our clutch time play was the Sixers game.
Corbin went with the Favors Hayward pick-n-roll and it worked amazingly.

Ever since then, KOC told Corbin- "Hey man, we need that draft pick"
And so Corbin's been doing Al-Sap post ups for 6 minutes of crunch time.

No, but seriously...we don't have any better options during crunch time until the young develop. The only other option with the veterans is the Harris-Jefferson pick-n-roll and I'd prefer that.

 

[vegas]

It's been mentioned before, but it's disturbing that the entire team stops and just watches Al go to work while 2 or 3 defenders collapse. To me, that's just not Jazz basketball.

Obviously there are exceptions, but it is not a rare occurrence.

 

[Grandpa Jazz]

How does the + / - stuff stack up for the season? I'm willing to bet that the starters are a - overall and the bench is a small + overall.

 

[JimLes]

The only other option with the veterans is the Harris-Jefferson pick-n-roll and I'd prefer that.

As would I. The issue here is that feeding a ball to a big man in the post and letting him go one-on-one is just not a good crunch time option. There is a reason the best closers are always wings. It just gives you extra options.

We saw that last night. Everyone knows Al can't really create, as of course, just about all 6'11 PF/C types in the league cannot. The ball goes into him, they either double or kinda double, and all he can do is kick it out to the corner if we have someone there or take a shot. But it is very hard to envision a situation where he somehow breaks down the defense, and that's the crux of the problem here. If Al was able to quickly pass to the weak side, where someone must be open in this kind of context, things would be different, but he isn't.

When a guard drives into the lane with 10 seconds left in a close game, it causes the defense to react. It just does. Basketball players are human and react instinctively. It's much easier to maintain focus and discipline when a guy is trying to back you down than it is when he barrels into the lane quickly. When Harris drove into the lane on the final play last night, the Heat were forced to scramble. LeBron bit on the fake because he was late coming over, and Wade had to leave his man and step into the path of Devin.

One thing no one really mentioned is that when Devin drove and got Wade to help, it left Howard open under the hoop. Devin can probably make that bounce pass nine out of ten times, and it's an easy layup and possibly also an AND-1 because athletic teams like the Heat jump all over players in those situations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qAktXOBWT0

The moment you force defenders to rotate and help, you cause a situation where it's really just a scramble. When you post up a guy on the left block, and they can more or less defend him one-on-one, you are really taking away your own options and banking everything on him making a shot.