Pistons Inbounds Play in 4th Quarter Helps Seal Win

I was only able to catch the second half of the game tonight between the Pistons and the Celtics but it was a great half that I watched. The Pistons had some rust in Game 1 but they were able to shake off that rust tonight, especially defensively. I thought the Celtics played well too, but they had a couple of defensive lapses that hurt them, especially in crunch time.

It's one of the things you hear all the time from coaches when talking to their players late in games. They say, "We gotta get a stop, we have to stop them right now, so lets get it done!!". Well, when the Celtics needed a stop, they didn't get it. Here is a great play by the Pistons on the inbounds, it really froze the Celtics defense and resulted in an easy layup for Billups,



Double Stagger Curl:

This BLOB is just a fantastic play. Jeff Van Gundy of ESPN did a great job at the end of the score explaining the nuances of the play. But before we go to that, here is the play in more detail,



As you can see, because O2 (Rip Hamilton) comes off his screen to the 3 point line. This is important because it forces Kevin Garnett to make a decision. Should he switch to cover Chauncey curling off the double stagger? Or switch to cover Rip on the 3-point line? And he has to make the decision in a split second. My philosophy would've been to protect the paint first, so obviously KG made the wrong decision if we use that philosophy. But you could make the case that leaving Rip (who was the leading scorer for the Pistons in the game) open for the 3-pointer would've been wrong.

Summary:

All the talk now has shifted to the "can the Celtics win on the road" chatter. The bigger question for me is, can the Celtics find some more offense?? Despite their problems tonight defensively, they can't win this series if they score in the 70s and 80s. Detroit is too good and too deep to be be kept below 80.

To me, either all of the big 3 have to really dominate, with a 30+ game. Or guys like Rondo or Posey are going to have to come up big. Somewhere, somehow, the Celtics have to find more scoring.

For great info on SLOB plays, check out Kelvin Sampson's DVD on SLOB and Special Late Clock Plays. Discuss your favorite inbound plays at the X's and O's Basketball Forum with other coaches from around the world.