Beneath the Screen: Blowing Up

[Hornets247 Staff]

A week ago in the game against the Utah Jazz, Monty Williams and Eric Gordon got into a head yelling match. The blowup occurred because of two plays. An inexplicable decision to dribble not only into two defenders but one of his teammates as well, and a complete mental lapse and lack of hustle on defense. Let’s take a look at what went wrong. To the Madistrator!

The first play actually starts out of a somewhat Triangle Offense looking set. Vasquez passes the ball to Gordon and then cuts to the corner. Gordon will pass the ball to Lopez in the high post and then go on a long looping cut.


As Gordon comes off the cut he receives a handoff from Lopez. He has a clear lane to drive on the left side. He’ll run into help defenders but that should at the least allow for a kickout pass. But that’s not what he does.

Instead Gordon cuts inside and runs into Lopez and two defenders. He dribbles the ball off his knee and Gordon Hayward scoops up the ball and scores on a transition layup.
As I said earlier, it’s a kind of inexplicable decision. Monty doesn’t believe in tanking so it’s not a surprise that he’s incredibly upset by Gordon’s decision. It’s just not a smart basketball play.
Now let’s focus on the other side of the ball and the defensive lapse which occured.

As the play starts Gordon is guarding Randy Foye who is standing in the corner. He sags off him since Foye is on the weakside.

Hayward comes over to set a pick. Lopez sees it’s coming and works his way around to stay on his mark. This is where the play starts to break down. Gordon and Aminu are lined up right next to each other. Hayward cuts up top after setting his pick.

Gordon switches to cover Hayward and so does Aminu. This leaves Foye wide open and he cuts to the basket as a result.

Realizing there is a mistake both Aminu and Gordon start pointing (at different people no less).

Davis is able to recover and make a tremendous play to contest the shot.

However, Paul Millsap comes in, grabs the offensive rebound and puts the shot in for two second chance points. After the Foye miss, Gordon just slide shuffles over and makes no effort to rebound or contest Millsap.
The main error, and the reason Monty flipped out, is that both Aminu and Gordon thought they were supposed to cover Hayward. After watching the play multiple times, I can’t really see why he thought he should switch onto Hayward. The fact that Monty blew up confirms this.
The second reason Monty was so heated was the absolute lack of hustle after the mistake had been made. Gordon needs to crash the boards on this play. There is nothing else he should do. Instead he just slowly shuffles to the basket. Monty is a coach who highly values effort and hustle. It’s no surprise to me that he was clearly upset by Gordon on the play.
What’s your take? If you were in Monty’s place how would you have reacted?
Beneath the Screen is a reoccurring series throughout the season run on Fridays. See past editions*here.


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[Shelbywmccarty]

You video of these two?

[Inner_GI]

Yep quite obvious just from the picture, there is no reason for Gordon to switch on that play. I would like to see the video of the argument.

[Purple Haze]

But guys, I'm sure he's just tired from being played so much. What else do you want from him?

[Inner_GI]

But guys, I'm sure he's just tired from being played so much. What else do you want from him?

The only thing I want from Gordon is a 77 game season, and I don't see that happening.

[nolaslim213]

Again, I think it's obvious (or at least way more likely) that Aminu helped Lopez on the Jefferson drive, so Gordon switched to Aminu's man, and Aminu was supposed to take Foye in the opposite corner. The is the rotation that we ALWAYS do. I did a writeup the other day, so I'll try to find it and post it here.

[nolaslim213]

Ahh, here it is:

I went back and watched it for myself too, and here is every play of the 3rd quarter before he gets pulled:

1) Offense - We win tip off, Vasquez takes a dumb shot, and Gordon spaces the floor but isn't involved in the play.
2) Defense - Gordon with a good rotation, and he even directs traffic by telling Aminu who to pick up. Jefferson scores over Lopez.
3) Offense - Gordon gets the ball on the wing, attacks the rim, gets called for a jump ball. Really, he should have been at the line, but whatever.
4) Defense - Gordon plays help-side defense, but really isn't involved in the play.
5) Offense - Fast break lob to AD was late by Vasquez. Play is a bust. Gordon not involved.
6) Defense - Gordon rotates to the driving player, who kicks to Gordon's guy. Gordon semi-runs out to him at the 3-point line, and Foye drains the 3. Heads up help defense, but lackadaisical recovery to the shooter.
7) Offense - Gordon attacks the rim, kicks to Lopez who dribbles off the defender's foot. Our ball.
8) Offense - Davis scores on Millsap low post. Beautiful play.
9) Defense - Gordon weaves through traffic to track Hayword, and gets him on-ball. ON the PnR, he switches to Millsap, who tries to get position in the post, but Gordon does a great job of muscling him out. Then, when the shot goes up, he boxes out Millsap hard on the boards. Great play.
10) Offense - Gordon jogs around the offensives set, then gets the ball, dribbles into 2 defenders, loses the handle, and doesn't run the fast break on defense.
***Note: After this play, Monty walks down the bench, and tells Miller to check in.
11) Offense - Gordon spaces the floor, not involved in the play.
12) Defense - This is the play MM talks about above. In reality, it looks like it's Aminu's mistake on the rotation, and here's why. I knew I recognized a similar funky rotation earlier in the quarter, so I rewound the tape back to the 11:30 mark of the 3rd quarter (play #2 in this post), and voila.

Play #2 - Gordon is guarding Foye in the corner, and Aminu is on Hayword. Hayword screens Lopez, and Aminu helps on Jefferson (Lopez's man), so Gordon takes Hayword, and Aminu shifts to Foye. The funny thing is that Aminu missed the rotation here too, and Gordon has to call out "rouq" to get his attention as he points to Foye. Aminu then realizes his error and runs to Foye. Lopez then picks up his original man again. I've seen Monty run this rotation before, and it's complicated, which is probably why Aminu is having trouble with it (an MM as well), but it makes sense. Aminu helps on Lopez, then runs cross-court to the 3-point shooter. We use this rotation ALL THE TIME, but it's a little different when the Center is driving compared to double teaming the post like we normally do.

Play #12 - Same exact set as #2, Gordon on Foye in the corner, and Aminu is on Hayword. Hayword picks Lopez, and Aminu helps on Jefferson (Lopez's man), so Gordon takes Hayword, but Aminu returns to Hayword instead of Foye. Foye recognizes this, and he cuts from the 3 to the lane where he is wide open for an easy layup. Anyway, Gordon isn't at fault here. It's Aminu.

[Inner_GI]

Again, I think it's obvious (or at least way more likely) that Aminu helped Lopez on the Jefferson drive, so Gordon switched to Aminu's man, and Aminu was supposed to take Foye in the opposite corner. The is the rotation that we ALWAYS do. I did a writeup the other day, so I'll try to find it and post it here.

Aminu didn't help.. Lopez avoided the pick easily, and Aminu still had a hand on Hayward. Gordon switched for no reason it looks like.

[nolaslim213]

Aminu didn't help.. Lopez avoided the pick easily, and Aminu still had a hand on Hayward. Gordon switched for no reason it looks like.

Aminu shadowed Jefferson as he drove the lane. That constitutes as help. And again, in the 2nd play of the half, it was an identical play to this one in which Aminu helped on Jefferson, and he rotated to Foye. On this play, the same exact one, he helped on Jefferson, and then he rotated back to his original man Hayward. That's wrong IMO.

Like AD23 said in another thread, we'll never really know who was right or who was wrong. I'm basing my analysis on how we normally do things. The original helper always picks up the man in the corner 3.

[Inner_GI]

Aminu started on the block were Jefferson ended up, He didn't shadow him as Jefferson drove the lane. The fact that Aminu was still in contact with Hayward after the picks make me believe no rotation should of taken place, because why rotate when you can still touch your man?

Maybe Aminu didn't yell out his word to say he's good, but Gordon was looking right at it and ran to cover.

We'll never know, but rotating even when Aminu has contact with his man is the wrong decision 100% of the time, I think.

EDIT: I'm trying to say Gordon was the only one wrong here. Like you said in the second play, they rotated, but maybe that time there was communication between Gordon and Aminu that didn't happen on this play.

[nolaslim213]

Do you have access to the film? Because if you do, please go to 11:35 mark of the 3rd quarter. It's the 2nd play of the half. You'll see the help that I'm talking about. Aminu rides Jefferson until Lopez recovers. That is the correct move. Then he heads towards Hayward, but Gordon redirects him to where he should have rotated (Foye in the corner). If you listen, Gordon even says, "Rouq Rouq" as he points to Foye. Aminu then recovers, and that was the correct rotation.

Now to the same exact play the article refers to. Aminu does a lazy help on Lopez's man Jefferson when Hayward picks Lopez. That's Aminu's 1st error. Gordon immediately recognizes the play, and makes the correct rotation on to Aminu's man. However, since Aminu didn't ride Jefferson to the post like he should have, he was already on Hayward instead of going to Foye. Again, it's Aminu's fault. It's really obvious IMO. There is even a template to compare it to at 11:35.

[nolaslim213]

What gets lost in all of this BS is that Davis made a fantastic play to block Foye's shot. He has serious quickness.

[Inner_GI]

You must ignore most of what I write. It's cool. I'll just disagree and leave it at that.

[nolaslim213]

You must ignore most of what I write. It's cool. I'll just disagree and leave it at that.

Nah, I get you. You are saying that regardless of whether or not Aminu made the incorrect rotation, Gordon should have recognized that Aminu was guarding Hayward, so he should have stuck with Foye. What I'm saying to you is that Aminu was behind Gordon and out of his line of vision. Gordon was assuming that Aminu made the correct rotation to Hayward, but that's easier said than done. But yeah, we can agree to disagree. No big.

[Inner_GI]

Pictures 6 and 7 show Aminu about 1 foot in front for Gordon's face.

Also, the biggest problem with this play is the fact that Gordon stood right behind Milsap watching him get 2 points.

[nolaslim213]

Pictures 6 and 7 show Aminu about 1 foot in front for Gordon's face.

Also, the biggest problem with this play is the fact that Gordon stood right behind Milsap watching him get 2 points.

Ahhhh I see the problem now. You are looking at the pictures, but the pictures lie. I'm looking at the video on my DVR, and Aminu is clearly behind Gordon when he takes Hayward. You can't see it from the pictures, but the video is clear as day.

[Snarly]

Gordon has a tendency of watching the ball and losing track of his man. You can say its a habit.

As for the first play, Gordon has a habit of trying to split defenders. He's way more confident in it than he should be. A lot of his turnovers are in traffic.

[Snarly]

Ahhhh I see the problem now. You are looking at the pictures, but the pictures lie. I'm looking at the video on my DVR, and Aminu is clearly behind Gordon when he takes Hayward. You can't see it from the pictures, but the video is clear as day.

I absolutely hate these type
Of illustrations because you manipulate it to make your audience see what you want them to see. They should always include the footage of the play.

[Inner_GI]

Ahhhh I see the problem now. You are looking at the pictures, but the pictures lie. I'm looking at the video on my DVR, and Aminu is clearly behind Gordon when he takes Hayward. You can't see it from the pictures, but the video is clear as day.

I absolutely hate these type
Of illustrations because you manipulate it to make your audience see what you want them to see. They should always include the footage of the play.

I deleted the game off my DVR before I watch it. I really want to see the whole sequence. Plays and "yelling" match.