Ben Simmons: Point God

With the Philadelphia 76ers opening the 2018-2019 NBA season tonight visiting the Boston Celtics, here are Ben Simmons best passes from the preseason.

By far Ben Simmons best attribute is his passing, even being an outstanding rebounder and finisher at the rim, the freakish 6″10 point guard has passing skills very rarely seen for anyone.

Not only does he have the size to see over the defense, but his strength and athletic ability are also at an elite level. Once Simmons is able to develop a consistent jump shot, there will be virtually no way to stop him.

Down below we have a few examples from this years preseason that demonstrate Simmons elite passing skills.

Example #1: Simmons collects the entry pass from Robert Covington and is able to make a nice pass to the cutting Markelle Fultz around a double team,

We can see right here that Simmons makes a fantastic wrap around pass to hit Fultz wide open on his way to the hoop. Simmons original man should have rotated to the cutting Fultz but freezes in the paint and fails to make any play at all.

Example #2: Simmons attack the paint off a nice drop pass from Dario Saric, three defenders come over to help, which leaves Amir Johnson wide open for the layup plus a foul.

As Simmons enters the lane, he draws the attention of three defenders, with Amir Johnson’s man in a position to step over and help.  Simmons is able to do another beautiful wrap-around pass to Johnson, who collects and makes the basket, even with a little push from behind.

Example #3: In transition, Simmons is able to make the nice pass to Fultz for three.

Simmons is most deadly when he is in transition because of his size, speed, and strength. Once he gets inside the three-point line, the defenders collapse in to cut off the easy basket, which leaves Covington and Fultz wide open on the wings ready to shoot.

Simmons swings the pass to Fultz, who hits his first three of the 2018 NBA season. Beautiful to see after the rough time he had last year,

Example #4: Simmons gets into the paint once again, and makes a nice pass out of the shot.

While the shot was there for Simmons but drawing the attention of four defenders leaves a lane for Johnson to head straight to the rim. On the perimeter, Ben also had two shooters open for a shot, but the better play was to drop the pass off to Amir.

Example #5: Simmons threads the needle to Covington in transition.

The defense is making an excellent effort to get back in transition, but Ben Simmons has a small window to make the pass to a cutting Covington, while also needing to hit him in stride since he will be coming in full speed ahead.

J.J Redick looks to be trailing around Simmons to give him an out if the pass was not there, but the ball gets to Covington right in stride for the dunk.

The overall theme from these passes is Ben Simmons is able to routinely get deep into the defense, forcing help and hitting wide open teammates. What is also really impressive is the creativity he uses to get passes off, because of his size he is able to see over and around defenders, which gives him unique angles for passes.  With the 76ers stacked with talent and shooters, it does not seem too crazy to think that Ben Simmons will lead the league in assists this season.

Mamba Mentality lives on in Milwaukee

Like many of the new generation of players, Giannis looked up to Kobe as he grew up and aspired to play in the NBA, so for him to work out with Kobe over the summer must have been a dream come true. But for Kobe to come out and say that Giannis has the ” Mamba Mentality ” ( along with Kyrie ) must have meant something truly special to him, and at the same time given him a boost that will propel him into the 2019-2019 season.

With the Bucks coaching carousel the past few years, injured teammates and playing in a smaller NBA market, it is not hard to see why Giannis doesn’t get the same type of hype that Lebron, Curry, KD or Harden get coming into this season. Now I am not trying to say that Giannis is underrated or overlooked, I am just saying that the lack of consistency surrounding him has put him lower on the totem pole than he should be. Bringing in Budenholzer from Atlanta, letting Jabari Parker walk, and bringing in a couple veteran big men ( Lopez & Ilyasova ) definitely moves that I think can get the Bucks closer to the top of the east while giving Giannis more of a stage to work.

Milwaukee got off to a good start this year in their new range by stampeding their old teammate Jabari, and the Baby Bulls 2.0. Giannis was able to put up 19 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists in 22 minutes of action. While not a regular pre-season game with everyone riled up over the new arena, Giannis put on a show for the home crowd as the Bucks pulled off a 116-82 nail-biter at home.

This is the year for Milwaukee to make a splash, with 18 nationally televised games this season ( potentially more as the NBA can bump certain games for others), and a new arena to show off, it is time for Giannis and the Bucks to make people ” Fear the Deer.”  Below we visit a couple plays from last night that shows why Giannis should be a top 3 candidate for MVP this year and lead the Bucks to homecourt in the East. As a diehard Lakers fan, it is exhilarating to see that the Mamba Mentality lives on in Milwaukee.

Example #1: Here we have Giannis take advantage of the mismatch by swaying Robin Lopez to sleep, attacking the baseline and spinning away from the double team for an easy layup. 

Giannis has five bulls players focused on him, and as Brogdon clears out his man stays to zone the area, making it harder for Giannis to work. Bucks have given Giannis the entire left side of the court to work, with three capable shooters spread out on the wing weakside.

As Giannis hits the double team, Holiday does a good job cutting off the baseline, but Lopez is too slow to stick with Giannis who has the entire paint to maneuver also. Three Bull defenders are in help position, but all three just stand there, either afraid to leave their man or too lazy to move. Giannis spins away from the double team back middle, and uses is freakishly long strides to hit the uncontested layup.

Example #2: Giannis takes advantage of his height and quickness in the post to get a quick dunk baseline. 

Here Giannis has the height advantage again and gives Middleton a friendly target to deliver the entry pass. With the Bucks stacking the perimeter, Lopez is the only Bulls player in position to offer help weakside.

The best thing about this move Giannis pulls off is he does not spend any time waiting around, as soon as he gets the ball in the post he makes his move baseline. If Giannis had gotten the ball and held it for a few seconds, Lopez would have been able to get into better position for the double team. Giannis does slightly hook Lopez to get around him, and as he does so, we can see Bledsoe crashing middle to give Giannias help. We can also see Jabari at the free throw line dead asleep in a terrible position to help.

Example #3: Giannis puts pressure on the defense in transition, drawing four defenders and getting Ilyasova a wide open three. 

This is where I think Giannias is ahead of the curve with the Mamba Mentality, as he is a much more willing passer than Kobe was early on in his career. Here Giannis goes straight at the defense in transition, forcing the Bulls to collapse in to help.  Eyes of all five bulls are directly locked on Giannis, who has three teammates on the perimeter, all of whom are capable of hitting the three.  Lopez has his back turned to his man, with too much ground to cover, so Giannis hits his man Ilyasova for the three.  While Giannis has shown the ability time and time again to take over in brutal fashion dominating every facet of the game, his willingness to pass is where he is ahead of the curve.

Example #4: Giannis sets up his old teammate Jabari for pull up three deep behind the arc. 

Giannis starts to set up Jabari by giving him a little hesitation to the left, which his old teammate bites on. We can see Giannias setting up with the ball in his left hand, facing left and left foot looking to attack. The move gets Jabari to slide his right foot back, putting him in a lousy position to contest.

Here we can clearly see what the hesitation did to Jabari, as his right foot made a three-foot jump backward, leaving entirely too much space for the lazy defender to recover. What is really interesting is how far back Giannis is from the three-point line, as this show he has confidence in his shot and in fact put the work in over the offseason to improve his shooting. If he starts hitting the pull up three-pointers consistently the league is in trouble.

Example #5: Giannis attacks from the post quick after the catch, taking advantage of the slow rotation. 

Giannis has another size mismatch in the post, and the entire left block to operate with no help in site. The Bucks do a good job running weakside action by running Middleton off a double screen, which gives Bledsoe another option if Giannis was unable to get the stable position.  Portis is the Bulls player in line to help, and a combination of him being late with Giannis attacking quickly lead to an easy dunk.

Example #6: Giannis again shows his vision and willingness to pass by giving a nice wrap-around pass to Henson cutting down the lane. 

Bulls trap Bledsoe in the corner, forcing the ball out of his hands to Giannis short corner. Giannis does the right thing by immediately attacking the defense, where Lopez is scrambling to recover. As Lopez rotates to cut off the basket, Henson notices his man bailed and does what big men are taught to do, dive to the front of the rim. As he dives, there are two Bull defenders weakside who should have stepped in to help but got caught standing around, leading to an easy Henson layup.

While 22 minutes of one pre-season game does not tell us much about Giannis, there was enough to collect that shows he has made strides in his game over the offseason. His willingness/ability to share the ball, how quickly he reacts in the post and increased comfort in his jump shot off the dribble.  The Mamba Mentality is alive in the Greek Freak.

Lebron’s Gravity

 

Gravity is defined as: “The natural force of attraction exerted by a celestial body, such as Earth, upon objects at or near its surface, tending to draw them toward the center of the body. “. So when people refer to ” Lebron’s gravity ” they are referring to the attention that he draws while he is on the court from opposing defenses. Whether he is getting doubled off a pick or being used as a decoy, the other team is always worried about where he is, which opens up the game for all his teammates.

The last time Staples Center was this ruckus would have to be Kobe’s last game April 2016, and even though Lebron only managed to get thirteen minutes of game-time, there were several examples of how he is already impacting the Lakers two pre-season games in.

This performances probably wasn’t one of his favorite pre-season performances because of the four turnovers, but we were able to see him create not only for himself but for others just by being out there on the court. There were times that the defense was so worried about what Lebron was going to do, that the other Lakers received wide open looks, just by setting a screen or being in the vicinity.

Example #1: Lebron hits McGee on the roll after three Nuggets gravitate towards him.

We can see as Lebron begins to attack, three Nuggets players are directly locked into what Lebron is up to, but there is still space to attack as the Nuggets don’t stop the drive, so Lebron continues to attack.  As he does so, McGee slips down the middle of the paint untouched. 

Example #2: Here we see Lebron attack on the fast break, drawing the attention of four Nuggets players as he hits the tough runner fading left. 

As Lebron hits the shot, four Nuggets players are staring directly at him, another example of the attention that he draws on the court. Because of the fading left, he is able to get the shot off without much bother from the defense and has a beautiful window to bank it in.

Example #3: Lebron again attacks the Nuggets in transition, cruising right down the middle of the paint for the dunk. 

Lebron with a full head of steam coming at you has got to be one of the scariest occurrences in the NBA as a defender, so it is understandable how Lebron was able to get such an easy bucket. With four defenders surrounding him, not one of them made a real play at the ball or to stop him, which opened up the lane for him to attack. Lebron has two teammates open on the wings, but he made the right move by not forcing a pass and putting pressure on the defense. 

 

Example #4: Even though Lebron turns the ball over, we see once again how the attention he draws can lead to open looks for his teammates. 

Getting this deep into the paint, Lebron could have gotten up a relatively high percentage shot, even with four Nuggets surrounding him, but he saw Ingram in the corner wide open. While Lebron could have thrown a better pass, if Ingram had drifted to his left ever so slightly, it would have given Lebron a better angle away from the defender to hit him with the pass. This is one of those things Ingram and Lebron will improve on as they continue to play together. 

Example #5: Lebron sets the screen for Josh Hart, it’s a combination of Lebron’s gravity and lack of communication that gets Hart the wide-open look. 

While Lebron doesn’t necessarily set the most mind-blowing screen, the fact that he is Lebron is enough to have both Nuggets stick him on the screen, which leaves Hart wide open on the perimeter.  The Nuggets could have avoided this with better communication, as it looks like Millsap expected Morris to fight through the screen and not switch, which leads to too much space for Millsap to cover.  This situation is probably fifty-fifty gravity and communication, but the fact that he is Lebron does have a larget impact on the play. 

 

What we learned from their first outing.

 

With the Lakers bringing in seven new players, there is not too much we can gather from their first pre-season game, but with how this team was constructed so quickly, there should definitely be some signs early on about what team they want to eventually become.

 

Pushing the pace: For this current version of the Lakers, pace and attacking off the dribble should be one of the main ways they look to score. With so many suspect shooters, but also an array of elite playmakers, constant movement can make their lives so much easier. As we can see, as soon as the other team scores, several Lakers players are putting their heads down and sprinting to an offense. The ball handler gets the inbounds pass and is also looking up to see if there is a pass ahead of him or if he should just get it and go.

 

Having the ability to move the ball quickly after a score allows the offense to get easy buckets by attacking while the defense is recovering, and since the Lakers have several players with excellent vision and passing skills, this should translate to quite a few easy buckets over the course of the season. This method also improves the Lakers lack of three-point shooting in a couple of ways.

 

1. It allows players the opportunity to attack the basket first, then look for a three-point shot second if need be. With the ball taken out so quickly, the opposing team needs to be extraordinarily disciplined or extremely athletic to contain this method of scoring, and frankly, over an 82 game season, the Lakers could win a significant amount of games if they did this consistently and efficiently.
2. It can create better looks for the subpar- average three-point shooters currently on the roster. Attacking a defense early on puts a lot of pressure on them before they are even set, which creates chaos and mistakes by the defense. With Rondo forcing the ball up the court after a make, also if he does not want to shoot as his first option, the defense must react if he gets into the paint. At this point, there still might be two defensive players trailing, and with Rondo drawing the attention of at least two more, this can create more open three-point looks for Caldwell-Pope, Jason Hart and the others to get a rhythm going.

 

There may be times when the Lakers struggle to move the ball and get out quickly, that comes with a young a  team getting the best player on the planet, along with new veteran players in the mix. But below are examples of how the Lakers can use these two methods to mask their weaknesses, while at the same time capitalizing on their strengths.

 

Example #1: After the Nuggets score, Ingram gets the ball to Rondo in Rhythm, allowing him to get up the court quicker. We can see Lebron already on his way, McGee making a move and Ingram wasting no time getting back into play.

Example #2: After another Nuggets basket Kuzma gets the ball into Rondo who is already on his way up the court, with his eyes ahead looking for the next play. Lancy is on his way up the court as well, with Lebron on the opposite wing looking for the pass forward from Rondo. From this image we can also see three Nuggets players who Lebron is going to beat down the court, this is a perfect example of how pushing the pace can create easy buckets. 

Example #3: Ingram collects the pass on the move from Beasley, who is already in motion to head up the court. With Lance looking to ahead, and Hart already running, this is how the Lakers can help supplement their lack of elite three-point shooting by attacking the defense while they are recovering. 

Example #4: This shows the Lakers getting a full look in transition because of the pace they force. KCP is going to hit Kuzma, giving Millsap a tough choice between Hart on the wing, or sticking with Kuzma forcing him to make a play.  We count four Nuggets players who are scrambling back in transition, creating chaos, and Jokic just playing lazy defense by pointing instead of making an effort to help Millsap. 

Kuzma catches the pass in triple threat position, shoulder and feet squared to the basket, with too much ground for Millsap to cover to make a keen contest on the shot. Kuzma also has Hart drifting to the corner wide open if he wants to pass up the shot.

 

Half-court player and ball movement: Surrounding Lebron with four shooters and letting him ISO or a high pick and pop every possession is how Cleveland was able to be successful the past four years with Lebron back home. This method will not work with his current team, as the current Lakers squad lacks anything above average three-point shooting at best. There are going to be certain games where Lakers can get away with it because of a hot hand or mismatch, but over the long haul, and especially playoffs (If we can figure that out) this roster is not built for that. The way the Lakers are going to be successful in the half court is by constantly moving, cutting, screening and attacking off the defense off the dribble.

I feel confident that we have enough shooters to hold our own against teams, but we need movement to be how we get those jump shots. Lebron can still get his isolation and screen plays, but the players not involved need to be moving off the ball and not standing around watching him work.

Example #1: Ingram breaks down the defense which causes Millsap to come over and help off his man. Rondo catches the pass and immediately attacks the paint, putting pressure on the defense to react. 

Millsap starts off in a lousy position recovering from Rondo’s drive, with Ingram catching the ball in the paint with plenty of room to operate. Jokic is the closest defender to help, but help would leave McGee open for a dunk. This is an excellent example of Rondo not forcing a three, but keeping the pressure on the defense off the kick from Ingram,. 

Example #2: This play starts with McGee swinging the ball to Lebron at the top of the key, and Ingram setting a screen for Rondo off pull to get him open. After Ingram sets the screen, he slips into the paint. 

We see the Nuggets not communicating on defense, and both running to Rondo off the screen, leaving Ingram wide open off the cut with the entire paint to operate. Jokic appears to be in terrible position, as there is no need to guard McGee that far away from the basket. If Jokic had dropped back a foot or two, he would have been in great position to intercept or disrupt the pass from Lebron. 

Example #3: Lebron catches the pass from KCP, with Ingram in motion to the weak side, where Lance and McGee set a double screen for him. Ingram uses the screen to curl back around into the paint.

Ingram curls into the paint and collects the pass from Lebron in rhythm, with the entire right block to operate, where he gathers himself and hits a nice fadeaway over Jokic. 

Example #4: This play shows how the Lakers can use Lebron’s gravity to get easy looks at the basket. Lebron currently has the attention of all five Nuggets defenders, with the middle of the paint wide open for McGee to slip in and get the pass. 

 

Once in McGee is in the paint and Lebron hits him, there is too much space for Jokic to cover that quickly to contest the shot. McGee shows surprising touch around the basket and hits a nice floater off the pass. 

 

Example #5: This action starts with McGee setting a screen at the top of the key for Rondo, who uses it and gets into the heart of the defense drawing attention. While the screen is being used by Rondo, we see KCP coming up to set a back screen for McGee in an attempt to get him open via lob from Rondo. 

KCP vacates the paint after setting the screen, clearing out space for McGee to catch the pass.  While Rondo has the ball in the air, we can see that three Nuggets players standing around watching and not reacting, which leads to the McGee dunk.  

Dirk explodes on T-Mac and the Rockets for his career high

 

 

This classic took place on December 2nd,2004, with only other game being Cleveland winning at Denver, it was a relatively slow night around the league. At the time the Mavericks were sitting at 11-6, and the Rockets at 6-11, and this game would also happen to be a preview of the 4/5 matchup in the playoffs that year ** Dallas taking the series in 7 games, then getting knocked out in 6 to the Steve Nash led suns, who averaged 30 PPG and 12 AST per game **.

This game was a perfect display of what young Dirk and TMac were able to do in, and some of their signature unguardable moves. For Dirk this ended up being the night he nabs his career high with 53 points on 15-32**  about 47% ** shooting from the field, 16 rebounds, 3 steals, and 4 blocks. Tmac had a night of his own as well with 48 points shooting 19-36 from the field ** 53%**, 9 rebounds, 9 assists,2 steals and 3 blocks. The Mavericks would end up winning 113-106 in Overtime, below are a few plays from TMac and Dirk that highlights their moves and how the game was played differently 14 years ago.

Dirk Example #1: Dirk hits a tough fadeaway over the solid defense, with the beautiful blonde mop on his head waving in the wind.

 

 

Here we have Dirk getting into position to bust a move to the high post near the top of the key, which gives him a full court to operate and get shit done. We also see Space Jam star Shawn Bradley camping out at the three-point line, where he is absolutely no threat, allowing his man to hang back and eventually able to provide extra help for Scott Padgett who is covering Dirk.

Once Dirk gets the ball at the high post, we can see that five Rockets are within arms reach of the paint, creating terrible spacing for Dirk to attack the basket. While he does have his two best shooters ( Terry and Stackhouse), the defense does a great job jamming up the paint, which gives Dirk limited space to attack and draw help. Dirk begins to back down Scott Padgett and take to capitalize on the 4+ inch height advantage he has.

 

Dirk starts to maneuver his way down to the paint, but 3 Rockets in a great position to help if he gets deep enough into the defense. Dirk gives a nice head and body shimmy to the left in an attempt to throw Padgett off, but the defense sticks with him and does not buy the fake.

Once Dirk spins back to the right, he gathers himself to go straight up for a jumper. We can see still Bradley taking advantage of all 7 seven feet and 6 inches by still hanging around the three-point line as well. With all five Rockets staring directly at Dirk, he could have hit Stackhouse on the wing for three, but because of the height advantage and slight fade, he adds to the shot  Dirk has no problem knocking it down.

Drik Example #2: Dirk continues to hit his pattened fadeaway over the solid defense.

 

 

This picks up towards the end of the of the shot clock with Dirk in attack mode as Juan Howard does a pitiful job closing out, which the giant German exploits. Yao is hanging back in the paint with a stable position, able to see his man and the ball.

 

Once Dirk gets down to the block, big old Yao makes his presence known, which rightfully halts Dirk in his tracks. All five Rockets are again staring right at Dirk, with all five hanging out in the paint, making it impossible for Dirk to get all the way inside. He does have this two shooters on the wing, but Dirk is able to swing the ball back around to his left in an attempt to create more space.

Another example of all five eyes on Dirk, and poor spacing all around for him to operate in. However, this is the conundrum with Dirk as Houston chose to put a smaller player on Dirk, in an attempt to keep him out of the paint and hit tough shots over smaller players. Except for a handful of other athletic freaks, most 7 footers have no chance in hell to hang with Dirk on the perimeter, allowing him to break down the defense. Van Gundy attempted to mix coverages up by going with the bigger Juan Howard at times, but Dirk did an excellent job of using all the tools in his toolkit to exploit the defense.

With all five Rockets in the paint, Dirk raises straight up over Padgett, fading back just enough to get the shot off. His high release point and fade give him plenty of space to hit the shot.

Dirk example #3: Dirk uses his height advantage over Maurice Taylor to knock down a sweet fadeaway.

 

Dirk establishes position on the right block, giving Mavs legend Josh Howard a target in the post, making it easy to get the entry pass to him. Once the pass is in, Howard dives middle to clear space for Dirk, who has the entire right side to work, but Tmac and Yao are situated nicely for help middle. Dirk’s defender Maurice Taylor was a solid defender,  and was able to push Dirk about 15 feet out, but not far enough out to keep Dirk from being able to create a high percentage shot for himself.

 

With stable positioning baseline by Yao, this cuts off Dirk from trying to use his slight quickness advantage to beat Taylor off the dribble, while Tmac and Jim Jackson are able to cut off Dirk middle.

 

While Taylor is s6″9.  it is still 4 inches shorter than Dirk, who uses his height, fadeaway, and 10 inch vertical to nail the shot.  As mentioned before, Dirk’s rare combination of height and quickness, which requires respect from the defense,  make this an unguardable shot.

Dirk Example #4: Dirk turns a muffed pass into a fadeaway, giving the Mavs a lead in overtime they would never relinquish.

 

Dirk walks his man down towards the block, where Eric Dampier is getting in position to give Dirk a down screen in an attempt to free him up. While this is going on, Stackhouse runs off a screen weakside. And Jason Terry hits him then fades weakside.

As he comes off the screen, Dirk takes his eyes off the ball, and it slips right through his hands. This also gives another example of how limited spacing was, as Dirk had nowhere to attack even if he was able to catch the pass without a problem.

Dirk reacts quickly by collecting the ball off one bounce, gathering into a position where he can attack or go up for the shot. With all five Rockets glaring at him, and stable help defense baseline, Dirk decides to go up in rhythm for the shot.

Another example showing off Dirk’s nasty fadeaway and high release point.

TMac Example #1: Tmac shows off his post skills to split the double team and draw a foul on the make.

 

 

Juan Howard fakes the down screen for TMac, then flashes back out to the wing and collects the pass.

Howard makes the entry pass to TMac, then proceeds to dive middle, which opens up the wing spot. Bob Sura sets a weakside screen for Jim Jackson, allowing him to fill the hole Howards left on the wing. Tmac then begins to get into position to back his man down in the post.

With all ten Maverick eyeballs on TMac, and the middle wholly clogged with Mav defenders, there aren’t many options for Tmac to take advantage of. Bob Sura’s man, Devin Harris, completely abandons him on the weakside wing to double TMac down low.

We see that Devin Harris and Josh Howard do a solid job with the double team on TMac, Mcgrady just does an even better job by splitting the double into the middle of the paint. There were options on the perimeter with Jim Jackson and Bob Sura open, but Mcgrady does not see them and makes the difficult shot plus the foul,

 

Tmac Example #2: McGrady hits a contested mid-range jumper with his killer hesitation pull up over Dirk.

 

We see very early in the shot clock that all five Mavericks have their sights locked in on McGrady, paying little attention to their own man. Josh Howard bails on the trailing man and goes to double McGrady, who does a good job escaping the double towards the baseline side. While McGrady avoids the double, Dirk does a good job cutting off the baseline, which makes McGrady pull it back.

McGrady pulls the ball back between his legs to his left hand, setting up his hesitation shot. Four Mavs players have one foot in the paint, cutting out the room McGrady has to maneuver with all 5 still locked in on him.

The Mavs have done a great job of setting up a triple team zone while McGrady is in the corner, but it is one of those nights where there was not much you could do to slow this man down. McGrady does a great job setting up Dirk by putting his body into the fake, almost wholly leaning left as if he really was going to head that way. The hesitation puts Dirk on his heels and momentum leaning back.

We see at the point where McGrady picks the ball up to shoot, Dirk is entirely flat-footed, with half his body leaning left. Once McGrady squares up and sets his feet,  he goes straight up without much contest from Mr. Nowitzki.

Tmac Example #3: McGrady hits a quick turnaround jumper out of the post over the solid defense. 

 

 

As the play gets going, McGrady heads down to the block to get position on Marquis Daniels, where he has a two-inch height advantage. Jim Jackson delivers the entry pass, followed by a clear out the middle, but his man stays behind to zone the area to help out on McGrady.

 

McGrady is pushed close to the three-point line, with  Daniels all in his personal space. Three Mavs have a foot in the paint to help, a fourth creating an overload zone and the fifth crowding  McGrady in no man’s land.

As McGrady turns around to face the defense, he has the ball in triple threat position, and between him turning and going up for a shot, there’s a split second where McGrady looks like he could be attacking. McGrady is able to sell the fake just enough to keep the defender honest, even though there is help three feet away, but decides to use his height and athleticism to rise up for a shot.

McGrady has such a beautiful shot because of how high he gets to take them, on top of having a stable release point, making this shot similar to Dirk’s in that it is virtually unguardable. McGrady’s gravity is also on display, as the other four Mavs are backing up the paint with eyes locked on TMac. We also see Jackson just going through the motions and showing very little awareness to what the defense is up to, as his man is not giving him much thought.

 

Tmac Example #4: McGrady gives the Rockets a one-point lead with just under two minutes to go.

 

Right off the bat, we see Jason Terry in bad defensive position as he is flat-footed, slouching without bending his knees, the terrible starting position for one of the greatest scorers to ever play.  We see McGrady with the ball in his left, setting up his defender for another hesitation pull up, and the fact that he has five-plus inches on Terry makes this a very reasonable shot for McGrady to take, even though it is early in the shot clock of a close game on the road,.

Because of the slight hesitation, Terry gets into the same position that Dirk was earlier, leaning left flat-footed because of the split-second hesitation. At this point we see McGrady ready to rise up for the shot, feet set and squared to the basket, picture perfect body position for a shot.

Another example of McGrady using his height and athletic advantage, this time over a smaller defender.  It is also easy to see how ridiculously high he gets on his jump shot, especially for a pull up three with momentum, McGrady covered about two feet in the air at the point of taking off and landing.  Terry has no chance at contesting the shot or giving McGrady a second thought about taking it,

These are a few examples of the type of shots these two players built their careers on, and on this December night in 2004, they both gave the Dallas crowd a game to remember.