Amazingly, the Bulls and Celtics each managed to mangle this situation Sunday. Boston's violation was particularly egregious, as the Bulls inbounded the ball inside the 3-point line before passing it back out for Ben Gordon's game-tying 3-pointer in the first overtime. With the ball near the free-throw line, there was no risk whatsoever of fouling a 3-point shooter, no way to spin a story about what might have happened. Boston was one arm chop away from a 3-1 series lead.
What made it more puzzling was that the offender was 33-year-old veteran Ray Allen, who stood there placidly while John Salmons stood holding the ball with his back to the basket before firing a pass to Gordon.
(Side note: Doc Rivers gave yet another seminar in Media Savvy 101 after the game. I was trying to figure out how he'd address the non-foul without either (A) throwing Allen under the bus, or (B) making it seem like he forgot to tell the team. Doc's quote: "We always foul, but even when you screw it up, they've still got to hit the shot." Genius. And we still don't know if "you" means Doc or Allen was the one who screwed it up.)
In the second overtime, it was Chicago's turn. As the clock ticked down from 16 seconds the Bulls allowed Rajon Rondo to dribble unmolested up the court, rather than fouling the 64 percent free-throw shooter and eliminating the possibility of a game-tying 3.
I take it this happened because Vinny Del Negro didn't trust rookie Derrick Rose to pull it off without screwing it up and fouling Rondo in the act of shooting, which is exactly what happened to little-used Linton Johnson two games earlier. His postgame comments reinforced that point.
"People think it's easy to foul sometimes," Del Negro said. "But all of a sudden you foul and they are in the act of shooting. Pierce was in that situation and we gave him three free throws earlier in the series."
Of course, Rose didn't need to be on the court for that play, something we'll discuss in a minute.
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In fact, Adelman made the same Hayes-for-Yao, back-and-forth, offense-defense substitution three times in the final nine seconds, continually optimizing the units he had on the floor for the particular situation.
The incorrect way to do it, on the other hand, was illustrated by the Celtics and Bulls … again and again and again and again.
I'm sorry to point this out since it was such a thrilling game -- especially since Doc obviously has had better moments coaching, and Vinny probably will in the future -- but go back and watch a tape of this thing. It's like watching a chess match between Jessica Simpson and Pauly Shore.
You don't believe me? Check out these situations:
With 1:06 left and the game tied at 91, Boston's Ray Allen is shooting a free throw, while Del Negro stands poised to call timeout afterward (we can presume this because he ended up calling timeout seven seconds later when the Bulls finally got the ball).
In other words, the only play that could possibly happen between the free throw and the timeout is a defensive rebound situation. But instead of subbing in Brad Miller or Tyrus Thomas, Del Negro left John Salmons as the "big man" on the block. Rajon Rondo went around him to grab the offensive rebound, and only a tripping foul seconds later on Kendrick Perkins averted disaster.
Amazingly, this happened again. With 18 seconds left in overtime, Boston up by two and Paul Pierce at the line, Del Negro again left his best rebounders on the bench right before a timeout. This time, however, his team grabbed the carom
With a three-point lead and 16 seconds remaining in regulation, Del Negro came out of a timeout with his key defender, Kirk Hinrich, on Paul Pierce, even though Boston's best shooter, Ray Allen, was the main threat in that situation. With a two-point deficit and 39 seconds remaining in the first overtime, he had Hinrich on Allen and Salmons on Pierce, despite the high likelihood of an isolation play for Pierce. Thus his best defender was out of the play on two of the biggest possessions of the game.
At least Hinrich was on the court, which is more than can be said for Lindsey Hunter. At every key moment, Del Negro left his worst perimeter defender, Rose, on the court, while the veteran Hunter -- who is in the league only for his defense -- stayed on the bench. Hunter played one possession at the end of the first half, and that was it.
Even in situations such as the two referenced above, in which the only outcome was a defensive possession followed by a timeout or a foul, Del Negro didn't put Hunter in; instead, we got to see Rose get hung up on a screen for the 183rd time in four games as Allen knocked in a game-tying 3 to send it to overtime. And of course, on that final play in the second overtime, Hunter could have been brought in to pressure the ball and give a foul.
If you think Doc gets off easy here, guess again. On a positive note, he did manage to ace the "put your best rebounders in the game on an opponent free throw before a timeout" test (for instance, he put Brian Scalabrine in for Eddie House with 16 seconds left in regulation and Tyrus Thomas shooting a free throw, and then put House back in for Scalabrine after the timeout. Take note, Vinny. It's not that hard.)
But he's going to be kicking himself for his choice with 39 seconds left in the first overtime. With Boston up by two and having the ball, and Del Negro undoubtedly calling timeout afterward if Boston were to score, he somehow decided to leave the offensively challenged Scalabrine on the court rather than summoning House, Boston's third-leading scorer on a per-minute basis this year. Of course, Scalabrine committed a clear-path foul after Pierce had the ball stolen and fouled out of the game.
Rivers did the same thing with 52 seconds left in regulation and the Celtics down by two, though this is easier to excuse because of the need to rebound a potential missed free throw (Derrick Rose was at the line and Rivers didn't call timeout after the shots).
Of course, then there's the big-picture lineup decision he made: putting in Scalabrine to start the first overtime instead of House, or Marbury, or Tony Allen, or Mikki Moore, or, well, anybody. He'd played six minutes in the preceding two months, and hadn't exactly been enjoying a distinguished career before that point.
And obviously, we still don't know how or why the Celtics failed to foul at the end of the first overtime.
So while all three games were exciting, the tacticians in the audience saw three very different types of battles. Between the lineups and the timeouts, we had the basketball equivalent of a kindergarten class (Boston-Chicago) followed by a grad school seminar (Adelman vs. the Blazers) with the Bizarro series in between just to shake us up a little.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/ ... iem-090427
Do you agree with him? What do you think really happened during that possession? Did Doc want to foul, but forgot to tell the team, or did Ray miss the instruction, or did Doc not even consider fouling? Should we have played Eddie over Scal?
