Swishes with Sampson: Western Conference Tiers, Orlando Magic’s 19-0 run, Washington Wizard’s Horns Set and More

by Brian Sampson in Swishes with Sampson

Every week, the NBA is full of non-stop action and never-ending surprises, and last week was no different. Unfortunately, keeping up with all the games and ensuring we didn’t miss anything special is a difficult task. Lucky for you, I keep my eyes peeled, trying to find the most interesting happenings around the league.

This week’s version of Swishes with Sampson takes a look at the neatly defined Western Conference tiers, a crazy 19-0 run that nearly completed an epic fourth-quarter comeback, a nearly unstoppable horns set run by the Washington Wizards, Lonzo Ball’s Kevin Love-esque outlet passes and the weekly TPA King.

Without further ado, let’s dive in.

1. The Western Conference is More Clearly Defined than Ever Before.

We’re 30-some games into the season with a very clear picture of what the Western Conference will look like heading into the playoffs. Sure, some teams will shift positions here and there, but overall, we have a pretty good idea of where teams will be. More than ever before, the teams are aligned in distinct tiers, marking their chances at an NBA title.

Trying Hard Not to Win too Many Games on Purpose

This tier doesn’t have a shot at making the playoffs out West, and they know it. While they aren’t in full-out tank mode (yet), with each team having something a little different to play for, they don’t want to stray too far from the basement.

Any of these six teams is only one or two winless weeks away from sliding all the way down to the bottom, which is where they might prefer to end up with Luka Doncic sitting as their prize at the end of the season. This level includes the Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies.

1 of These Teams Will Host a Playoff Series? Correction: One of These Teams Will Host a Playoff Series! AKA The Northwest Division

The Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder, New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz make up this layer of average to slightly above average.

While one of these teams will miss the playoffs altogether (likely the Jazz, losers of four of their last six games), another squad will host a series at home, and we have no idea who. At the beginning of the season, bettors placed their money on the Thunder to do so, but they haven’t looked anything like a potential No. 4 seed. Minnesota, who holds that spot now, has a lot of work ahead of it, but arguably has more talent than any of the five other teams not named the Thunder. If the Nuggets can ever stay healthy or the Pelicans can receive halfway decent wing play, their chances could improve as well.

Until then, we’ll have to let the season sort out this cluster for us and be happy with the results.

Legit Title Contenders

This category is made up of two teams everyone expected (the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets) and one surprise team (the San Antonio Spurs).

Houston and Golden State are playing out of their freakin’ minds right now, with the former winning 14 straight and the latter winning nine in a row. The Spurs, victorious in a relatively disappointing two straight, will be hard-pressed to keep up but are definitely closer to this tier than the lower one.

Unquestionably, two of these three teams will advance to the Western Conference Finals and throw hands for the opportunity to advance to the NBA Finals. We think we know who it will be, but we can never be too sure. Let’s just buckle up and enjoy the ride!

2. The Orlando Magic Rip off 19 Straight Points against the Detroit Pistons.

The improbable nearly happened on Sunday when the Detroit Pistons held a 24-point lead over the visiting Orlando Magic. After Anthony Tolliver nailed a three-point shot, the Pistons led 105-81 with the clock ticking under seven minutes.

Then came the most insane, chaotic and awkward 19-0 run you’ll ever see. And it all began with what starts as a nice set, but quickly turns into a free-for-all:

Shelvin Mack brings the ball up the floor before receiving a double drag screen by Mario Hezonja and Nikola Vucevic. As the point guard carries his dribble to the top of the right wing, Vucevic proceeds to set a pin-down for Hezonja, who receives the pass from Mack, at the top of the key. The ball then quickly gets swung back to Vucevic and to Jonathon Simmons in the left corner.

Up until now, everything has gone as designed for the Magic. However, Simmons doesn’t handle the pass cleanly, and when he does, he tries to drive baseline. As soon as he gets to the block, however, Tobias Harris cuts off his path to the basket, forcing him to escape dribble back toward the middle. At that point, he appears stuck. But luckily, Hezonja’s man over-helped and left him open at the top of the key for a three.

On the defensive end of the floor, Orlando took advantage of a bad pass and forced the Pistons into a quick turnover. And two possessions later, after Hezonja nearly threw it out of bounds, and then Vucevic, trying to save it, nearly threw it into the backcourt, Simmons finished the play with a nice bucket in the paint off a euro-step.

The Magic have now scored five points in a row, and nobody thinks anything of it.

Detroit jacks up a semi-contested three which clanks off the back of the rim and is boarded by Vucevic, who quickly passes to Simmons on the elbow. Simmons, not fully engaged at this point, skips up the court with the ball bouncing around shoulder height a couple of times. After glancing at the defense, he hits the trailing big man for a triple at the top of the key.

Orlando’s mini-run is up to eight points, and Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy takes a timeout to scream at his players’ lack of urgency.

After the timeout, Orlando enters D.J. Augustin and Elfrid Payton into the game to take this run to the next level. Hezonja then goes down low to swipe the bounce pass off the floor and, again, hits the trailing Vucevic from downtown at the top of the key.

Two more possessions later, the visiting team gets another make from the outside after Augustin comes off a cross-screen from Vucevic and pumps his man into oblivion before knocking down the corner trey.

That’s 14 straight points, and Augustin is examining the scoreboard trying to calculate his teams’ odds of completing this crazy comeback.

After a loose-ball foul on Andre Drummond, a missed three-pointer by Augustin and a block by Vucevic, the Magic found themselves out and running again. After Augustin perused the middle of the lane, he kicked the ball out to Simmons, who quickly passed it around the perimeter. Payton eventually found himself wide open and was able to knock down yet another shot from downtown.

Now, both teams are starting to feel a little somethin’ somethin’, and the level of play is picked up.

Drummond followed up with a missed layup, and Orlando pushed the pace on the other end of a floor to connect on their own bunny around the hoop. Unfortunately, the amazing run ended a couple of possessions later on a Tobias Harris layup. Even more unfortunately, the Magic weren’t able to put a cherry on top of their fantastic run and complete an epic comeback.

The Washington Wizard’s Dope Horns Set

Officially, the Washington Wizards run the dopest horns set in the entire NBA. For those of you who aren’t up to speed like me, that’s a good thing.

Washington loves to run horns with John Wall bringing the ball up the floor (obviously), one of their centers (Ian Mahinmi or Marcin Gortat) on the right elbow and one of their studly outside shooting wings (Bradley Beal or Otto Porter) on the left block:

Screen Shot 2017-12-20 at 2.06.45 PM

Porter begins by “setting” a ball screen to Wall’s left, but that’s really only noise to confuse the defense. He quietly tries to squirm to the weak side while Gortat pops up to set a flare screen. Porter reads his man and can choose to pop to the weak-side three-point line or cut down the middle of the lane. If he does the latter, that triggers the other outside shooter to pop up from the corner and create a skip-pass opportunity for Wall.

While that is happening on the weakside, Gortat is setting another screen, this time for Wall. Wall can choose to use the screen and attack the weakest part of any defense, the middle, or reject it and shoot down the lane for a layup. Here, he rejects the screen momentarily before hitting a spotted-up Beal on the wing for three points:

The best part about this set for the Wizards is the endless opportunities at their disposal. On the above play alone, you saw them work through four scoring options (flare screen to Porter, back door by Porter, Wall using the ball screen to attack middle and Wall rejecting the screen to attack strong side) before finding Beal on the wing.

If the defense doesn’t defend the initial flare screen correctly, the dead-eye shooter will catch the pass and knock it down with ease:

Just like the first time, the wing begins by setting a “screen” for Wall.  He quickly slips through, and Mahinmi sets a nice flare screen that doesn’t allow the defender to get through and stick on his man. Wall does a great job recognizing this and hits Beal with a little dump-off pass over the defense, allowing him to hop into his shot with great momentum. Yak, yak!

The key to these sets is the constant action taking place both around the ball and away from it. This forces the defense to communicate effectively and continuously adjust their positioning based on the location of the basketball. Successfully defending this series of actions takes an extremely disciplined defense.

Look for this set to be run many, many times.

The Prince of Outlet Passes

If Kevin Love is the king of outlet passes, allow me to introduce you to the prince: Lonzo Ball.

One of Ball’s greatest assets is his unselfishness and willingness to push the ball up the floor via a pass. He understands the ball travels faster when thrown ahead compared to dribbling it up court, so he uses that as a weapon. Simple as it may sound, it’s an underutilized technique in basketball at all levels.

Throwing a pass ahead empowers his teammates to make a play and shows he trusts them with ball-handling responsibilities. This instilled confidence goes a long way on both ends of the floor and encourages his teammates to repay the favor later.

And it doesn’t just end with throwing it down the coutt; Ball is one of the better downcourt outlet passers, as well:

After he grabs the rebound, Ball’s eyes immediately shoot up court, searching for a teammate who’s streaking the floor. He takes one quick dribble as he surveys the defense and then launches a perfectly placed pass out ahead of the defense and right into his man’s hands. By throwing it out in front of his target, he allows him to grab it in stride and continue his movement toward the hoop.

Here again, Ball corrals the ball and immediately puts his eyes up, hunting for anyone in a yellow jersey. When he sees his center again running the floor, he throws the ball high and away where only his teammate can get it and lay it in for two points:

For an up-and-coming team, this is a quick way to get easy baskets and build rapport with your fellow teammates. A lot of players don’t have the strength to accurately throw this pass nearly the length of the floor, so that in and of itself is impressive. Add in Ball’s age and how frequently and accurately he makes this pass, and it’s damn impressive.

TPA King for December 11-17: Chris Paul

Beginning this week and moving forward, we’re doing this TPA King a little differently. Instead of the overall TPA King on the season, we’re going to anoint the winner as the player who puts up the most points in a given week. And this week’s winner is none other than Chris Paul:

Paul’s 39.3 TPA last week shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the Houston Rockets are now 14-0 on the season when he appears in a game without subsequently leaving injured. As long as the Point God is healthy, I’m not sure they’ll ever lose again. Ever.

Houston played four home games over this stretch, defeating the New Orleans Pelicans, Charlotte Hornets, San Antonio Spurs and Milwaukee Bucks in order.  Paul averaged 26.0 points, 7.8 assists, 6.3 rebounds and 3.3 steals in those victories.

In past episodes of this article, I’ve highlighted some of the different ways the Rockets use Paul and co-star James Harden to wreak havoc on opposing defenses. It’s as if they have a counter to everything defenses throw at them. Because of this, we have to consider them legit contenders to challenge the Golden State Warriors—and not just in the regular season.

Houston appears to offer a little bit of everything on the skill-set spectrum. If they want some outside shooting, throw in Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon and Trevor Ariza. Defense? They got P.J. Tucker and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute for that. Bang with the bigs down low and set mean ball-screens? Check with Clint Capela and Nene. Superstuds? Harden and Paul.

All this means we should get used to seeing one of the Rockets’ superstuds in this category as we move through the season. And there’s nothing you, or any defense, can do about it!

Follow Brian on Twitter @BrianSampsonNBA.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all stats are from NBA Math, Basketball Reference or NBA.com and are current heading into games on December 20.

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