Monty Williams draws up two amazing plays to give his team a chance to win
Wednesday night the New Orleans Pelicans came very close to defeating the Dallas Mavericks. In what might have been their best effort all season, Monty Williams helped keep his team in the game to the very end. Many times the Mavericks would pull ahead to a point that felt insurmountable, only to see the Pelicans hit a big shot and fight back.
Live Feed
FanSided
With time winding down, the Pelicans had two huge plays at the end of the game that decided their fate. One was a made three-pointer from Jrue Holiday, and the other a missed three-pointer from Ryan Anderson. The Holiday shot brought the game within one, while the Anderson shot was needed to tie. Both of these plays were drawn up by Williams and although the team lost in the end, the plays were spectacular and it wouldn’t be shocking to see them used again at a later point. With that in mind I wanted to take a deeper look at both plays to see why they worked so well.
Lets start off with the shot to pull the Pelicans within one. The shotclock has been turned off, the Pelicans are inbounding the ball, and they trail by four points. While many teams here would go for a quick two, Williams decides to draw up a 3-point shot for Holiday, who had been killing it all game.
The play begins with Anthony Davis and Luke Babbit near the rim. They run by each other, most likely in hopes of creating a switch. When the switch doesn’t come, Davis runs to the high post and catches the inbounds pass. Jrue Holiday, Ryan Anderson, and Tyreke Evans all begin their movement.
From a glance this looks like the design is to create a bunch of chaos, and in a way that’s part of the plan. It forces Dallas to make some very quick decisions and that can lead to mistakes, which is exactly what happens.
What brings all of this play together is Tyreke Evans. After inbounding the ball, Evans dashes towards Davis and brings his man with him. Davis doesn’t create a screen but he does take up space, with this in mind, Evans heads towards the rim and using Davis to create a choke point for his defender’s running route.
As this is happening, Jrue Holiday is also making a movement towards Davis. With Evans making a dash for the rim , Monta Ellis is left in an uncomfortable position. He can’t follow Holiday because he has to stay back and help on Evans and he also has to consider Ryan Anderson at the top of three-point arc. If Anderson’s man decides to double back and cover Holiday, that leaves an open Anderson that Ellis has to rotate to.
Meanwhile Jae Crowder is stuck on an island defending Luke Babbit in the corner. If he attempts to rotate on Evans, that leaves his man wide open. While Babbit isn’t exactly the biggest threat on the court, he’s still a dangerous enough three-point shooter that he can’t be left alone.
Ellis decided his best option here was to hang back and then use his speed to recover where he needed to be. Not a horrible idea as there is a possibility that if he chases Holiday he’ll get caught up in the mess going on around Davis.
The play went perfectly for the Pelicans. The chaos forced the Mavericks to defend a quick two over an open three which is a horrible mistake. Ellis is fast, but that’s a lot of ground to cover and Holiday has already caught the ball and entered his shooting motion. Ellis gets a decent contest on the shot but is too late to have any real effect. Holiday hits the shot and the Pelicans are within one with just under 20 seconds to go.
More from Pelicans News
- How will the Pelicans round out rotation without Trey Murphy III
- Why you can’t blame Brandon Ingram for all Team USA’s failures
- New Orleans Pelicans avoid potential disaster with latest injury reports
- 3 New Orleans Pelicans whose role will increase next season
- Pelicans getting the fans involved with their upcoming festival
The Pelicans would foul the Mavericks immediately on the next possession, Dallas would make both foul shots, resulting in a three point game meaning New Orleans needed another three to tie the game and give them a chance in overtime. In this situation, Holiday will be inbounding the ball instead of Evans. He’s sure to draw attention as a lot of teams like to sneak the inbounder into the play as it’s taking place, and sometimes this gets them an open shot. Before the ball is inbounded, Luke Babbit and Ryan Anderson move to the baseline just outside the paint and Evans, who was waiting under the rim, heads to the top of the arc to receive the inbound pass.
After Evans receives the pass, Holiday once again makes a dash towards Anthony Davis. Since the Pelicans need a 3-point shot, Dallas has opted to go without Tyson Chandler on this possession since Anthony Davis isn’t much of threat from three. Evans begins the play breaking down his man while Holiday sets a screen for Davis.
Similar to the last play, Williams uses Davis’s size to try and create space for Holiday. Except this time Dallas is prepared for it staying with both Holiday and Davis. After the screen is complete Holiday heads to the right wing of the 3-point arc. Meanwhile in the low post, Anderson and Babbit dash for the restricted area.
Anderson and Babbit force their defenders to get tangled up with one another as Babbit goes low and Anderson goes high. With Crowder chasing his man instead of switching, Richard Jefferson is cut off from Anderson. Seeing his chance, Anderson dashes for the 3-point arc as the two Mavericks defenders recover from the tangle up.
The play is a executed perfectly. Ellis once again makes a fantastic recovery and tries to make a good contest of the shot, but Anderson is essentially wide open. Unfortunately for the Pelicans, all their work does not pay off as Anderson misses the shot. There is nothing more New Orleans could have done, they got their best three-point shooter the ball, and he’s open, but the shot just doesn’t fall.
While the final result wasn’t what New Orleans wanted, nobody can say that they didn’t give themselves a chance to win. These two plays draw up by Monty Williams at the end set the players up for a chance to succeed, and both times players responded with perfect execution, the shot just didn’t happen to fall. However, should the Pelicans manage to get themselves in another close game situation like this, don’t be surprised to see either of these plays make a return.
Next: Miss the grades from last night's big win over the Cavs? Check them out.