rajon rondo's fake call-for-screen hesi
and other medium lights from game 6 of the 2020 nba finals
congratulations to the los angeles lakers, who just defeated the miami heat in 6 games to become the 2020 nba champions! it was a great series, a superb chess match between two well-coached teams that both gave it their all.
game 6 was full of medium lights. i wanted to specifically highlight rajon rondo's fake call-for-screen hesitation move, but before i do i have to give a nod to several other notable plays.
like right out of the gate, the lakers ran another variation of the "iverson" set. it was super well-designed too, having kentavious caldwell-pope as the decoy cutter to draw bam adebayo's help so anthony davis could get a good early look at a jumper:
when miami ran their "iverson" set in game 2, i praised danny green for hustling his ass off to cover ~29 feet and attempt to contest an open jae crowder 3.
in game 6, kcp covers a hell of a lot of ground on this play, which coincidentally also ended with him contesting an open crowder 3 - he begins the possession face-guarding duncan robinson in the corner, turns and helps under the basket to deter a tyler herro drive, then sprints all the way back out to the left wing to put a hand in jae's face:
on the lakers' next possession, lebron james reads the defense perfectly, uses a subtle pass fake to get jimmy butler (who's trying to cheat to help on davis) leaning, and drops off a perfect bounce to a cutting rondo:
in the second quarter, lebron and rondo run a two-man game with a screen at the top of the key.
james slips the screen, rondo drives, and lebron executes a perfect paint seal à la daniel theis/tim duncan:
miami stuck with the same elongated hedging strategy with robinson and herro when they were put into pick-and-rolls involving lebron in games 3-6. in game 4, lebron and the lakers started throwing in wrinkles to counter it - like drawing up a double side pick-and-roll that had green slipping to the corner for an open 3.
they pulled out the same play again in game 6:
alright, now onto rondo's fake call-for-screen hesitation move!
here's the full play:
there's not much to break down - it's a pretty clear-cut play once you draw attention to it - but it's one of those heady tricks that just make me smile when i see them executed well. just wanted to draw attention to it.
reminds me of andre miller's fake call-for-timeout:
veteran moves.
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