The Utah Jazz lost on Friday, but it wasn’t the fault of this late-game inbounds play. With seven seconds left in the game and down by four points, Jazz head coach Quin Synder came up with this absolute beaut of a play call for Utah, earning George Hill a great look at a triple. Hill had already been 3-of-5 shooting behind the arc, so finding him was clearly the right option. Here it is in motion.
The Jazz had the prettiest inbounds play of the NBA playoffs so far
Look at it!
Let’s go step by step.
Here’s the play about half a second into the play being triggered. Hill is looping into the lane and then back around. Gordon Hayward is crashing down from the half-court line to draw attention away from everything. Joe Johnson, at the top of the key, hit a game-winner in Game 1 and knows the Clippers have to be conscious of him.
Imagine DeAndre Jordan as Mr. Krabs in the spinning Mr. Krabs meme. You’re going to see he’s the only one who could have ended up contesting Hill’s open shot, but in this moment, three Jazz players are in motion in front of him. As it turns out, it’s the fourth player — currently out of sight behind him — who will end up with the shot.
Clippers’ Raymond Felton has dutifully tagged along with Hill as he took him on a little three-second journey, but now you see Hill coming free. Hill set a inconsequential pick on Johnson, which was enough to make Felton hesitate. Now, it’s Hill coming back towards the inbounds pass with Boris Diaw setting up a screen. If Jordan sees this, he has to be nervous about Diaw slipping into the lane for an easy two-pointers. Los Angeles would rather give up a quick two than a three, but Jordan is a shot blocker and it would be going against his instincts to give up a wide-open lane. In this split second, he doesn’t take a step forward to prevent Hill from coming open.
Aaaaaand there it is. Hill with a wide-open shot, Felton getting caught up on Diaw’s big butt, and Jordan, unable to help himself, stepping back into the wide open paint only to realize he should have helped on Hill.
It didn’t end up mattering, but this was gorgeous basketball from the Jazz and Synder, who has shown a tendency to come up with clever play calls just like this one. Let’s applaud him for that.
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