Coach Manu Draws Up Game-Winning Play

[Erick Blasco]

After entering the ball to Simmons, Neal is going to come off of a backside screen set by DeJuan Blair. You have to love this play call, everyone is paying so much attention to the basketball, that nobody sees the real play on the backside develop.

 

Another nice little nuance on this play is that they are picking on a young player here. Blake Griffin probably hasn’t seen a play call like this before, and the Spurs actually catch him sleeping here.

 

Griffin recovers, but it is too late as Gary Neal makes the catch and knocks down the game winning three pointer. Here is the play in real time. When watching it live, you really get a sense for how Griffin falls asleep on the play, only to try and recover, but it is too late:

 

http://nbaplaybook.com/2010/10/13/examining-coach-manus-playcall/

[Poe]

I always knew Ginobili is a smart player.

 

I know it wasn't an incredibly complex play or anything, and the article says it's a play the Spurs have done plenty of times before, but it shows how well he was able to deliver the message to where the players understood the play, even the ones that haven't seen it before, and executed it. It also shows the level of trust that coach Popovich has in Manu, even though it's just a preseason game.

[Erick Blasco]

Popovich does this all the time in the preseason, giving players opportunities to coach in the preseason. He really trusts his players a ton, and they reward him by playing great team ball. You can't do this with every team, but teams with smart, veteran leaders without dominant personas you can give this kind of responsibility to.