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Oh, That Was the Play

I just had to pass this along, from Art Thompson III in toady's OCR:

The first option on that final play was to be a post-up, with the 6-foot-7 Livingston defended by Ford, who is 7 inches shorter. The alternate option was a post-up utilizing Clippers forward Elton Brand.

The Livingston post-up was the first option?  Did anyone tell Cat?  Because the Livingston post-up was there - he had Ford on the block, there wasn't a help defender in sight, and Cat didn't even LOOK that way.  Not to mention that the Livingston post up was early in the shot clock.  If you make that pass, something is happening with enough time on the clock to guarantee the Clippers a final possession.

As for a Brand post-up, obviously things broke down, but it sure looked like they were trying to run a Cassell-Brand pick-and-roll - a fine choice, the closest thing the Clippers have to a go-to play.  But instead, we got 16 seconds of confused dribbling from Mobley.  And now that I know what play was called, I can't recognize any part of it past Livingston getting great position on Ford.  

"(The Raptors) denied the swing of the ball and we just didn't get the ball in position enough," Dunleavy said. "We probably should have taken a timeout."

You think?

Look, I know he only had one timeout left.  I know he was thinking that with 44 seconds left, he might need that timeout to advance the ball on one more possession.  I actually agree with that thinking.  

BUT... Ford was just at the line for 2 free throws.  Did he explain to everyone during the dead ball that they needed to go quick?  In order for that last timeout to be useful, they really needed to get a shot off within about 15 seconds.  Yet there was no urgency to the possession - not even anything resembling a purpose.

Supposedly, it's situations like these where the veteran leadership of Mobley and Cassell are invaluable.  But Cat looked like a confused kitten on that play.