A Play the Warriors like to Run Late in Games

Last night, the Warriors lost another close game. However, the play they ran late in the game was very similar to a play they ran late in the game against OKC. It looks as though the coaching staff likes this play, and will probably run this play again in the future.

This is a screenshot of that play against the Oklahoma City Thunder. It is an Ellis/Lee pick and roll with three shooters on once side of the court to clear out space.

In the Memphis game, we saw something similar:

At the beginning of the play, Stephen Curry sets a screen for David Lee so Monta Ellis can pass him the ball.

Curry then runs all the way over to the other side of the court to clear out space, similar to the OKC play. The idea here is probably to have a dribble handoff with Monta, which acts as a screen.

Lee, however, notices Marc Gasol overplaying him, and drives instead of handing the ball off. Tony Allen also does a nice job denying Monta. Meanwhile, Mike Conley passes off Curry to Rudy Gay and stays in the paint. Conley is ready to take the charge.

This is exactly what happens - Lee crashes into Conley, with some help from Gasol. Notice that Gay gets drawn into the paint instead of guarding Rush and Curry. If a foul was not called, Curry would have had an open three.

An interesting tidbit is that the play would not have worked if Gay was not drawn into the paint. Rush and Curry are in the same area, meaning Gay could have easily picked off the pass if he stayed on Rush and Curry. This was somewhat similar to the spacing in the play against OKC:

The poor spacing in these plays allows Harden and Conley to leave their man (Curry) and stay in the lane to take a charge. In both cases Curry is in the corner next to Rush. We might see another variation of this late-game play in the future, perhaps with the shooters rotating after Lee makes the drive to provide better spacing and more shooting options. After these two plays failed partly due to poor spacing, you can be sure that the coaching staff will learn and draw up a better play.