Film Room: Warriors' split-cut clears lane for Ezeli alley-oop
Getting clean looks at the rim can be difficult when Dwight Howard is patrolling the paint.
That hasn't stopped the Golden State Warriors from dunking early and often to start Game 3 on Saturday, as the Warriors connected for four alley-oops in the game's opening 13 minutes.
The Houston Rockets' defense has been inconsistent throughout the series but they can hardly be blamed for the last of those four alley-oops, which saw the Warriors run a terrific and noisy action to free space around the rim despite Howard's presence.
The play begins with the ball being swung to Shaun Livingston on the right wing while Leandro Barbosa cuts toward the basket, ostensibly to set a screen on Howard for Festus Ezeli or to curl through to the other side of the basket.
As Barbosa arrives on the block, he quickly pops back out toward the corner around Ezeli, who impedes the path of Pablo Prigioni and begins to post Howard as Livingston swings the ball down low.
Barbosa quickly feeds the post and then begins a split-cut, running through the space between Ezeli and Livingston as Livingston heads to the baseline.
As Barbosa moves through that space, he screens Corey Brewer to help free Livingston. Livingston isn't a shooting threat and Ezeli could dump the ball off to Barbosa, so Prigioni stays with his man. At this point, the paint looks crowded, but it won't momentarily.
Ezeli dumps the ball to Livingston and quickly screens Brewer but immediately slips the screen into the lane.
Howard has to help cut off Livingston on the baseline, and Ezeli is free for the alley-oop.
Look at who is on the floor for the Warriors on this possession, and consider that despite eating a fair amount of clock to get there, they ended up with a clean look at the rim. It's this kind of creativity - and the benefit of a second unit with multiple capable ball-handlers - that affords head coach Steve Kerr the opportunity to get a player like Steph Curry rest without completely tanking the offense.
(Courtesy: ESPN)