Breaking Down Chris Bosh’s Game Winning Three

Last night, Chris Bosh hit a game winning three against the Spurs with 1.1 seconds left.  How did he get such a look good look at the basket?  You also might be wondering why LeBron or Wade didn’t take the last shot; LeBron, Wade, and Chalmers didn’t play due to some minor injuries.

Tim Duncan misses a left elbow jumper and Ray Allen rebounds the ball with 11.5 seconds left.

Already, Shane Battier is heading to the left corner for a spot-up three.  You’ll see this quite often from the Heat and a lot of other teams as well — the best three point shooters will immediately run to the corner on any fast break.

This is almost like a “Horns” set by the Heat.  A Horns set is when the two big men (Bosh and Haslem in this case) both set high ball screens for the ball handler (Ray Allen) to use.

Allen decides to use the Bosh screen.  You’ll see how Allen’s shooting ability sucks in both Bosh’s defender (Tiago Splitter) and Allen’s defender (Danny Green).  Tiago Splitter is slightly out of position (Bosh set his screen quickly and Splitter was not ready)– he should be closer to Bosh so that when he hedges on the pick he can recover quicker on Bosh.

Danny Green fights through his screen, but you can see how Splitter is maybe slightly out of position.  Splitter shouldn’t be sagging so deeply — he should be hedging much harder — because Allen’s much more dangerous when he’s shooting a perimeter shot than when he’s driving to the basket.  You can also see how Bosh got so open: with Splitter committed and Green trying to get back to Allen, there is nobody on him.  

Splitter and Green have converged on Allen — you can see how concerned they are with any Allen shot.  Meanwhile Udonis Haslem has started to cut to the basket, bringing the only Spurs defender close to Chris Bosh (Tim Duncan) away from the action.

Splitter and Green bite on the shot fake.  Already, Bosh is calling for the ball.

Allen’s shot fake was so convincing that it knocked both Green and Splitter into each other, and out of the play.  If he wanted to, Allen could have shot an uncontested three pointer, but instead he lays it off to Bosh.

Up to this point in the game, Bosh was 2 for 4 from three point range, so it is not like he was shooting poorly from three.  You can see just how much space there is between Bosh and the closest defender, Duncan.

By the time Bosh releases the ball (calling this a “jump shot” would be a little flattering — I don’t know if you could fit a phone book underneath Bosh’s feet) Duncan is still a good six or seven feet away, and Bosh hits the open three.

In real time: