What went wrong with the Detroit Pistons final possession against Charlotte Hornets

Standard press breaker

There was plenty of time to break the press and for Rose to drive the length of the court, which he was going to do had he not been fouled by Nicolas Batum. In fact, Batum was already beat on the play with Rose’s speed, which would have led to an open shot.

In lieu of unavailable film and to avoid the risk of copyright issues, here is a diagram drawn to show what happened on that play.

First, it was a standard press breaker where the big gets the ball and can pivot to pass to the guard or inbounder, who are streaking up court. Andre Drummond turned and found Rose who got into the frontcourt in timely fashion.

Rose was fouled, which set up the second play, but since he beat Batum he would have created a 3-on-2 situation. Before the foul was called, Bridges began to leave Kennard in the corner to help out on the drive.

Though he may have been late, giving Rose a layup opportunity, especially if he goes with a reverse layup to use the rim for protection. This would’ve given the Pistons a lead but Charlotte would have 3-4 seconds left and a timeout to advance the ball.

Rose’s other option would have been to dish the ball to an open Kennard since Bridges was collapsing down. Kennard is hitting 38.1% of 3-point attempts this season. On catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts, he is hitting 40.8% and it’s up to 50% on wide-open 3-point attempts, according to Stats NBA.

If Rose were to pass to Kennard, an extra second or two would have trickled off, leaving Charlotte a catch-and-shoot opportunity on the other end after advancing the ball with a timeout.

Unfortunately for the Pistons, this particular play ended in a foul with 7.9 seconds left so let’s reset and go to the next playcall.