The airball alley-oop. I’ve been touting this exact play for over a year now. I’m sure I’ve sent no less than 10 tweets, and probably mentioned it in at least 3 blogs. Because for the life of me, I don’t understand how coaches across the NBA, and coach across the world of basketball, after watching Jokic airball a three-pointer to give Aaron Gordon an uncontested dunk with no time left to win the game, don’t think to themselves, “Why don’t we just do that on purpose?”
Sometimes I think to myself, “maybe it’s harder than it looks”. But I don’t know how it would be. NBA players are able to fit a 9.5″ diameter basketball inside of an 18-inch hoop with insane precision from up to nearly 30 feet away. Maybe a math guy could tell me what exactly that equated to when it comes to a shooter’s margin of error. But whatever it is, I’m sure they have an even bigger one on an airball alley-oop. Just put the ball anywhere from 1-3 feet to the side of the rim. It can’t be that hard.
Of course if this play ever became a thing that was widely used, teams would start defending against it. They should really be thinking about it already. At least in buzzer beater situations. Last night isn’t the first time a team has accidentally won a game on an airball alley-oop.
What the defense should really do when a last second shot goes up is run to defend the sides of the rim. Obviously don’t goaltend. But on last night’s play, James Harden’s move should have been to follow the shot, and time his jump so he’s meeting the ball at the rim in case of airball. With that much time left on the clock, what else is there to do? There’s no reason to play for a rebound. But defenders have been conditioned to play for the rebound their entire lives. By the time James Harden realizes what’s happening, Aaron Gordon has already started his jump, and it’s too late.
If the offense knows what’s coming, they’re going to win that battle. Every. Single. Time.
Until of course coaches across the league finally get their heads out of their ass and start executing the airball alley-oop play for real. At a certain point, defenses will start to guard against it. But the way it stands right now, it’s a play that’s almost guaranteed to work. There currently exists a basketball play with a monumentally high success rate, that isn’t difficult to execute, and is just sitting there on a silver platter for anyone to use. Any late game situation in a 0 to 2 point game, it’s almost free points. I love nights like last night when it actually happens. But I am DYING to see someone to execute it intentionally.
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I will say, because I’ve had their fans in my replies before, there is one team I’ve seen implement it. At least kind of. The Creighton Blue Jays run a lob play that’s essentially the airball alley-oop. Rarely do I see them really sell it as a jump shot the way I’d like them to. But the play is so good that they barely even need to disguise it.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve never seen them do it on a buzzer beater. They also seem to primarily use it against zone defense. Which makes sense. But I think you could do it on any defense. The post man is still going to be thinking rebound. The offensive player he’s guarding is still going to get a jump on him every time. Worst case scenario, if the player receiving the airball can’t dunk it straight in the hoop, as long as you’re shooting the ball at the right time (with about 4 seconds left on the clock, Denver cut it a bit too close for my liking last night), he should still have time come down with the ball, and get a really damn good up close look with a second or two left.
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It’s a criminally underused play. I genuinely think it has the potential to change the game of basketball. Even if it’s not a direct alley-oop in a buzzer beater situation, the fake jump shot is such an effective way to pass the basketball. And don’t get me started on backboard passes. The backboard is criminally underused as well.
The backboard doesn’t have to be limited to passes to yourself either. If a team spent just a little bit of time practicing their angles, they could utilize the backboard in so many different ways. Nobody thinks outside the box anymore. Analytics have turned basketball into nothing by three pointers. But if teams started to utilize all the tools at their disposal, then maybe they could flip the analytics on their head. The airball alley-oop and the backboard pass could save the game of basketball. Or make it so much worse. I’m not sure which. But I know they could work.
