The Chicago Bulls fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves in overtime last night, as Andrew Wiggins dropped 31 points. Yet as you must know by now, the Friendly Bounce Playbook does not care about wins or losses. It cares about cool plays. Which is what Jimmy Butler and the Bulls did late in the fourth quarter.
Let’s pick things up with just over three minutes remaining, as Derrick Rose controls the ball up top. Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler sets up on the block, while Paul Gasol goes to the elbow.
From there, the Bulls begin to execute the play. Gasol moves down to set a “screen” for Butler. It is the most halfhearted of screens, but the screen isn’t really a vital part of the play, so it’s not a big deal.
After the “screen”, Gasol pops out to the short corner, and Butler cuts up towards the top of the key. As of now, it seems like a rather normal action, with Rose being able to choose between getting the ball to Butler at the top of the key, or Gasol in the post.
From here, however, the real play begins. The initial common action is simply a trick. As Butler gets to the free throw line, he plants and cuts back towards the basket.
Wiggins, who had been chasing closely behind, is completely fooled by this change of direction. He is immediately thrown off balance, as he has to try and recover.
Spotting the opening, Gasol lobs the ball up to Butler. By this point, however, Butler has already been fouled by Wiggins, who had no choice once the Bulls guard deceived him.
Notice also the good spacing the Bulls have set up on the weak side of the court. This prevents the Wolves from helping on Butler as he makes his cut back to the basket.
Butler ends up making an incredible catch with one hand, and finishes off the alley-oop. Unfortunately for the Bulls, however, the referees determined the foul was committed on the ground.
The Bulls ended up losing in the end, but this play was pretty slick. Butler and Chicago used the expectations of Wiggins against him. The initial action is one that happens on a consistent basis every night. Wiggins was trailing close behind Butler because he expected him to pop up to the top of the key. So when Butler cut back to the basket, Wiggins was not in a position to react correctly, and had no choice but to foul.