Robert Covington makes up for a poor shooting night with a great finish

With 1.6 seconds on the clock in their game against the Minnesota Timberwolves and the game tied at 91, the Philadelphia 76ers had a single inbounds play to attempt to win the game. Here’s what 76ers coach Brett Brown and his staff drew up:

Rookie center Joel Embiid had 25 points in his rematch against fellow up-and-coming star Karl-Anthony Towns, and it was clear from the Timberwolves’ defense that they were set up for the play to go to him. Ricky Rubio played off of the inbounding Dario Šarić to guard Embiid. Instead of going to Embiid for a contested fadeaway over Towns and Rubio, Philadelphia used the attention Embiid draws as a decoy for Covington coming around the screen and going to the rim. Covington ran up toward the top of the key before curling around for the lob to the rim. Šarić put the ball on the money and Covington put it in off the glass for the win.

“I was able to execute it,” Covington told reporters after the game (h/t Keith Pompey, Philadelphia Inquirer). “That’s the way we drew it up and that’s how we did it in yesterday in practice. We executed it to perfection.”

The attention on Embiid made the play possible; Rubio and Towns are assigned to Embiid and aren’t going to leave him to help defend against Covington. Throw in Nik Stauskas and Ersan Ilyasova each setting screens for one another to occupy their respective defenders and Andrew Wiggins is left alone to contend with Embiid’s screen. Wiggins has to stay as attached to Covington as possible and chases him through the screen, but Covington doesn’t pop out to the top of the key for a jumper, instead opting to curl around toward the rim. Towns and Rubio never move, Nemanja Bjelica and Zach LaVine stick to their guys, and Embiid does just enough to throw Wiggins off, giving Covington the space he needs to catch and finish.

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The play ended a particularly up-and-down night for Covington, who was summarily booed by the Philadelphia crowd throughout the game. Covington is struggling in his fourth NBA season as his field goal percentage and 3-point percentage have hit career-lows. He finished the game 3-for-13 from the field and a painful 1-for-9 on 3-pointers, but he got the biggest bucket of the night and turned the boos into cheers.

Video via NBA Reddit user johnkphotos.