What I'm going to try is to pick out a play or two from a game and sort of break down some of the X's and O's of the play.
The first one I'm highlighting is LeBron James' monster throw down against the Bulls last night in Game Two.
Now LBJ does a lot of things right on this play. He's a superhuman athlete and really doesn't need the help of his teammates on most plays, he made that pretty clear last night. But if you watch closely there is a subtle assist from Anderson Varejao on this spectacular play.
Notice in the picture below: As LeBron gets isolated, the Bulls help defenders (mainly Joakim Noah and Luol Deng) are both in good position to help and seem like they are anticipating having to help.
Now, right before LeBron begins his move, Anderson Varejao flashes from the weakside to the center of the rim, seemingly to make himself available as an option for LeBron to pass to. Based on the timing of James' move in correspondance with Varejao's flash, I think this was only done to "seal" off Noah who would be trying to protect the rim on James dunk attempt.
The rest is done by James, who gets unbelievable seperation on a jab and rip through move. Secondly the elevation and ferocity with which he threw down that dunk makes me think that Noah was lucky he wasn't able to come over as a help defender. Knowing the kind of player Noah is and that he wouldn't back down from a challenge, he would have probably attempted to block that shot, and it would have been Noah and James Johnson on a poster, instead of just Johnson.
Here's how the play turned out in real time.
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