Welcome to “One Play!” Throughout the 2021-22 NBA season, our NBA.com Staff will break down certain possessions from certain games and peel back the curtains to reveal its bigger meaning.
Today, Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet takes the spotlight.
Context: VanVleet had his best game of the season to date in Toronto’s win over the Washington Wizards, marking the team’s fifth straight victory.
In 43 minutes of action, VanVleet led the way with a game-high and season-best 33 points. He was incredibly efficient, shooting 13-for-22 from the field, 3-for-6 from 3-point range and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
It was an impressive performance from start to finish for VanVleet, but there was one particular part of his game that stood out against the Wizards.
VanVleet receives the ball from Gary Trent Jr. with 15 seconds remaining on the shot clock. Standing several feet behind the 3-point line, VanVleet immediately receives a screen from Precious Achiuwa to run a pick-and-roll.
VanVleet generates the bulk of his offence as the ball handler in pick-and-rolls. According to NBA.com, he generated 34.0 percent of his offence on those plays last season. That number is up to 37.4 percent through the first couple of weeks of this season, making for one of the higher rates in the league.
VanVleet has been rather efficient, ranking in the 61st percentile with 0.90 points per pick-and-roll possession.
Knowing VanVleet likes to pull-up from 3, Raul Neto fights over Achiuwa’s screen while Montrezl Harrell extends himself all the way out to the 3-point line.
The Wizards have successfully prevented Options 1 (a VanVleet pull-up) and 2 (an alley-oop to Achiuwa), but VanVleet quickly throws them for a loop with a well-timed step back.
Neto is able to get a hand up, but VanVleet’s step back gives him the space he needs to get his shot off.
Why it matters: I’ll let VanVleet explain this one.
“A lot of defences give that shot up, so it’s something that I’ve been working on,” VanVleet responded when asked about his midrange game by TSN’s Kayla Grey. “Every night, I’m just trying to take whatever the defence gives. Some nights it’s setting up others, tonight it was kind of getting my own.”
I touched on VanVleet’s improvement as a midrange shooter following a win over the Milwaukee Bucks last season, but he’s gone to another level to start this season.
Get this: VanVleet went 21-for-73 (28.8 percent) on 2-point pull-ups in the 2019-20 season, per NBA.com. In 2020-21, he went 54-for-136 (39.7 percent) on those same shots.
A pretty impressive jump, right? Well, through nine games this season, VanVleet is up to 25-for-43 (58.1 percent) on 2-point pull-ups.
It’s contributed to VanVleet scoring a total of 86 points on pull-ups (50 points from 2-point range and 36 points from 3-point range), putting him behind only Kevin Durant (109) and CJ McCollum (88) for most in the league.
VanVleet almost certainly isn’t going to connect on half of his midrange pull-ups for the entire season – not even Stephen Curry can consistently do that – but the more of a threat he is to score from that distance, the more difficult he becomes to guard.
It’s well known at this point that VanVleet is an excellent 3-point shooter. He came into the NBA as an efficient catch-and-shoot threat and has improved shooting off the dribble from 3-point range in the years since. As I detailed heading into this season, it’s inside the 3-point line where VanVleet has had issues. In addition to not being a volume shooter from midrange, he’s checked out as one of the league’s least efficient scorers from floater range and around the basket.
There’s a chance VanVleet will never be a big-time finisher around the basket because of his physical limitations, but embracing the midrange is one way to make up for it.
One, because it gives VanVleet a consistent answer to teams that run him off the 3-point line and play a drop coverage, like so:
Two, because it gives VanVleet something else to go to when he finds himself on an island.
Not that VanVleet is a dominant 1-on-1 scorer, but nobody on the Raptors attempted more shots in the final seven seconds of the shot clock than him last season. He shot 38-for-117 (32.5 percent) from 3-point range and 37-for-102 (36.3 percent) from 2-point range in those situations.
Against the Wizards, VanVleet looked a lot more comfortable creating for himself inside the arc with the shot clock winding down.
Neither this…
…nor this…
…is something we saw much of from VanVleet last season.
It’s still early, of course, but if VanVleet can continue to keep teams honest from midrange, it’ll help take him and the Raptors to new heights.
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
