On the Beat: One Big Play Provides Insight on Valuable Dynamic

After Stephen Curry weaved through traffic along the left side of the lane late in Saturday’s drama-filled contest, order was still intact, for the most part.  The reigning NBA MVP’s tough scoop shot gave Golden State a 105-99 edge with 46 seconds left in the fourth quarter.  Was the six-point lead the safest, most secure advantage the Warriors could ask for?  No, especially given that Golden State had been up by as many as 24 points earlier in the half.  But, with the Warriors’ talent level, experience, and intelligence, the margin, given the amount of time remaining in the game, seemed as if it would be enough to provide the defending champions safe passage to the final horn.Not the case. The sequence of events that transpired over the next eight seconds caused bedlam to sweep through a sold-out crowd at The Center, and also gave insight into just how how much X-and-O talk takes place between the Sixers’ coaching staff and front office.  Following Curry’s lay-up, the Sixers spent a timeout setting up a frontcourt left sideline out-of-bounds play.  Ish Smith was responsible for in-bounding the basketball.  Isaiah Canaan was positioned to the right side of the lane, down on the block.  As Smith was preparing to put the ball in play, Canaan, being defended by Curry, cut to his left across the free throw line.  Thanks to a quick rub screen from Nerlens Noel, Canaan was able to lose Curry for a moment, and safely reach the left corner.  Smith saw Canaan open, and zipped him the in-bounds pass.  Canaan – all six feet of him – quickly rose up, and released a three-point attempt.  Not only did the heave swish through the bottom of the net, Curry, who was late in closing out on Canaan, fouled Canaan while he was in the process of shooting.  A free throw later, Canaan had provided the Sixers with the most pivotal of four-point plays, and brought the club to within two points of Golden State, 105-103, with 38 seconds showing on the scoreboard. As clutch as Canaan proved to be on the offensive end in the final minute, he came through with an even more vital defensive stop on the Warriors’ ensuing drive, poking the ball away from Klay Thompson.  The steal subsequently fueled a fastbreak scoring opportunity that allowed the Sixers to level the tilt in stunning fashion at 105-105. In the end, Harrison Barnes hit a timely triple of his own, enabling Golden State to escape with its 43rd victory of the season.  Despite the outcome, Brett Brown didn’t lose sight of the role that Canaan assumed in helping the Sixers almost pull off a remarkable comeback.  In particular, Brown felt Canaan’s contributions shined a light on the extent to which he brainstorms with his general manager.   “This is where Sam Hinkie truly helps me,” said Brown.   “We play situation games all the time, at a desk, in an office, on the court.  At what point do you feel like you need a three, is where I’m going with this. Can you just get a quick two and score, and when does the clock just  evaporate, you don’t have enough time?  So we drew something that had some options to it, with the first look and the second look being threes.  Isaiah scored, and he got fouled, and brought it to two.  Then the clock and the numbers and the time left in the game favors us now.”Hinkie acquired Canaan – now in his third season out of Murray State – at last February’s NBA trade deadline, when the Sixers sent K.J. McDaniels to the Houston Rockets.  Hinkie scouted Canaan in college during his stint as Houston’s Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations.”I thought [Canaan] made obviously a big play there,” Brown said of the three-point field goal.   “I thought his steal to trip into Ish with the dunk to tie, it’s all big.  Big plays.  Lots of people deserve credit, he is one of them.”Canaan, in appearing in 47 regular season games this campaign, has already matched the total number of contests he appeared in last year, when he split time between the Rockets and Sixers.  The combo guard has also converted a Sixers-high 102 triples. While Canaan’s most recent three-pointer nearly triggered one of the top upsets of the current NBA season, it also led to a revealing nuggety about the interplay between Brown and Hinkie, and the partnership that exists between two of the primary figures in the Sixers’ basketball operations department.