Rodney Hood etched his name into Portland Trail Blazers lore with his game-winner in quadruple-overtime against the Denver Nuggets in Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals. The basics of play are pretty simple: CJ McCollum used an Enes Kanter screen to get off a step-back that missed, then McCollum followed up his shot for a rebound and found Hood in the corner for the eventual game-winner.
But the basics aren’t as fun and they don’t capture the real drama of that moment. So, while we know what happened, I want to break down the how and why. There’s seven little moments during that play that added up to the one very big moment.
Moment 1: Rodney Hood draws his defender into the corner
With the Blazers down 136-135, CJ McCollum inbounded the ball to Enes Kanter. As that happened, Hood dragged his defender, Will Barton, to the corner and away from the action.
Moment 2: Kanter and McCollum’s handoff
After receiving the inbounds pass, Kanter immediately handed the ball back to McCollum. McCollum’s defender, Malik Beasley, was a touch too slow reacting to the play.
Moment 3: Kanter gets open off the handoff
Beasley went over Kanter’s screen after the handoff to chase down McCollum, but Nikola Jokic, Kanter’s initial man, had already switched on to McCollum. That left Kanter wide open and diving to the lane down by one.
Moment 4: Barton leaves Hood in the corner
As Kanter headed toward the paint, Barton left Hood wide open in the corner to go defend Kanter down low. Hood immediately raised his hands in the air to signal to McCollum that he’s open.
Moment 5: Momentum carries Beasley and Jokic away from the play
McCollum is determined to get a shot off, so he defers to his trusty step-back to get something up over the 7-foot Jokic. Beasley, having chased McCollum down, gives his all in contesting the shot. McCollum misses due to the great defense, but the momentum of both Beasley and Jokic going after McCollum pulls them away from the play toward their bench.
This is a problem given that the shot bounces off the back iron and ends up right around where both Nuggets players initially defended the shot. Having Jokic — who tied for the league lead in rebounds per game in the playoffs with 13 per game — even in the vicinity of the miss could’ve drastically changed the outcome of that game, and series. Perhaps McCollum isn’t able to grab his own rebound with Jokic there to swallow it up, and Game 3 ends with a Denver win.
With Jokic and Beasley out of the play, and Paul Millsap and Barton preoccupied with Kanter in the paint, all that leaves is McCollum and Torrey Craig.
Moment 6: McCollum simultaneously beats Craig and sees Hood
Torrey Craig started this sequence guarding Damian Lillard, who was mostly a decoy on the left wing. When McCollum’s shot went up, Craig gravitated from the wing to the paint to get in position for the rebound. However, McCollum never took his eyes off the ball, and he skied for the rebound well before Craig had actually reacted to the ball’s trajectory.
You can see that both of McCollum’s feet are well off the ground and his body is perfectly vertical to grab the rebound; compare that to Craig, whose feet have barely left ground and who’s stumbling backwards in an awkward rebound attempt.
While this mere two-second mini-battle occurred, Hood’s hands remained raised on the right wing. McCollum somehow saw Hood in his peripheral while going for the rebound, and immediately flung the pass to him mid-air.
Moment 7: Barton’s poor closeout leaves Hood open
Barton, who started this sequence on Hood and left him open to cover Kanter, beelines for Hood as he prepares a 3-point shot. But Barton’s closeout is not well-executed: he jumps to disrupt the shot when he’s already in Hood’s grill, carrying him several feet away from the shot. And instead of making a second effort, Barton nonchalantly runs out his closeout like a baseball player who just hit a grounder and was thrown out at first base.
All Barton could do is watch as Hood teed up the walk-off.
The sequence that led to Rodney Hood’s 4OT game-winner was a combination of skill, execution (great and poor) and physics. Each little moment I pointed out played its respective role in deciding the game.