T.I. Film festival series: Part 1- Taj Gibson

Apr 21, 2017; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Taj Gibson (22) drives to the basket in front of Houston Rockets forward Ryan Anderson (3) during the fourth quarter in game three of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Gibson gets served a rookie mash:

Unfortunately for Taj Gibson, his first bad moment of the season comes as a result of the mistakes of two other teammates.

The Lakers run a basic Spanish pick-and-roll, where a big man gets screened by another big on the way to setting a screen. They run this play with two shooters flanking the ball-handler, resembling a high pick-and-roll. That leaves Gibson and Larry Nance Jr. isolated in the entire restricted area

The mistake starts when Doug McDermott turns the wrong way trying to track Brandon Ingram. The defensive face palm then continues as Enes Kanter neither bumps down on the roll man, as he should have done, nor really even stays home on his man. With both Kanter and McDermott caught in no man’s land, Brandon Ingram had  a clear path to receive Luol Deng’s lob.

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Gibson actually does pretty well on this play. He spots Ingram unfolding towards the rim despite Nance Jr. trying to pull him away from the basket. Gibson even manages to challenge the shot without fouling.Commendable considering how late he saw everything.

Still, Gibson found himself the victim of a nasty poster on his season debut for the Thunder. There is nothing like working hard to help your teammates out on defense, only to get blown up on “Carl’s Cam” and get called “ancient” by the commentators. Sorry Taj, it is not your fault, but this is one of the worst moments of the season for you.

Pancakes in Portland:

Against the Trail Blazers, Gibson saw 24 minutes of game time. During that span, he recorded only two field goals and two free throw attempts.

Part of Gibson’s lack of offensive aggression comes from the fact that the squad was still figuring out its rotations. Gibson was still fresh off the trade that brought him to the Thunder. As a reserve, he had to rely on Norris Cole for offense. Even when Gibson played with Westbrook, perhaps out of unfamiliarity, Gibson still failed to get going on offense.

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While these situations act as mitigating factors for Gibson, he is still penalized for not being aggressive.

As Shaq once pointed out, sometimes big men just have to demand the ball. His advice, then to Dwight Howard, was to get deep position in the post and just demand the ball.

Go hard or go home:

That was exactly what Gibson should have done. Instead, look at this screen grab of him late in the first half.

Instead of staying where he could take a shot, Gibson camped along the perimeter next to Andre Roberson, another non-shooter. As you can see because of this, Al-Farouq Aminu can sag all the way down to the free throw line. The right play for Gibson would have been to either get closer to the basket, or even call for his own post-up.

In the YouTube video you can catch the end of the play as per the 2:03 timeline and other instances where Gibson looks awkward and lost on offense.

There were reasons for Gibson to have recorded a bad outing that night. Still, 2 field goals is inexcusable for a capable vet on a young team.