NBA
The Smartest Plays of the Year! | Thinking Basketball
Ben Taylor from Thinking Basketball offers his full compilation of the smartest player reads, play designs and defensive schemes from the 2024-25 regular season, Playoffs and 2025 NBA Finals.
Ben Taylor from Thinking Basketball offers his full compilation of the smartest player reads, play designs and defensive schemes from the 2024-25 regular season, Playoffs and 2025 NBA Finals.
@JanEstifanie711
July 4, 2025 at 11:50 am
Yeah but even all of this viewership gone low š
@rfwhyte
July 4, 2025 at 1:16 pm
Pretty much every single one of the āChair pullā moves you highlighted featured illegal contact on the part of the defensive player. A lot of it was subtle, but every single play had the defender grabbing / pulling the offensive player in a way I personally wouldnāt consider a āBasketball move.ā Itās less that they pulled the chair out from someone, and more they pulled the chair out while simultaneously pulling down the person who was sitting in said chair. Hopefully the league starts cracking down on these kinds of defensive actions, as they all read as cheap tricks to me.
@bigscorpio94
July 4, 2025 at 1:45 pm
That last Larry bird ball fake was crazy 21:48
@jeffjohnson7052
July 4, 2025 at 2:31 pm
Man this honestly was a great video and makes me appreciate the game more. Ill be looking for more high iq plays when i watch games for sure now
@GoRavens520
July 4, 2025 at 2:55 pm
Number 4, iām still not entirely sure that Gobert didnāt tip that pass
@GoRavens520
July 4, 2025 at 3:12 pm
Incredible video, Ben Taylor is for sure my favorite basketball analyst.
@sandysanchez33
July 4, 2025 at 3:28 pm
More of this pls
@nadirsampaoli
July 4, 2025 at 3:52 pm
5:02 Eric Apricot mentioned letās gooo
@ghostgocrazyy
July 4, 2025 at 4:12 pm
Ben the goat
@VxntaZxz
July 4, 2025 at 4:31 pm
The first 4 mins was all about jokic
@wephilips6651
July 4, 2025 at 4:39 pm
Some of this is just insane. The amount of things going on at any one second is literally overwhelming. Even when broken down in slow motion itās hard to process it all. Players are not given remotely enough appreciation for the mental side of the modern game, especially by ex players
@KonradtKekoanui
July 4, 2025 at 4:57 pm
3:44 Malik was gambling at that moment, šš
@michaelmarufu5412
July 4, 2025 at 5:38 pm
i wonder how many people searched āwas jalen suggs a quarterbackā after thisš¤£
@antoinecoursol8103
July 4, 2025 at 5:47 pm
love this kind of video, wouldnāt mind an hour and more of this! good work as always Ben
@Deathstroke24120
July 4, 2025 at 6:33 pm
His videos on the official NBA channel are legit almost better than those on his own channel šš
@AzuDayNife
July 4, 2025 at 6:42 pm
One reason these football SLOB plays are so effective: it creates a pseudo-transition possession out of a dead ball situation.
@Firefist0123
July 4, 2025 at 7:51 pm
deja vu is this the previous videos merged together, previous 2 if im not wrong
@Firefist0123
July 4, 2025 at 8:07 pm
28:05 this is where the new part starts guys
@iggyboyyyy
July 4, 2025 at 9:18 pm
Imagine if Jalen Brunson still had IHart screening for him š¢
@clevisbernier8973
July 4, 2025 at 9:20 pm
7:20 the moving screens have to stop
@waldothewalrus294
July 4, 2025 at 9:24 pm
RAHHH THIS MAKES ME PATRIOTIC RAHHH šŗšøšŗšøšŗšøš¦ š¦ š¦ š¦
@dereksimmons5877
July 4, 2025 at 10:03 pm
Finally White and Celtics get some respect.
@gregchun-u6j
July 4, 2025 at 10:33 pm
This is a repost I watched this like 2 months ago when the regular season ended.
@ėģķØź³¼
July 4, 2025 at 10:49 pm
ģķ¤ģ¹ė ź³ ķøź° ė§ė¤ā¦.
@northside103
July 4, 2025 at 11:31 pm
Just imagine if Barry sanders had a lead blocker like draymond green. We wouldāve never heard of Emmitt Smith. Brilliant screen too. BBIQ10000 play
@Croc1579
July 5, 2025 at 5:48 am
Modern screens are so bs
@x0cx102
July 5, 2025 at 5:57 am
honestly insane that thinking basketball is on the official nba channel doing a video
@owenhudson6574
July 5, 2025 at 5:52 pm
Theyāve been partnered
@Bozugo12
July 5, 2025 at 6:45 am
You know your great when your opponents coach says that you gotta start praying when he gets the ball
@65MaX73
July 5, 2025 at 7:42 am
Having OKC at number one @27:23 is everything thatās wrong with todays basketball. Why is NBA promoting this shit?
@zxjuanr9013
July 5, 2025 at 7:53 am
14:18 CP3 told wemby to miss it
@Krk-the-Bird
July 5, 2025 at 9:06 am
Yeah ā I was really surprised how none of the Hawks picked up on it, sinceā¦ I mean itās CP3. In a final seconds situation. You GOTTA know whatās up!
@Krk-the-Bird
July 5, 2025 at 9:04 am
Shout out to Eric Apricot! ā Ah yes, the greats recognizing the greats.
@momoney4L
July 5, 2025 at 9:33 am
the best thing that happened to this channelš„š„
@Dimesprodz
July 5, 2025 at 9:58 am
36:47. This is greatness bruh.
@Roshfps
July 5, 2025 at 11:01 am
That draymond moving screen at 7:30 is too funny. Thatās lineman work
@albertcamus99
July 5, 2025 at 12:01 pm
This is such a great video!! Love understanding the intricacies within all of these great moments.
@zackhane4953
July 5, 2025 at 12:37 pm
Every single example is against my team Detroitā¦
@KC_Trimble
July 5, 2025 at 1:09 pm
I look forward to these vids every year. So glad to see Ben continue working with the official NBA channel. These are the kinds of voices we need in basketball media. People who love and celebrate the modern game, and who know how to communicate the complexities of the game in a way that makes the viewer excited to learn more about basketball. Not bitter ex-players who stopped actually watching the sport years ago and only want to make the modern game look bad so that their era/individual legacy looks more impressive by comparison. We desperately need more of this to counteract all that negativity, because the game is better than itās ever been and the average person doesnāt know it!!
@edwinbleau5334
July 5, 2025 at 1:23 pm
Jokic should have been MVP this year. When you realize who the people are who get the important votes, you realize why he did not win it. When people like Stephen A Smith has a vote, it becomes a diluted result. It should be player and coaches, both current and former.
Shai is great, but Jokic meant way more to his team. You take Jokic off the nuggets and they might not even make the play in. Take shai away and the Thunder are still a top 6 team.
@chasematranga1187
July 5, 2025 at 2:18 pm
Nemhard: chair pull
Luke dort: backing up and leaving his feet in to trip up ball handler.
NOT THE SAMEš
@chasematranga1187
July 5, 2025 at 2:24 pm
SGA had some smart plays this playoffs.
Cut to foul baiting lmfao.
@joebaltzly9677
July 5, 2025 at 2:44 pm
So glad josh hart got called in that pritchard play. Hart falls asleep in some of the most egregious ways. Did something similar in playoffs to cost the knicks a major stop deep in the pacers series
@coolerpeon
July 5, 2025 at 3:36 pm
The Steph highlights are so funny. Literally Hollywood
@cukeumberr
July 5, 2025 at 3:38 pm
2:45 JARACE WALKER SIGHTING MY BELOVED
@jeremiassantana7776
July 5, 2025 at 3:52 pm
āItās like jazzā may be the best description of how some NBA teams play.
@joeb588
July 6, 2025 at 8:25 am
Yeah, ironically not inclusive of the Utah Jazz
@JakeStine
July 5, 2025 at 4:54 pm
7:15 the rules for illegal screens is not what anyone thinks they are. The spirit of the rules for illegal screens is to avoid hockey-style body checking, tripping, elbowing, clotheslining, excessive grabbing or pulling (note some grabbing is ok), etc. Basically anything that someone might fairly judge as not being a ābasketball play.ā It has nothing to do with having feet set to avoid movement, and hasnāt for a very long time. In this specific case, Draymond might have been able to be called for excessive grabbing (nothing to do with movement or not), but everything else about his screen is totally legal.
@karookpoto7323
July 6, 2025 at 5:11 am
The major issue with calling moving screens in my opinion is that the game is now fast, players are always moving, a player would be cutting and suddenly sets a screen. Honestly, it is difficult for the refs and the refs have basically chose to be lenient. I promise you every play in the nba today has a moving screen.
@ny3793
July 5, 2025 at 5:31 pm
Caruso deservingly gets the title of smartest play in the season
@nredtop8363
July 5, 2025 at 8:51 pm
This is fire! plz do more
@dimelo58
July 5, 2025 at 9:59 pm
When a 2 doesnāt hurt you with seconds left I donāt understand why defenses donāt just zone up at the 3 point line.
@davidbaggs2273
July 5, 2025 at 11:01 pm
Bro this was very interesting and great content
I love the Xās and Oās parts of basketball!
A lot of people watch it donāt understand the great part of bball
Great job and great content
ššš
@karookpoto7323
July 6, 2025 at 5:13 am
And they say the nba is boring!!!!
@Master-Wanderer
July 6, 2025 at 1:33 am
ok so the 2 Dort examples are him fouling haha.. he pulls the arm in the first one to get them off balance and pushes Gordon in the back in the 2nd one.. yeah its smart.. but its also risky
@Grawlix_Jungle
July 6, 2025 at 2:47 am
Is this just a compilation of his earlier videos?
@Draregkoeliekalie
July 6, 2025 at 3:06 am
I love this content. Such a pleasure watching all those beautiful plays
@Lucero_Piano
July 6, 2025 at 4:13 am
Elite content
@deetschicken
July 6, 2025 at 5:02 am
5:03 shout out to Eric Apricot!
@pranavmanie1479
July 6, 2025 at 7:00 am
22:08 the fact that Luka has done some form of this exact move THRICE to Gobert over his career is ridiculous
@flakers1337
July 6, 2025 at 9:04 am
conveniently leaving out at #1 how caruso was just allowed to physically assault jokic all game long without getting called.
@MrRaysian
July 6, 2025 at 10:05 am
Ben was told to make a top 10 play list for the season so he decided to show 30+ plays by cramming minimum 3 plays for each top 10 play
@SurgeonOW
July 6, 2025 at 11:16 am
3:38 so everyone can enjoy what āļø
@classthoreau3541
July 6, 2025 at 12:06 pm
Sharing my favorite smart play of the year from the Thinking Basketball video about Wemby: A few seconds left at the end of the 1st quarter in his Christmas day game in NY, and he forces Brunson to pass by sprinting at him from offball, knowing that Brunson will instinctively pass to Wembyās now-open man. You can even see Wemby glance at the shot clock to time it just right so the Knicks donāt have time for a shot after the pass. Amazing
@Deathstroke24120
July 6, 2025 at 12:53 pm
So many moving screens š“š“š“
@Unimportant825
July 6, 2025 at 8:12 pm
i didnāt realize there was so much acting in hoops