The Blazers-Clippers series will be remembered for everything imaginable going wrong for the Clippers. And for good reason: it is excruciating to see a star-studded franchise that looks like it can jump past an overachieving underdog and a superstar-less juggernaut to finally make it to the Western Conference Finals, only to see those chances fall apart with Chris Paul’s third metacarpal and Blake Griffin’s quadriceps.

However, a win is a win is a win is a win, and the Blazers have defied all odds to advance to the second round of the playoffs. The key to the Blazers’ success all season has been their two-headed backcourt monster, Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, and the Clippers’ game plan all series centered around stopping them. However, the Blazers’ success and ultimate triumph was due in large part to Mason Plumlee’s expert playmaking ability, which now serves as a serious game-changer for their upcoming series against the defending champions.

Plumlee had a huge opportunity to step up this series, and he made the most of it. He averaged 5.7 assists per game, more than double his regular season average and good for eighth the league during the playoffs. Perhaps more importantly, his passing and playmaking ability flew in the face of the Clippers game plan of, “Let’s stop Lillard and McCollum and force others to beat us.” Plumlee took the challenge to heart and made the Clippers pay.

Dribble Hand-Offs

Of his 34 assists during the series, eight of them came off of dribble hand-off plays. These are a common part of Terry Stott’s fluid offense, and Plumlee executes them to perfection.

On this play, the Blazers run some motion away from the ball to pull attention away from Moe Harkless posting up the much smaller J.J. Redick, who is trying to front him. DeAndre Jordan stays low to help, which he thinks is safe because Plumlee is a non-shooter. However, after the Blazers duo executes the dribble hand-off at the top of the key, DJ closes out on roller skates as Dame blows by him for the easy two.

This play will be crucial for the Blazers against the Warriors. Shaun Livingston and Klay Thompson can bother Lillard and McCollum with their length, but they may have trouble chasing them around these dribble hand-offs. The Warriors like to switch a lot, but they typically play a more conservative drop-back style with Andrew Bogut, who will spend a lot of minutes guarding Plumlee. If Plumlee continues to set solid screens for his guards as they zip around his dribble hand-offs, then the Warriors may need to use Draymond Green at the 5 more than they’d like so that they can switch 1 through 5. While the Warriors have had a lot of success downsizing, it also carries the risk of being trounced on the offensive glass, one of their few real weaknesses. The dribble-handoff is the Blazers’ best way to disrupt the Warriors’ gameplan and to dictate lineups on their terms.

Transition

Plumlee is a surprisingly skilled ball-handler, particularly in transition, leading to seven such assists in the series. He typically shares the floor with three or four long ball snipers, so when he pushes the ball, defenses have little hope of preventing either a wide-open three or layup. How can the Clippers get out to Allen Crabbe when they have a 7-foot big man barrelling down the lane?

When Plumlee pushes the ball, Lillard and McCollum can fill the lanes, flowing right into their dribble hand-off game:

One of the few advantages that the Blazers have against the Warriors is their speed on the perimeter. They will need Plumlee to continue to push the ball in order to punish the Warriors in transition.

Four-on-Three

The Clippers trapped Lillard off of the pick-and-roll throughout the series. Once Lillard breaks the trap and gets the ball to the screener (often Plumlee), the Blazers’ four attackers can make plays against the three remaining defenders. Plumlee distributed ten assists in the series off of these plays, and they were a huge reason why the Blazers went from losing the first two games of the series to winning the final four. Here is an example of the Blazers’ bread-and-butter play:

Once Plumlee sets the high screen, DJ is forced to come up to trap Lillard because of his lethal long ball threat. Dame slips a perfect pocket pass, and Plumlee makes the rest look easy, although it is much more difficult than it looks. He catches the ball, looks up, spots the defenders, and starts his dribble all at once, while Austin Rivers swipes at him and Jeff Green steps up to defend. Plumlee has to gain enough momentum to become a legitimate scoring threat while also maintaining control to prevent a charge. Finally, he locates his teammate, and Moe has an easy deuce.

The Warriors will be forced to pick their poison, particularly with Bogut or Ezeli on Plumlee: switch onto Lillard and risk an isolation roasting; drop back against Lillard and get hailed with fiery pull-up threes; trap Lillard and let Plumlee run Four-on-Three. If the Blazers win a game or two, watch for this storyline to emerge as a key reason for the Blazers hanging around in the series.

Back Door

Good passing big men serve a healthy diet of back door dimes, and Plumlee dished out eight such plays in the first round. To be fair, the Clippers’ relative lack of length on the wings made the back door openings bigger and easier to find, as well as by the Clippers’ oftentimes low-energy defense. However, credit must be given where credit is due, and Plumlee deserves a lot of it for plays like this:

The Clippers were so terrified of even an off-ball screen for Lillard that they switched or trapped everything. In this case, Plumlee finds Aminu slipping the screen just as Austin Rivers is trying to switch onto him. Thanks to a situationally unaware Jeff Green face-guarding Harkless inside the three-point line, there was no weak-side help to be found.

These windows will be much tighter against the Warriors. The reigning world champs are long and active on defense, and they are the best in the world at switching and helping just the right amount. Trying to squeeze a pass in between Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala is orders of magnitudes more difficult than doing so between J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford. Plumlee’s passing abilities will be put to the test next series.

I mean…this is just unfair

As much as I love categorization, not all basketball plays were meant to be categorized.

Sometimes, your offense stalls and you need a playmaker to bail you out. But when that playmaker is your 7-foot center who can beat a strong defender to the basket with a left-hand dribble, then execute a perfect jump-pass to the perimeter…categorization falls apart.

Barring further injuries, the Warriors will still win this series. But watch out for the threat and counter-threat combo of Damian Lillard and Mason Plumlee. It will be intriguing to see how the Dubs try to contain them. Will they trap Dame and force Plumlee to beat them? Will they go super-small early to try to run Plumlee off the floor? Will they punt on offensive rebounding opportunities to neutralize the Blazers’ transition game?

Don’t be surprised to see this series go to five, six, or even seven games. Because if it does, Plumlee may be the X-factor that gets them there.