Doc Rivers Steals a Set For James Harden

A breakdown of how the 76ers take a page from Mike D'Antoni's playbook.

The best coaches steal. It’s not a secret and in 2022 every team has access to every possession run since 2003 to watch online any time they want. When a team acquires a new player they will typically have a good feel for how they like to operate but also what sets have worked in the past destinations for them.

Doc Rivers & the 76ers in the first 2 games have used this “Turn” action out of 5-Out to get Harden going downhill to his strong hand - coming off Chicago action and forcing the defense into a single tag decision.

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I have studied Mike D’Antoni’s playbook extensively with a focus on his After Time Out plays. Personally, I believe he is one of if not the best After Time Out coach in NBA history and his offensive mind has continued to change the game of basketball. I first saw the origin or idea of this action during his time with the Lakers when he ran this sort of “flip” screen for the player in the corner.

This action really didn’t take off until the 2018-19 season in Houston where they ran it constantly both After Time Out and as a regular play including sideline out of bounds.

Starting off in 5-Out (Delay) setup the ball is passed to the big in the middle of the floor.

When it hits the bigs hands the player in the opposite corner - more or less the wing in most setup - sprints toward the top of the key then flips into a pindown.

Harden would then come off the handoff going downhill with a big rolling to the rim, forcing the defense to choose to either defend the roll man or the shooter lifting up for a catch and shoot 3.

There is another option to defend it as the Knicks did, to just blow the entire coverage completely and have nobody defend Harden or Embiid and allow an easy score.

Against Minnesota the 76ers did try this Sideline out of Bounds, however, nothing came of it - but I expect them to continue to look for that action as well.

Full edit of the Houston Rockets running “Turn” action below:

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Enjoy!

Coach Pyper