Nets Elevator, Mavs Chicago & Shallow Sets
Some of my favorite sets and actions over the last week.
In today’s breakdown, we are going to focus on some of the sets that I liked during the past week and look at what makes them effective and some origins of the actions.
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Note: This is best viewed in the app, since some of the gifs may not show up correctly.
Memphis Grizzlies Thru Elbow Rip
In After Time Out situations the Grizzlies love to go to this backscreen set with some initial action as decoy.
The play starts off with a thru cut with the player they want setting the backscreen. Depending on matchups this can be the passer who makes the entry to the wing or a hand off to the wing player and he becomes the backscreener.
As the player cuts through the big in the middle screens away and then flashes to the elbow, then after the pass to the elbow the backscreen from the guard is set looking fora a lob.
If the lob option is covered or denied, then it flows into a dribble hand off/flow from there.
Brooklyn Nets Horns Over Elevator
With Igor Kokoskov joining the Nets staff this offseason, It was only a matter of time for his genius playcalling influence to have an impact and they used a classic set from his time with the Jazz for a Kyrie 3. Starting off in a Horns set the ball gets entered to the elbow and Kyrie cuts through, with the opposite elbow cutting over the top.
Then the wing here KD goes off a pindown into a dribble hand off - Chicago action.
As the ball is centered into the middle the Nets two best screeners setup an Elevator doors look for Kyrie, although he sees here he cannot cut right through them because of defenders in the way so he uses it like a double screen for a catch and shoot 3.
This set was a big part of the Utah Jazz Horns playbook under Quin Snyder with Kokoskov as an assistant.
One way they would use this action was also a double flare, something to keep an eye on as a counter, where they essentially fake Spain action and have the backscreener come off the double flare. Nasty stuff!
Dallas Mavericks Horns Chicago
With the Lakers throwing multiple looks at Luka, the Mavericks went to a good counter with Luka off the ball at first out of Horns. The play starts with a screen across (you should recognize this from the Pelicans Horns Series Focus) to free up the entry to the Elbow to Wood.
The passer then cuts through the lane as the Mavs flow into Chicago action for Luka. With the Lakers playing aggressive against him, the roll man becomes open since Christie here has to decide who he is going to guard and the threat of the 3 leaves Wood open on the roll.
In the previous matchup with the Lakers, they ran this exact same action out of Flex, but tweaked it for this game and with it created better action by having the screener not be LeBron’s man and the better shooter spacing in the shake action.
The Mavs also ran this same basic action out of “Turn” and designing it so that they had Luka get rid of it earlier and the same THJ lifting up opening up the roll.
This simple tweak in the previous game led to this after time out special design for an easy layup.
San Antonio Spurs Hammer Throwback
I had to include the classic Spurs Hammer/Throwback that they ran to tie the game against the Celtics.
It starts out the same way most Spurs Hammer sets, with a screen out to the empty corner for a guard.
It’s hard to know if this was by design or mistake, but the timing of the Hammer screen on the weakside was off. This could have been to setup the Throwback, but the switching of the Celtics took it away.
The beauty of this set is it takes advantage of the help tendencies, with Rob Williams helping off Collins and opening up the Throwback look that left Horford with no help on.
Golden State Warriors Double Drag Shallow
"Shallow” action has been run more and more often in ballscreen action and is another way to trick the tag and create space and movement for the offense during a ballscreen. The Warriors tweak their normal “35 Empty” look where they set a double screen empty and throw it into the post for split cuts using Wiggins in this action. Wiggins cuts underneath Looney and then pops for the 3.
Atlanta Hawks EOG Shallow
After Time Out and a tie game late against the Clippers, the Hawks designed a great Shallow action and setup a perfect 2 for 1 that allowed them the win. With a ballscreen being set for Trae and Zubac in a higher coverage, this simple Shallow action frees up Trae Young for the easy floater.
We can see here on the replay and this angle that Zubac had to navigate traffic and allowed Young to have a clear pocket of space to attack into.
Ohio State Nova New York
I am working on a breakdown using the “mic’d up” games the NCAA has used this season, as we get lots of great coaching insights from it, as we get here late with Ohio State calling “Nova New York” for a Hammer 3. The design here is to set a stagger screen for a shooter and then a flare screen for the second screener.
This has been a go-to set for the Buckeyes under Holtmann and is designed again to take advantage of the tendency of the big to help low that frees up the flare screen 3.
Alabama Delay Reject Spain Empty
I absolutely love Nate Oats & Alabama’s offense and they ran a great counter out of Delay against Arkansas. Starting off with an entry to the middle of the floor and a screen down, the player in the corner receiving the screen intentionally rejects into the lane.
This then flows into a hand off for the screener and then the player who rejects it sets the backscreen in Spain action. Although the read wasn’t ideal as the lob was open, the resulting offensive rebound was created with the backscreen action.
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When you are watching games this season and any set or actions stand out to you that you want to see included in these breakdowns let me know and I will include them! Thank you again for all of your support and for sharing my work.
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Coach Pyper
Coach! So glad I found your YouTube channel. 1st year JUCO asst. and I needed some more guidance. This is great! O-H!!