This post also ran on Hardwood Paroxysm.
Welcome back to Film Room Friday.
Last week we took a look at transition offense–with the Houston Rockets–and transition defense–with Andrew Wiggins. This week, I want to change gears completely and take a closer look at some dead ball situations. Here we’ll break down four different out of bounds plays from the last week of action that lead to easy shot opportunities for the offense. Let’s get into it.
Boston Celtics
This play comes from the Celtics’ game the other night against the Toronto Raptors. Early in the first quarter, the Celtics are taking the ball out of bounds on the sideline, and they line up in a kind of offset diamond/box formation.
The play starts with Rajon Rondo setting a screen for Jared Sullinger, who then pops out to the top of the key and receives the inbounds pass from Jeff Green. Meanwhile, Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk have floated out to what is now the weak side.
Sullinger then swings the ball to Rondo out on the wing, while Olynyk has set the first screen of a stagger set for Bradley. After passing the ball to Rondo, Sullinger prepares to set the second screen of the stagger.
Rondo moves the ball to Green, who has set up in a post-iso situation. At this point, Bradley has come off the second screen from Sullinger, and is flying down the lane.
Green hits Bradley, who has left his defender in the dust thanks to his hard cut and the multiple screens. With the Raptors’ help defense slow in moving over to cut off the lane, Bradley is able to convert a rather easy layup.
Philadlephia 76ers Here we have a pretty simple play from the Sixers during their matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Sixers are inbounding the ball under their own basket and set up with Alexey Shved and Nerlens Noel in an “I” up the lane, and a man in each corner to provide spacing.
Shved sets Noel a back screen, and Noel does an excellent job setting up the action by jab stepping towards the outside before cutting down the lane off the pick. The fake cut by Noel freezes Shved’s defender (Jerryd Bayless), providing Noel a free path to the basket.
At this point, it’s too late for anyone on the Bucks, because once Noel is right by the basket, it’s just a simple pass and an alley oop.
Denver Nuggets
Now, let’s take a look at a sideline out of bounds play from the end of the Nuggets’ game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Nuggets are down and running out of time, so they need to get a quick shot up. They set up in a bit of an offset box formation.
Ty Lawson instigates the play by setting a back screen for JaVale McGee.
After setting the screen for McGee, Lawson goes up to receive the inbounds pass near half court. Over on the weak side, Wilson Chandler sets a screen for Aaron Afflalo, who uses it and cuts away from the ball to the corner. This cut, however, is simply to set up the next action.
Immediately after setting the first screen, Chandler spins around and sets another one. Afflalo, meanwhile, plants hard and comes back the other way, using Chandler’s second screen to move to the top of key.
Lawson hits Afflalo, who makes the first defender miss and gets an open three. Even though Afflalo misses the shot, that’s not really the point. This was a great play by Denver. The multiple screening action left the Thunder defense scrambling, and even though there was a man in the area when Afflalo caught the ball, he wasn’t in proper position to defend the Nuggets’ shooting guard.
Sacramento Kings
For our last out of bounds play, we turn to the Sacramento Kings taking the ball out under the basket against the Nuggets. They start out in a modified box, with the strong side post pushed up towards the elbow.
When the inbound slaps the ball, Jason Thompson cuts out to the corner to provide spacing. Darren Collison, meanwhile, cuts over to the opposite elbow to set a screen for Omri Casspi. Collison’s screening method is bit odd, but it gets the job done. Ty Lawson, Collison’s defender, is focused only on Collison, leaving an open path for Casspi.
Collison’s screen frees Casspi, who catches the inbounds pass and converts a very simple layup.