The basketball things they…well…they didn’t go so well for the Tulsa Shock last night. In Game 1 of their first-round matchup against the Phoenix Mercury, the Shock never had a chance. Behind an unreal 18 point, 8 rebound, 11 block performance from Brittney Griner, the Mercury demolished the Shock 88-55. Phoenix held Tulsa to just 26 percent shooting from the floor, including a 7-21 performance from Odyssey Sims.
However, open up the Friendly Bounce Playbook and you will see that winning is not of much importance in these parts. Dope plays are dope plays regardless of the score. And hoo boy, did the Shock run a dope play last night. Let’s get into it.
It took place in the middle of the third quarter, with the Shock desperately trying to mount some semblance of a comeback. With Odyssey Sims bringing the ball up the court, Karima Christmas went to the weak side corner, and Jordan Hooper came to the corner on the strong side. Meanwhile, Plenette Pierson and Courtney Paris set up as elevator doors between the free throw line and top of the key.
As Hooper begins her cut to use the elevator doors screen Pierson and Paris are about to set, Sims moves closer to the wing, which puts her in a better position to make a pass. Karima Christmas is also on the move, and she leaves the weak side to fill Hooper’s spot.
Nearly all of the time, elevator doors plays are run to free up a shooter for an open three. The shooter runs through the “doors”, the “doors” slam shut on the defender. The shooter is wide open. It’s a fun little action that has spread throughout the basketball universe, and one the Shock use often. Ah, but not so fast, says Tulsa on this occasion.
Instead of setting her feet and receiving a pass after popping out of the doors, Hooper instead plants and cuts backdoor. As she does this, Pierson does a tremendous job adjusting her screen angle ever so slightly in oder to further disrupt Hooper’s defender. Hooper’s defender was mostly through the elevator doors, and right as she gets through, Pierson changes her angle just slightly, disrupting Hooper’s defender once again as she tries to recover.
Christmas, meanwhile, continues to move to the strong side, clearing out space for Hooper’s back cut.
As Hooper cuts back to the basket, Sims fires a pass her way. As you can see, there’s plenty of open space under the basket. That’s because Christmas brought her defender, DeWanna Bonner over to the strong side of the court, making Christmas just one pass away. If Christmas was still in the weak side corner, she would be multiple passes away, giving Bonner the opportunity to sink into the paint and play help defense. Now, Bonner has to play closer to her in order to prevent Sims from simply dumping it down to Christmas for an easy bucket.
Still, Bonner is caught unaware, something that should not happen when you’re the last defender.
Unfortunately for the Shock, Sims can’t quite get enough on the pass, and Hooper isn’t able to go straight up for a layup, but she does earn a trip to the line.
Either way, this is about process over results, and this process was awesome. I can’t recall ever seeing a team use an elevator doors screen this way. Shout out to the Shock for the innovation.
Here you can see the play in action.