The Los Angeles Sparks fell short of the Western Conference Finals last night, succumbing to Maya Moore and the Lynx and the Target Center crowd. But as we’ve mentioned before, winning is no requirement to getting featured in the Friendly Bounce Playbook. Let’s take a look at a slick play the Sparks ran that involved a double screen in the corner for Kristi Toliver.
It starts with Toliver bringing the ball up court and initiating the play with a dribble handoff.
Toliver then continues through, cutting along the baseline to the other side of the court. Meanwhile, Alana Beard quickly whips the ball to Jantel Lavender at the top of the key. As Toliver cuts baseline, Nneka Ogwumike and Candace Parker are getting in position for the double screen.
As you can see above, Seimone Augustus, Toliver’s defender, doesn’t recognize what’s happening right away. This, along with the great screens set by Ogwumike and Parker give Toliver acres of space in the corner.
Seeing Augustus trailing so far behind, Maya Moore lunges at Toliver in an effort to help. Augustus, meanwhile, has come flying along the baseline and closes out extremely hard on Toliver. With Moore already committed to helping on Toliver, Ogwumike sees her opportunity to slip the screen, and moves right under the rim.
Rebekkah Brunson, who was playing on the high side of Candace Parker is in no position to help on Owgumike.
Toliver spots Ogwumike wide open under the basket, and feeds her with a nice pass. Ogwumike does the rest, finishing off the glass as Brunson tries in vain to recover.