Other People: Pruiti on the Pick & Roll

by

Over at NBA Playbook, Sebastian Pruiti has a tidy little breakdown of a pick & roll play the Spurs ran early in the first quarter of Monday night’s game. Gregg Popovich places Antonio McDyess in the high post and Tim Duncan on the block.

After McDyess sets a pick for Tony Parker, Pau Gasol, who is guarding Duncan, is forced to to make a tough decision about whether or not to stick with his man. Gasol decides to fill the lane and cut off Parker’s route to the basket, at which point a smooth behind-the-back pass from Parker and a quick touch off the glass by Duncan complete the play. Take a look for yourself.

It’s worth noting that the Lakers did a uniquely poor job defending the pick & roll in this instance. Lamar Odom hedges on the screen and, in my opinion, rightly so. If Derek Fisher has any hope of keeping with Parker he needs to go under the screen while Odom buys him a moment or two. But Fisher tries to go overtop the screen, ensuring a wideopen path to the basket for Parker.

If you pause the video two seconds in, you’ll see what a precarious position the Lakers defense is in. Not only is Gasol leaving his man, but Ron Artest and Shannon Brown have left their’s as well. On top of that, McDyess has successfully rolled away from the cluster of defenders at the top of the arc. It’s basically a five-on-three, with three Spurs in the paint, and two wide open on the perimeter.

  • Colin

    I don’t understand the point? Is this to say that the Spurs should run the pick and roll more? Phil Jackson would let a play like that happen maybe once or twice a game before he calls a 20. During that time he will instruct the big to step out and harass the ball with more vigor (keeping Parker or Hill out of the paint), giving the guard getting screened time to get back and an athletic big like Gasol, Bynum or Odom time to sprint back to their man. The Lakers don’t miss rotations like that very often and the Spurs haven’t exactly been systematic in their execution this year.

    It was just a great play at the beginning of the game where the Spurs scored 34 points in the 1st quarter………they then went on to lay an egg for the rest of the game after the Lakers decided to clamp down.

  • Colin

    Also……there is no mention in the article of the HORRIBLE help defense that Odom displayed in this. If Odom played any semblance of defense on that sequence, Gasol wouldn’t have to leave his man in that instance. Again, Jackson would let that happen maybe twice before he chews some ass.

  • dingo

    I was actually thinking while watching the game that maybe we run the pick and roll too much. There was barely and dump ins to Duncan to let him create/score.

    I’d like us to go back to that more, Duncan still has it in him to be quite effective especially one-on-one.

  • http://www.48minutesofhell.com Graydon Gordian

    Colin,

    I don’t necessarily think every post has to have a “point.” I don’t think there is some broader mystery to the season locked in that 11 second clip and I readily admit it was far from the game’s most important play.

    But Pruiti did a good job capturing the video so I thought it’d be fun to break it down. You’ll find this surprising, but I actually really enjoy discussing the game of basketball in and of itself. I don’t feel the need to shove everything into a broader narrative.

  • junierizzle

    I think the thing you have to look at are the two players left wide open on the perimeter.

    We all knew the Spurs weren’t going to get lay ups all game. This is basically how the SPURS have started just about every game.
    THe problem is that eventually teams close down the lanes. But the SPurs always have people open on the perimeter. And this season those wide open perimeter players haven’t made jack.
    So if you can’t hit shots then the lanes stay closed.
    Its been like this the whole year.

  • LasEspuelas

    Wow… Odoms defense was atrocious. He did his part in hedging and seemed completely surprised that Fisher was going over the top. Despite the miscommunication by the time he realizes something else is going on Parker is already in the lane.

    What is even more atrocious is George’s defense on the second play on the linked site. He completely fell asleep and looked like me on the court.

  • LasEspuelas

    Ill just like to add that I love when you post video. I rarely have the opportunity to catch the Spurs on TV so I truly appreciate your efforts to bring some of the game to your readers.

  • Nadeem

    “You’ll find this surprising, but I actually really enjoy discussing the game of basketball in and of itself. I don’t feel the need to shove everything into a broader narrative.”

    thats a take-down graydon :) ouch!

  • Colin

    Graydon

    Actually, its not surprising. I’m with you……I’m a basketball (Spurs) junkie. I can go to town and discuss every play in the Spurs playbook if you let me. My observation was simply that the pick and roll defense was horrendous in that sequence. Odom half-way showed himself while not communicating with Fisher on the play, therefore, allowing Parker to just dribble by a stationary Odom on his way to the paint drawing defenders once he got there. Odom could have defended that play better by actively running at Parker to keep him from penetrating until Fisher caught up. That’s it. Against a defensive sequence like that, any team in the league should capitalize.

    I think you mistook my frustration with how the Spurs are playing this season into the broader narrative comment you made. I would like to see the Spurs make more plays like this when it counts in the last 3 minutes of the 4th quarter, not the first 3 minutes of the 1st quarter.

  • kalone

    guys, must we fight amongst ourselves at this, our time spent in the greatest depths?

  • Area Spurs Fan

    “The greatest depths”?

    It’s 1997 and no one told me?

  • http://48minutesofhell.com Graydon Gordian

    Colin,

    Sorry about that. I wasn’t trying to be snide. I was just giving you some shit but I always fail to realize that I mostly come off as an asshole. I don’t want you guys to think you aren’t appreciated around here.

    I can also be a little defensive because sometimes people don’t understand why I find the minutiae of the game to be fascinating. Either way, I’m glad you took it in stride.

    And, ya, you’re completely right about Odom.

  • VP of Common Sense

    OT:

    Mike Monroe of EN wrote an article today encouraging the Spurs to plug Manu back into the starting line-up.

    I’m all for the shake-up and would also consider bringing Richard Jefferson’s corpse off the bench.

    Anyone else have thoughts?

  • VP of Common Sense

    * Correction: I meant put RJ’s corpse on the bench

  • Sauce

    the spurs as much as it pains me to say this, should look for trades and start playing players that are going to factor next year more (hairston maybe, but definitely mahinmi, blair and george hill should play more point guard).

    btw, that one play doesn’t mean much. anyone can dissect one play of a basketball game. you need to analyze the whole game. the game is basketball. assignments are going to blown and missed.

    we should look at the number of fastbreaks the lakers ran on us than resulted in pau gasol dunks and layups.

  • ThatBigGuy

    This post is a welcome distraction from all the heavy posts being put up lately. This gives my brain a minute to just focus on the basketball part, where we are still so very good at times.

    Odom is not the guilty party here, it’s Fisher. When you’re guarding a non-shooting threat (Tony from behind the arc), especially one who has such a deadly drive, you go under the screen. Conversely, Odom, knowing that Fisher was supposed to go under (as a scouting report would have shown), merely “shows” instead of hedges. A show is the proper defensive move in this situation, since the guard is a non-shooter and the big is a shooter. So Odom shows, expecting Fisher to be moving behind him to pick Tony back up, only to find that Fisher has gone over the screen. You can kind of see the surprise on Odom’s face and in his reaction as he becomes aware of the fact that Tony isn’t being guarded.

    A cool thing about this play is the angle at which Dice sets the screen. I’m not sure if this is intended or not, but his open-toward-the-sideline stance funnels Fisher perfectly over the top of the screen, screwing up the plans of the defense.

    Thirdly, Gasol committed a classic blunder of help defense by coming off Timmy. You NEVER come off a shooter on the side that the driver is driving. Once Tony beats Odom and Fisher, he becomes Brown’s responsibility first, then Artest’s. You always help from the weak side, never the ball side. Timmy has made a Hall of Fame career out of 15 foot bank shots. So Gasol comes off Timmy to stop Tony, leaving Timmy wide open for the lay-up.

    That, my friends, is just good basketball.

  • Colin

    Big Guy

    Agreed. Fisher is as guilty as Odom in this situation. However, it is obvious there was no communication between Odom and Fisher leading up and through the play. The two on-ball defenders need to understand what the other’s plan is. Odom was facing Fisher through the entire dribble-drive. He could have seen that Fish was going over and made a more aggressive “show” on the ball, giving him time to recover. Any good defensive team with athletic bigs will hedge aggressively against the pick and roll and sprint back to their rotations once the ball is in motion.

    I’m not so sure going under the screen against Tony Parker is in all the scouting reports. He hits that jumper pretty consistently (a little down this year). Albeit his dribble drive is his strength, I can’t count the number of times he has beat the defense with a jumper because the defender chose to go under the screen. He is vastly improved in that category.

    You did notice that play never materialized throughout the rest of the game. I think partly because the Spurs couldn’t hit jumpers and partly because the bigs (Odom and Gasol) were showing more aggressive on the perimeter to the ballhandler.

  • ThatBigGuy

    @ Colin

    I would amend my TP scouting report to say that he’s a non-shooter from 3 pt range. The screen is being set while Tony is waaaayyyy out of his range, hence the assertion that Fisher should go under the screen. I do agree that it was lousy communication on both defender’s parts.

    My counter to your “Odom should have been more aggressive on the show” statement would be the fact that Dice is a shooter. If Odom hedges (aggressively shows), it takes him 6, 7, 8 feet away from Dice, allowing Tony to shoot him a quick pass and Dice to knock down an uncontested 16 footer. However, if Blair was the screener, I’d not only hedge with Odom, but I’d use Odom to trap Tony. Blair is no threat from outside 8 feet and you’d have to be a cold-blooded passing assassin to make a successful pass and hit a rolling Blair among all the weak side help.

  • Kaveh

    Graydon Gordian
    February 10th, 2010 at 12:28 pm Colin,

    I don’t necessarily think every post has to have a “point.” I don’t think there is some broader mystery to the season locked in that 11 second clip and I readily admit it was far from the game’s most important play.

    But Pruiti did a good job capturing the video so I thought it’d be fun to break it down. You’ll find this surprising, but I actually really enjoy discussing the game of basketball in and of itself. I don’t feel the need to shove everything into a broader narrative.
    ————————————————-

    I think Colin’s point was that the post was abrupt. It had not set up to it. I too was confused and thought that i had missed half of the post, until i read your response to Colin.

  • Kaveh

    thatbigguy wrote:
    “Odom is not the guilty party here, it’s Fisher”

    Welcome to a Laker fans life. Fisher is the bane of my existence. My greatest basketball wish would be for Fisher to retire today and we have a SERVICABLE backup. Just an average NBA player.

    Fisher cannot shoot and takes horrible shots. His FG%, for someone who doesn’t even shoot much mind you, is like in the mid 30′s. No, i don’t mean his 3pt shot is in the mid 30′s, i mean his FG% is in the mid 30′s! This is excusable for a defensive mastermind/stopper, or someone who understands that they should only shoot layups. But for Fisher who believes he is Kobe Bryant with a hint of Lebron James, it is horrible. But again, if he brought in some defense then i wouldn’t mind. Unfortunately, Fisher is perhaps the worst defender in the history of the NBA. I don’t think i’m exaggerating here.

    All in all, I think one can definitely say that Fisher is the worst starting player in the NBA, and perhaps on the same level as the worst players in general in the NBA.

    Of course he did hit that .04 second shot against the Spurs and in last year’s finals, game 4 with the Lakers up 2-1, he hit the last second 3pt shot to take the game into overtime, where he again hit a 3pt shot to seal the game…so i guess i shouldn’t be too down on him, lol.