Out of the Timeout: A staggered-screen for Tony Parker

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In this week’s installment of Out of the Timeout, we’re going to look at one of the San Antonio Spurs’ favorite plays for getting Tony Parker the ball on the move.

The play starts as Parker (1) brings the ball up court. He sticks to the left side of the floor and the big man who passed the ball in, DeJuan Blair (4) in this case, runs down the middle of the floor. Parker passes the ball to the wing on his side of the floor, Richard Jefferson (3) on this play, and Parker makes it look like he’s going to clear out to the opposite corner.

As Parker makes his way through the lane, Manu Ginobili (2) and Blair head down to the baseline and block, respectively, and set up a double-screen. Meanwhile, Jefferson swings the ball to Tim Duncan (5) at the top of the key. Parker, instead of clearing out to the corner, makes a hard cut the other way and goes through the staggered-screen set up for him.

Parker curls of the screens and gets the pass from Duncan. After setting screens, Ginobili clears out to the opposite corner and Blair rolls to the short corner on the same side as Parker.

A lot of times, Parker takes the ball to the basket for a layup or his signature floater, but in this case Blair’s man rotates to help on Parker’s curl. To respond, Parker dishes to Blair for an open 10-footer.

Let’s go to the video of this play from the Spurs’ season-opening win against the Indiana Pacers. (Note: sorry for the wonky video this time. Still working out some kinks.)

 

Someday, DeJuan Blair will knock that shot down.

All diagrams were made using the awesome FastDraw Software, provided by FastModel.

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  • andy

    man i love me some fastdraw. great breakdowns, between nbaplaybook and here; there are always some plays i didn’t quite catch, but even for those that i do, seeing them elaborated is always a pleasure.

  • rob

    “Someday, DeJuan Blair will knock that shot down.”

    Insert rim shot. :)

    I always enjoy the “Out of the timeout” posts.

  • Tim

    Even if Blair does not want to shoot the jumper, if he had rolled towards the basket (pause at 0:08), he would got a dunk or could have passed to a wide open Ginobili in the corner.

  • SAJKinBigD

    That is a pretty sweet breakdown! Love it!
    And I also love the shirt that Blair’s wearing in his video after the Hornets game.

  • http://48minutesofhell.com Andrew A. McNeill

    @SAJKinBigD

    He was dressed very preppy that night. I wanted to ask him if he was headed down to the Sock hop after the game with all the other guys and gals, but, frankly, he was in a bad mood after the loss and I don’t know him well enough to poke fun at him yet.

  • SA_Ray

    I love these Out of the Timeout posts. Gives me something to look for at next game.
    You guys should take requests for different plays.

  • The Beat Counselor

    I love these posts that breakdown plays too!

  • ThatBigGuy

    If you pause the video at 8 seconds, the freeze frame shows Tony dishing to Blair, but focus on the D. All 5 Pacer players are in the lane, staring at Tony. That means that Manu and RJ, both on the 3 line, are wide open, as well as Timmy at the top of the key. When Tony gets the ball, he has 5 options: drive to the basket or pass to 4 wide open jump shooters. You can’t let a PG have that many options and expect to win.

    First of all, this play works because the Pacers are bad on D. Secondly it works because Tony gets the ball so far inside the 3 line. He’s basically at the mid-post. At that spot, a pass to Manu or RJ isn’t really a full skip pass anymore. Sure, the outcome of the play wasn’t wonderful, but Blair had a good look.

    How will this play work against a better team, like the Lakers? I think the weak side defenders stay at home better during the pass from Tim to Tony, leaving the lane open. Tony would be able to penetrate much further, but he’ll get stopped by Gasol or Bynum. At this point, he still has Manu and RJ to pass to, plus if he draws the big man, that means Blair is open for the dive to the basket, where Tony can hit Blair with a dump pass. Plus, if RJ and Manu had switched spots, RJ could dive to the basket for the alley.

    I think this is the type of play that doesn’t really involve a lot of play making ability, just some court vision to see what’s open. Some of Hill’s deficiencies in the playmaking department would be offset by having him run through the screens.

    1 stinking little play, so many options. Basketball is such a beautiful sport.

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