One of the secrets for the big players to excel in our sport is to use their body properly. Beyond size or strength (both help, of course) if they learn how to use the contact to their advantage they will be a defender's nightmare.
Let's see real quick how one of Europe's tallest centers use his body to create an easy pass from the outside.
Boban Marjanovic from Belgrade Red Star, sets a baseline screen for his teammate and immediately goes against his own defender looking for the contact, not allowing him to get the proper defensive position and creating the space for the easy lob pass.
Staggered screens are one of the most used situations in basketball. Well executed, they will create many options for the offense, specially when there is a good shooter to run them for.
There are different ways to play defense against staggered screens (and single off ball screens too) one of those is switching. We saw some months ago how F.C. Barcelona did it against Jaycee Carroll - Real Madrid.
Today I bring you another example, but we will focus in the offense's reaction. The game is Obradoiro - Manresa in the ACB league, and Manresa (in red) is switching against Obradoiro's shooter Alberto Corbacho.
Offense's reaction is great. This is, in my opinion, one of the best teams at reading the defense all over Europe. We will see a misdirection pass, a baseline screen to focus the defense on ball side, and another quick pass to the opposite side to get an easy bucket right under the rim.
Let's go step by step:
Staggered screens for Corbacho ("2")
"X4" and "X2" switch
Misdirection pass and baseline screen: "5" screens for "4", who is now being guarded by "X2"… "X4" and "X2" switch, which is the right thing to do, understanding that there will be a big mismatch on ball side if they don't switch ("4" vs "X2")
The offense keep working to use the mismatch, "5" seals "X2" and gets the position under the basket, they were looking for this situation, and they use the advantage.
During last sunday's Real Madrid - Laboral Kutxa we saw an interesting defensive move by Real's captain Felipe Reyes.
The situation is a middle screen set by Ili Diop, who rolls quickly towards the basket while his defender, Salah Mejri, and Sergio Rodríguez are focused in the ball handler, Thomas Heurtel.
Reyes, from the weak side, moves quickly to bump Diop, giving both Mejri and Rodríguez time to recover. At the same time, we can see how Jaycee Carroll places himself in a position that allows him to rotate in case there's a skip pass to San Emeterio.
Big men's defense is one interesting topic when we talk about team defense nowadays.
Gran Canaria faced Baskonia last game, and they were ready to play against Lamont Hamilton.
They managed to force Hamilton to receive with both feet outside of the paint (many times!) so they don't need to help at all.
Xavi Rey does a good 1 on 1 defensive work.
They seem to be ready to deny easy drives towards baseline.
They hedge really well, mostly from ball side which can appear to be counterintuitive, but it is seen more and more often in top level basketball.
Hedge / help coming from different positions / players (sometimes from the passer, sometimes from the top, sometimes from both… not easy for Hamilton to get used to it)
They give their players some freedom to make decisions, sometimes they can decide to be even more aggressive and double team (surprise!)
They have a solution for the middle ball screen problem (when playing "show" with the big guy's defender)
I'm going to show you some details with a short video, but if you want you can watch the full uncut film with all 17 actions clicking on the link at the end of the short one.
After having competed and reached the semifinals in the Afrobasket 2013 as assistant coach with Ivory Coast National Team, and once the Eurobasket is over, I think it could be interesting to take a look at the Champions of these competitions.
We all know pretty well the French team, and I'll show some details of their offense. But in Europe we often forget how quickly African basketball is growing, they're not "only athletic players" anymore, and the coaching level and their organizations are getting better and better. So I'd like to focus first in the African Champion.
Angola showed solid basketball at both ends of the court. Intensity on defense, rebounding dominance and a great use of their players' skills on offense.
They have been the best team feeding their bigs in the offensive transition, with Moore, Gomes, Mingas and Ambrosio running the floor well and getting the position early in their offense. Straight passes from the point guards and the wings, and a smooth high / low game between the big guys. The way they used their bodies to get the position inside, allowing an easier pass from high post was excellent.
Having the best African shooting guard helps, but still you need to find him and give him space to play. They did this with Carlos Morais, running a bunch of sets to get him free, some widely played nowadays in most European top level teams. They executed these plays really well and he did an excellent job all along the tournament.
Morais himself was elected the Afrobasket MVP and might end up signing a contract with the Toronto Raptors to be the first Angolan player in the NBA. He's not only a deadly shooter, but also has a high basketball IQ to read the defense and make the right decision (shot, drive) He can crush the boards to get offensive rebounds and on the defensive end, he showed nice efforts and a good overall activity.
Now, France was supposed to miss some of their stars, but they played as a team, and once again they were led by Tony Parker.
There are two situations I'd like to show you, the first one is a small variation of the classic high middle screen. France run it following a down screen for the big guy who was setting the screen for Parker. It's interesting to see how the French star manages to go right every single time when using (or rejecting) the pick (according to synergy technology, during the last NBA season, he scored 1'163 points per possession when he drives right from the top, and 0'969 points per possession when he goes left)
The second video shows how France involved weak side players on their offense. When the ball goes inside, or to the high post, there's a player cutting to the basket from the opposite side. They found very good scoring options along the Eurobasket.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton's Third Law of motion)
In my Final Four Preview post I wrote about the way Barcelona was going to play defense against one of Real Madrid more special players, JC Carroll.
Now, after two games in the Liga Endesa finals, I'll talk again on the topic, as I think both coaches have worked with their teams to anticipate the other.
If you remember, when guarding Carroll, FCB often switch when defending off ball screens.
These are two basic situations the white team play for him, Barcelona's reaction and Real's counter.
Baseline off ball screens (smalls' cross)
Barcelona's switching action (X2 - X5 - X4)
Real's counter (feeding 5 who is guarded by X2) Nice reaction, looking for the big guy in a clear mismatch situation in low post.
And Barça is using their low post rotation defense to adjust to that situation. Which Real try to punish with an extra pass.
The second situation is a diamond, with both teams following the same steps.
Barcelona's switching action (X2 - X4 - X5)
Real look for the mismatch...
Defensive rotation... Extra pass...
Let's take a look at the video:
We have two (or three) more games ahead... Both teams know each other, both teams are ready... And I can't wait for the next one...
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