X's & O's: Screen + Hand Off

Right before tonight's third game, a quick analysis about one of Olympiacos "go to" sets. 

These are sets every team has and runs for different reasons. They feel comfortable when playing them, they work well for a key player, or they create problems to the defenders...

Olympiacos look for Spanoulis in many different ways, but in the last game this set was extremely productive for the reds. 

A vertical hand off between a big man and the Greek star, that can be followed by a quick ball screen. As a secondary option within the same structure, they can look for the pass to the big man near the basket, but we will focus today on the Spanoulis' option. 

As we will see in the video, Olympiacos scored twelve points when running this set, nine of them coming straight from Spanoulis' hands.

In my humble opinion, FCB's defensive game plan was ready to defend it. My guess is they planned to chase Spanoulis, while the big man defending the passer would make a short hedge, and the defender of the corner would collapse the paint. 

But mistakes happen during a game, and Spanoulis' execution is admirable so he can score even when the defenders perform well. 

For sure tonight we will see this set many times, we will see how it works! Now, let's take a look at the video.

Ball Inside Set: Scout and Adjust

As a coach, when you have a "special" player (understanding that as a player around whom for whatever reasons you are going to organize your offense or your defense) you have to find the way to use him in the best possible way.

Sofoklis Schortsanitis from Maccabi Tel Aviv is one of these players. He is a "go to" player for their offense whenever he is on the court. And today I want to show you how they look for him, and how important for their rivals is to make some adjustments when they face the Israeli team. 

Analyzing the Top 16 games between Maccabi and Real Madrid, we see it clear. In the first game, we saw Maccabi running one of their favorite sets for "Big Sofo" and getting a lot of good looks for him. When both teams played again, we noticed how the Spanish side made some adjustments against that set. 

Maccabi's set involves a lot of movement without the ball, off ball screens, and, finally, Schortsanitis' duck in action to seal his defender and get the ball inside. It is interesting to notice how he sets a down screen and then he manages to establish his position inside to leave the defender behind his back. Once he gets the ball there… We can see how they run the set and score in the first clip.

Then, for the second game, the Spanish team adjusted their defense, showing much more intensity in order to, first, avoid easy passes at the beginning of the set, and then, trying to keep Sofo off his favorite spot (or forcing him to fight for it)

Nevertheless they end up finding him inside, but Real's players are ready to trap, jumping immediately after the ball leaves the passer's hands. Nocioni's hands up when he traps and Rivers' help side activity as a "goalkeeper" avoid the dangerous skip pass.

Let's take a look...