[...] 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. [...]

Nice work, except the first play has nothing to do with X’s and O’s… Parker just blew by the hedge (a double team, really, since Fisher went above the pick), and that broke the defense. You can see in the second photo that there’s nobody between him and the basket. Now it just becomes your standard penetrate-and-drop, because Gasol has to stop Parker and leaves Duncan all alone.

The key to the play isn’t how it was drawn; it comes down to a combination of poor defense – Odom should stop the penetration, or Fisher should go under the pick – and Parker being his usual super-quick ball-handling freak.

gidons,

Unfortunately, I will need to disagree with your take, in this instance.

IMO, Sebastien is absolutely correct, when he asserts that the true beauty in this set play … which is different than what the Spurs “usually” run … lies in the way that Gregg Popovich has decided to deploy his players on the floor in this specific action to create the exact shot he’s actually for, i.e. the lay-in by Duncan, rather than what it appears to be, at least, to the naked eye of the typical NBA fan. To wit:

i. McDyess is setting the High Middle Pick here, not Duncan … which is extremely rare for SA.

ii. TD is isolated on the weak side block [as opposed to the strong side block], originally … which is quite rare for SA.

iii. Pop knows that the Lakers’ preference is to go “over” vs High Middle Picks with D-Fish and that Odom is going to be reluctant to Hedge particularly “hard”, in this instance, because he does not want to leave too much space between himself and the Diceman, fearful of Antonio’s ability to catch a throwback pass from Mr. Parker and drill his lethal mid-range jumper in a Pick & Pop scenario. This fear is what dicatates that TP is going to be able to turn the corner on this initial pick by McDyess and be able to get into the lane.

iv. It is quite rare in the NBA to execute a High Middle Pick with a post player isolated on the weak side block AND not to have the weak side corner/”Drift” position filled, as well.

v. Despite the fact that Gasol does not want to leave Duncan, in order to provide help on TP’s drive into the lane, he is being put into a death-grip situation, from which there is no escape. i.e. He has no choice, but to help, if he’s not going to allow TP an uncontested layup.

vi. When Gasol does help, the pass which TP makes is right on the money … and Duncan finishes the sequence beautifully without taking a dribble [i.e. using only a "gather" step], which would otherwise have allowed Gasol [and, possibly, Artest] to close on him and be able to more effectively contest his classic bank shot layup.

vii. In the end, every part of this specific sequence was “designed” to get the ball to Duncan, late … rather than to just TP for the driving contested layup attempt in the lane … in a mostly “uncontested” position.

There is no other coach in the NBA today who is as good at doing exactly that compared with Gregg Popovich … a Grand Master of The Mis-directed Action.

Kudos to Sebastien for being able to pick out this sequence of inter-related events out with such accuracy!

Khandor, I have to disagree with YOU, my non-friend. Gidons was right. First of all, how many spurs games do you watch where you can truthfully say McDyess isnt ever involved in drags, LIES. Second of all, that was more poor defense than it was good offense. The pick and pop was the primary option, Poppovich knew, or had a pretty good idea because they had been doing it all 1st quarter, that the Lakers would hedge the drag. Duncan’s post position was more of a second option designed in the play in case Odom succesfully hedged parker, then, Duncan would have been iso’ed in the block with Parker probably cutting down the middle, further isolating duncan. Had the Lakers (more specifically ODOM) done a better job hedging, i guarantee you would have seen Duncan isolated. Parker, however, was ultimately the first option in the drag and he did a great job turning the corner. There’s really nothing more to it than that.

santiago calva [my non-firend],

Great NBA coaches like Gregg Popovich DO NOT ever run a set play with the expectation that Option No. 1 … in this case, the Pick & Pop Throwback Pass to McDyess … is going to be left open by a defensive team which is operating at a high level.

Neither does he have an expectation that Option No. 2 … in this case, TP not being able to turn the corner vs Odom’s defensive hedge, and exercising the two-man game Option with the left block iso for TD … is going to be left open, either.

Nor does he have an expectation that Option No. 3 … in this case, TP being able to turn the corner vs Odom’s defensive hedge, and taking the opportunity to drive directly to the basket, uncontested by Gasol … is going to be left open, as well.

What a high end basketball coach like Gregg Popovich actually EXPECTS to have happen is that Option No. 4 … in this case, when Gasol comes to help vs TP’s lane drive and the perfect layoff pass is made to TD for the mostly uncontested bank lay-in … will, in fact, be the read which his team NEEDS to make … and then be able to execute properly/capitalize on … when facing a highly functioning defensive unit that performs in a first-class way.

Great coaches prepare their team to be able to execute the last available option FIRST, and then move backwards in time from there … i.e. No. 4 to No. 3 to No. 2 to No. 1 … not the other way around.

khandor

[Truth, Lies and Videotape]

The second play is a favorite play to run at the beginning of the second half, or even the beginning of the game. Farmar has been the one cutting for the lob many times, with Walton delivering the pass.

Khandor,
Your actually gonna tell me that he ran the #1(Parker, McDyess drag) and expected it not to work? if coaches approached offensive sets with the mindset that the 1st, 2nd (there is no 3rd or 4th option actually parker just turned the corner; it was a two option set hence the reason that there were 2 players on the strongside and 3 on the weakside) option wouldn’t work? how is option number 4 GASOL WON’T COME HELP?? thats not an option… that is a DEFENSIVE MISTAKE on the part of gasol…. hence again, why i said it was really more bad defense than good offense. Make no mistake about it i agree that sometimes coaches run misdirections with a strongside drag and then run action on the weakside… however the fact that McDyess popped to the weakside and there was absolutely no movement really meant that the #1 option was the drag ( WHICH POPPOVICH EXPECTED TO BE EXECUTED, HENCE IT BEING THE NUMBER ONE OPTION) and #2 OPTION (THE TD ISO ON THE BLOCK)… the whole concept of a multiple option offensive set is in case the FIRST OPTION GOES WRONG… this whole concept hinges on the fact that he expects the first option to work, WHICH IT DOES, and has the 2nd in case it doesn’t get executed properly.

SCHOOLS OUT

MY favorite aspect of the Spurs play is that Artest and Farmar also help out on Parker’s cut, which leaves both Hill and Jefferson wide open for a quick 3 if Parker chose to go to them.

santiago calva,

It is not my intention to embarass you, or your understanding of the NBA game. I’ve said what I have to say in this thread. Others are free to read it and decide for themselves just how a top flight coach thinks about his team’s offensive execution when it comes to running set plays with multiple options.

Best wishes … and never stop being willing to learn from others who might know more than you do about a specific topic.

Khandor,
I assure you, when I find someone who knows more than you i’ll shove my HUGE ego aside… your clearly not one of those people though my friend. good day