The Pick & Roll Frees Up Korver For Three | NBA Playbook

The Pick & Roll Frees Up Korver For Three

With the Jazz down by 1 and around 1:30 left it looked like the Jazz were turning to their bread and butter, the pick and roll.  However, the play wasn’t designed to free up Deron Williams or hit the roll man Paul Millsap, it was run to free up Kyle Korver for three:

As the play gets going, there is actually some pretty poor floor spacing.  However Korver fixes that by quickly popping out to the corner.  As Korver pops out, Millsap sets a screen for Deron Williams.

As Deron comes off the screen, the Nuggets seem determined not to let Williams beat them with a jumper.  They quickly crowd him, and as Millsap rolls, J.R. Smith has a tough decision to make.  He needs to decide whether or not to help out on the roll, or stick to his man (Kyle Korver).

J.R. Smith decides to stay with the roll man, and this frees up Korver in the corner (though you can’t see him right not, I can assure you that he is in fact open).

Korver makes the catch and quickly pulls the trigger.  Now, Korver has one of the quickest releases in the NBA, so he doesn’t need that much space and the Jazz were able to get it to him.

When you think of the Jazz you obviously think of the pick and roll, and when you think of the pick and roll you think of two options, either the ball handler getting the screen or the roll man.  However, there are more options as shown here, if the roll man sucks in the defense, you can spot up an outside shooter for the three point shot.
20
Apr 2010
POSTED BY Sebastian Pruiti
POSTED IN 2010 Playoffs 4th Quarters Denver Nuggets Utah Jazz
DISCUSSION 10 Comments
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    I want to thank D-Lock from 1320 KFAN the sports leader for turning me on to this web site. This is truly good stuff and will be checking in after every game to see what you guys see is going on on the court.

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    BTW Locked On Sports on

  • 3 Triple B Auto Sales

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  • Mono

    What? Locke is bleeding terrible. This website is excellent, though.

  • Mark

    Basic, fundamental play resulting in a great look for Korver. Basketball can be an easy game and Utah executes it as good as anyone in my opinion. Perfectly spaced and perfectly read equals a great look at the rim for the offense.

  • Brandon

    I agree with the analysis, but I don’t think I can agree with your intro that the play was designed to free up Korver for the 3. I think when you have a pnr offense, your goal is just to make correct reads. If J.R. had decided to stay on Korver, then Williams would have looked to get it to Millsap. I have a hard time believing they went into the play saying that they were running it to get the open 3.

  • LSumm

    I agree with Brandon. Obviously they were looking to make a read off of the pick and roll, BUT I’m also convinced that Jerry Sloan knew that J.R. Smith would sluff off because he was scared of that roller, who had been killing all series. It was no coincidence that one of the best 3point shooters in the league was standing in that exact spot during crunchtime. Jerry Sloan…definitely one of the best Basketball minds out there!!!

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