Hawks’ High-Low Beats The Bulls’ Fronting | NBA Playbook

Hawks’ High-Low Beats The Bulls’ Fronting

In the first quarter against the Chicago Bulls, the Atlanta Hawks made it a point to run, both after misses and makes.  Doing so forced mismatches for Chicago, and on one play it resulted in Luol Deng trying to cover Al Horford.  Deng responded by trying to front the post, but the Hawks were able to beat that using a nice high-low option:

hl1

It takes a little while to get to it, but the Hawks finally notice the mismatch (Deng covering Horford) and get the ball to the wing.  Once Hinrich gets the basketball, Horford takes Deng to the post.

hl2

Noticing that the Hawks are trying to post him up, Deng tries to fron the post going from the baseline vs. going from the middle.  Zaza Pachulia notices this and flashes to the basketball at the high post.

hl3

As the pass to Pachulia gets made, Horford pins Deng on the outside and turns with the basketball, providing a lane for Pachulia to make the high-low pass through.

hl4

Pachulia throws a nice bounce pass that splits the defense and reaches Horford before Kurt Thomas can get over and provide help.

hl5

Horford makes the catch and finishes the lay-up over a helping Thomas.  Here is the play in real time:

What makes this play is the quick touch pass from Pachulia.  If he holds onto the ball for any significant period of time, there isn’t a lane for him to get that pass through, and even if it does get through, Thomas would be there for the help and it would be a much harder finish.  The fact that Pachulia read the defense and knew what play to make right away is what makes this so effective.

23
Mar 2011
POSTED BY Sebastian Pruiti
DISCUSSION 2 Comments
TAGS

  • benny

    thibs figured it out pretty quickly cause the bulls pasted em

  • benny

    thibs figured it out pretty quickly cause the bulls pasted em