Before Lithuania and Macedonia tipped off, I looked at Macedonia and noted how if they continued to play the pick and roll like they did over the course of their previous EuroBasket games they were going to be in for a long night. This is because Lithuania lives and dies with their pick and roll, running it at an insane rate, and using it to create space for their below average ball handlers. When they had success, they win games. When they failed at the pick and roll, they lost games. The way Macedonia played the pick and roll in the past, it seemed like a perfect match for Lithuania. It seemed like Macedonia was so concerned with the roll man getting the basketball, the big defending the pick and roll would either stay with the roll man or hedge very softly. This gives the ball handler space, exactly what Lithuania wanted:
Not only did that space allow ball handlers to pull up for open jumpers, but it also defeated their original purpose, which was to keep the roll man from getting the basketball. This is why their PNR defense, especially when it came to defending the ball handler coming off of screens, was so ineffective in previous games.
So what happened during the game? As expected, Lithuania ran their pick and roll over and over, 35 out of 70 halfcourt possessions, a whopping 50% of the time. Lithuania scored just 30 points on those 35 possessions, committing 7 turnovers in the process. This is because there was a massive change when it came to Macedonia and their defensive strategy, deciding to hedge hard and trap the ball handler instead of playing passive. To put things in perspective out of the 162 pick and rolls that Macedonia defended before, they trapped/hedged hard just 29 times, or 17.9% of the time. Against Lithuania, they trapped/hedged hard on 25 of 35 pick and roll possessions, or 71.4% of the time. That is a gigantic shift in strategy. The result? Turnovers and contested shots due to the defense taking away space (even shots that are made are taken over defenders instead of being wide open):
We have reached the quarterfinals of EuroBasket 2011 with the final eight teams matching up over the next two days as these teams continue to fight for the two guaranteed Olympic bids. In regards to the Olympics, these quarterfinals are extremely important because a loss in this round and a loss in the subsequent consolation game means that you are out of the 2012 Olympics. There are already a lot of great preview posts out there (Seriously, go check out The Painted Area, In The Game, and Euroleague Adventures), so I thought it would be interesting to look at a key match-up for each quarterfinal game.
In maybe the most interesting match-up of the quarterfinals, host nation Lithuania takes on surprising quarterfinalist Macedonia. Macedonia was able to make the quarterfinals by pairing a Bo McCalebb-powered offense with a very good defense. According to In The Game, Macedonia allowed just 65 points per 70 possessions, which was the third best among the 24 EuroBasket teams. However, there is one area where Macedonia tends to struggle on the defensive end, and that is when it comes to defending a ball handler in pick and roll situations. Normally, this would be a problem, but something that can be worked around. Against Lithuania, this is a huge problem.
Lithuania, who at times look like championship contenders and at times look like they could be eliminated at any moment, relies heavily on the pick and roll to help their offense and allow their ball handlers to create for themselves and others. Out of the 561 halfcourt possessions that Lithuania has run during EuroBasket, they have ran a pick and roll where the ball handler or roll man ended the possession (FGA, Turnover, or Foul) 178 times, or 31.7%. Essentially, Lithuania is running a pick and roll 1 in every 3 halfcourt possessions. When they are having success with it, they are doing things like beating Serbia by 10 while scoring 100 points. When they are struggling with the pick and roll while going up against a good defense, they are losing and scoring just 67 points (which is what happened when they faced France).
We already know that Lithuania loves their pick and rolls, as they ran it 30+ times in at least two (and quite possibly a few more) of their games in this EuroBasket. Fighting for seeding, Lithuania needed a win and late in the game they found themselves trying to pull away from Germany. To do that, they used the pick and roll. However, it was some movement away from the pick and roll that freed up Jonas Valanciunas for his two big dunks on the roll to the rim:
We pick up this possession as Jonas Valanciunas gets in position to set a ball screen for his teammate. Valanciunas’ defender, Chris Kaman, is going to step up and hedge on the screen, relying on his teammate’s help defense in the corner to try and stop Valanciunas as he rolls to the rim.
Yesterday, host country Lithuania played their best game of the tournament taking it to Serbia and coming away with the 10 point win. Coming into the game, you could tell that Lithuania had one thing on their mind, to attack Serbia, and Nenad Krstic in particular, with the pick and roll on the offensive end. 38 of Lithuania’s 77 halfcourt possessions were pick and rolls, a whopping 49% of possessions (they have run it 25.9% of the time over the course of the tournament), scoring 51 points on those possessions (good for a PPP of 1.342). While Lithuania’s pick and roll play is good, it isn’t that good, and their success was due in large part to Serbia’s poor pick and roll defense. In addition to exposing Krstic and his inability to show and get back to his man, Serbia’s weakside help was horrendous. The result? On the 9 possessions where Lithuania hit the roll man, they scored 16 points on 8-9 shooting:
Whenever a Lithuanian ball handler would use a ball screen (almost always set by the big that Nenad Krstic was defending) and Serbia would respond by having Krstic hedge as the man defending the ball handler as the big rolls straight to the rim.
When Turkey played Lithuania yesterday, it was probably the best/closest game of the day. With about three minutes left, Lithuania found themselves trailing Turkey by two points. As Lithuania brought the basketball up, they got into their pick and roll clear out set. A good close-out kept Lithuania from hitting the three point shot in the corner, but the lack of a box out on the original screener, Darius Songaila, lead to a key basket for Lithuania.
We pick up the play as the point guard sets up in the corner (after clearing through) and as Darius Songaila gets in position to set the screen. The ball handlers comes off of the screen and Omer Asik steps up to prevent dribble penetration as the man defending the ball handler comes over the screen.
On August 31st, EuroBasket, an European competition featuring 24 countries and a high number of NBA players. With the much anticipated exodus of NBA players to Europe not exactly happening (as of yet), this could be the last time you see some really good NBA players play in a true competitive setting for a really long time. To get everyone more familiar with what we are going to see during the EuroBasket tournament, I am going to look at each team’s offense and break down a few interesting sets that they run, using game tape from the preparation games that are currently being played.
Being the host country, Lithuania is going to have an amazing crowd supporting them every single game. If you don’t think that matters, ask Spain about Lithuania’s home court advantage. After beating Lithuania in Spain by 12 points, Lithuania was able to return the favor at home, and hand Spain it’s only loss of their preparation schedule, beating them by 12 in front of a packed stadium. Playing at home, Lithuania definitely needs to be considered among the contenders here at EuroBasket.
Halfcourt Offense
Pick & Roll Reverse
In my humble opinion, one of Lithuania’s greatest weaknesses is at the guard position. They simply don’t have enough guys who can break down his man and either get to the rim or create for others. Because of that, Lithuania leans heavily on the pick and roll (it was the pick and roll that powered them to a win vs. Spain). It shouldn’t be a surprise that their halfcourt offense seems to revolve around the pick and roll, and here is their favorite set to run involving a pick and roll:
This play starts with a quick pindown screen set from a big trailing the play. The purpose of this pindown is to get the wing player open to receive a pass. This pass is important, because if it isn’t open, the play breaks down.
With the number of international friendlies being played increasing due to preparations being for EuroBasket at the end of the month, there are some interesting matchups and interesting finishes, I’ll be breaking those down.
The Spanish national team probably is the most talented team in this year’s EuroBasket field and on Sunday, they went up against another title contender, Lithuania. This being just a preparation game for the tournament starting on August 31st, you wouldn’t expect to see Spain to breakout some of their best stuff. However twice, they were able to get wide open alley oop dunks, using a ball screen to set up the defense.
In the first quarter, Spain was able to set up a lob for Rudy Fernandez, and even though the play wasn’t run crisply, it was still effective:
The play starts with Ricky Rubio bringing the basketball up and as that happens, Rudy Fernandez comes up to meet Rubio and get in position to set a ball screen.
However, Fernandez has no interest in setting a screen, and he quickly cuts after showing the screen, flashing around Serge Ibaka and cutting to the rim.
Before the FIBA Worlds started, everyone was predicting that Spain would be the team to threaten Team USA and give them a run for their money once the tournament reached the round of 16. After a puzzling loss to France and a win, the Spanish team actually had themselves set up nicely, and if all went according to plan they would be facing Team USA in the Championship game. However, Lithuania threw everyone a curveball by beating Spain 76-73. While Lithuania did a terrific job coming back from double digits in the second half, and taking the lead late, a lot of this loss can be put on Spain’s errors on both ends of the court.
Defensively
Defensively Spain did a pretty good job of matching stops with Lithuania for most of the final two minutes. However, Lithuania was able to tie the game and score the eventual game winning basket (the one that gave them the lead for good) on two pretty bad defensive lapses:
Here, Lithuania runs a pick and roll with Marc Gasol’s man as the screener. Gasol is in good position on the show, but he bites on a pump fake and closes out too hard on the shooter. This leaves the roll man wide open for a pass and forces help from Ricky Rubio to come. The roll man does a fantastic job of quickly kicking the ball out for a wide open three point shot.
Now, onto the go-ahead basket:
On this possession, Lithuania tries to run a pick and roll with Linas Kleiza as the roll man. However, the play gets blown up and the ball ends up in Kleiza’s hands a good five feet behind the three point line. The man who kicked out the ball to Kleiza cuts behind him to give Lithuania some court balance.
