Lockdown Quickhitters Nr.1 — BAXI Manresa
As mentioned on my twitter feed, I am currently working on a bigger analysis of the offensive principles of one of the hottest and most surprising teams this season. In the meantime, we still want to provide some content. In our quick hitter series we will look at some of our favorite plays from a team that you pick on twitter polls. You’ll get clips and accompanying diagrams. In our first installment we look at Spanish Champions League Team Baxi Manresa. The over-arching theme of this breakdown is how common or simple sets are used to create advantages. Without much more fanfare, let’s look at some of our favorite simple but effective Xs and Os from Pedro Martinez’ squad.
- P+R Sets to remove the opposing PF out of the help position.
Diamond Angle 15/25
This is a quite common set in Europe nowadays (which is why I included clips from multiple teams) . Furthermore it is a super simple set that is very effective in achieving what it wants to achieve. The basic idea, as stated above, is to move the non-PnR big to the strong side corner to remove his defender from the help responsibilities. As a result, there are only perimeter players who can provide help on the roll. The set starts out in a Diamond alignment. 2 comes off the big he runs the PnR with (5). 4 sweeps to the ball side corner to pull his man away from help side duties. 2 can also hand the ball back to the PG. Let’s look at the diagram.
Zipper Mid PnR 25
The zipper into Mid PnR is another set that is quite common and well known all across FIBA basketball. Again, it is what the 4 man does in terms of spacing that makes the set super interesting. Instead of staying on the same side where he set the zipper screen, the PF swipes through. He can either move to the opposite corner or hunt the ball into the dunker area (i.e. mirror the PnR ballhandler). Let’s look at the cut to the opposite corner first. Depending on how the defense plays this PnR, this cut can serve multiple purposes. If the defense gives a single tag from the 1 man side, we have the same result as before. It is a small defender (usually the PG) who has to stop the offense’s 5 man rumbling down on the roll. If the defense plays next or uses a hard top stunt, this cut can distort defensive coverage responsibilites as the 4 man singlehandedly flips the 1 man and the 2 man side of the defense. Those same principles apply to situations where the big moves into the dunker. As an added bonus (at least from my experience), this 3 Out — 2 In spacing is something that defenses are not as experienced with these days. I think it is no coinicidence that Hapoel Jerusalem posted such great offensive numbers with this kind of spacing in the Champions League. It is tough to defend. However, let’s move back to BAXI Manresa and look at the diagram of this play.
Off of this Zipper cut, Manresa can also hit the post-up for the 4. The opposing big would then dive down into the weakside dunker area.
2. Post Actions
Single Iverson Cross-Screen into Backscreen
Again, we look at a simple action that is quite common. However, it is what happens after the initial action that I like about it. Here, Manresa initiates the action with a single Iverson cut. At the same time, 2 sets a cross-screen for 5 before flowing into a STS action. However, instead of receiving a pin down by 4 (which could be wing-switched) 2 sets a backscreen for the big. This can lead to an interesting wrinkle for creating post mismatches + drawing the secondary big defender away from the hoop. If the the recipient of the cross screen, as one clip shows, steps out a bit further on the pass reception and waits for the backscreen, he has a great passing window to his fellow big. More often than not, defenses will switch that backscreen and give up a mismatch underneath the rim. If they don’t switch here, either the big who receives the backscreen or the backscreener are wide open.
Manresa can also dump the ball into the post without the cross screen. If the pass to the Iverson-cutter is not open or they feel that 5 has a better position off a duck-in, the PG dribbles towards 5’s side for the entry. From there on, the action continues the same way (see last two frames)
This is an action that Manresa can also run out of the SLOBs.
3. Delay Flare
The “Delay” series has been a common offense type in the NBA in the last couple of years. When thinking of teams that run this 5-Out Offense, the Boston Celtics, the Golden State Warriors and, most recently, the Milwaukee Bucks come to mind (for more on the Bucks, check out Francesco Nanni’s breakdown on twitter). Also, the New Zealand national team has employed some of the “delay” 5-out spacing at last year’s World Cup.
What I am going to show you is not as much a play but rather an action. It is one simple screen, but due to the speed of the action and the players’ ability to read the situation properly, many great looks happen. Manresa comes down the cour in a 5 out spacing. The PG reverses the ball to the trailing big in the middle. Usually the PGs defender will start to relax now. This is the moment when the corner player on the PG’s side sprints up to set a flare screen. If his defender stays attached and he manages to blindside X1, there will be an open look from three. However, more often than not (especially when two perimeters are involved in the action) defenses will look to switch that action out. Especially when opponents point switch lazily (i.e. switching by pointing; no contact-switch), Pedro Martinez’ team feasts on opposing defenses. Manresa’s players do a great job at recognizing point switches and slipping at the point of the screen into a backdoor chance (at the best) or first position underneath the rim (at the worst). This slip is not an early slip. Similar to PnR situations, the screener baits the defense into activating the coverage before bolting out of the action (note: for more on the Bait & Bolt concept, check out this blog post). Considering the “worst case scenario” on a slip (i.e. first position underneath the rim), this simple action can put the defense under a lot of stress.
I hope you enjoyed this first installment! If you want to have a certain team in the poll, hit me with your suggestions on twitter!
