“Shoot The Gap”
Term: Shoot The Gap
Definition: A technique in which a defender cuts underneath a pindown or stagger to meet his man on the other side of the screen.
Synonyms: Gap, Under
Explanation: Shooting the gap as a term covers all manner of going underneath off-ball screens. More commonly, however, shooting the gap refers to when a defender tries to slip underneath with the intention of jumping the passing lane. Instead of being on top of his man at the moment of the catch, he momentarily releases him to deny the pass by cutting it off.
Rarely does an NBA coach teach gapping as a primary tactic. While it has its situational uses, the lock and trail and top-lock are more reliable as general strategies for guarding off-ball screens. But there is often a difference between the assigned and executed defense during the course of a game, and gapping is a player-preferred method for cutting corners. A lock and trail makes the defender follow the longest path and often requires muscling through a screen; a top-lock is physical and difficult to execute; shooting the gap, however, theoretically allows a defender to bypass contact and shortens his distance of travel.
But NBA players generally do not shoot the gap because it is efficient. It is usually a function of laziness or a previous defensive error. To be fair, smarter defenders recognize instances when gapping a pindown might prevent unnecessary exertion. Sometimes it’s clear that the offensive player is going to catch the ball well above the three-point line. Maybe he’s in a non-threatening position or is unlikley to receive the ball because the point guard’s eyes are elsewhere. Team centerpieces who play 40+ minutes per game are especially likely to save a few steps in one of these ways. But the risk-reward gamble here can be large, and picking the wrong moment can lead to an easy basket. Against the league’s best shooters, it can be an especially crippling manuever that gives up wide open three-pointers.
There are two main instances, however, when shooting the gap is appropriate.
- Against Bad Shooters
(Note: Some coaches prefer to lock-and-trail all pindowns and staggers, no matter the player, for two reasons: To maintain an aggressive posture toward the defense, or to minimize coverage directives for his team.)
In an ideal world, defenders that shoot the gap get underneath the screen and meet their man on the catch. In reality, they’re not always able to get there in time. To account for this fact, defenders target a spot lower on the floor on the other side of the screen. This allows them to execute the two primary goals of shooting the gap on the strong side: preventing a drive or curl, as well as encouraging a jump shot. Instead of following the looping arc of the offenisve player around the screen, the defender darts directly to his spot. If he has done his job well, his placement will cut off a straight-line drive to the rim. If the offensive player diagnoses the under as it happens, he will pop out instead of curling.
A by-product of this approach is the space left between the offensive and defensive player. If the defender aims for a spot closer to the basket than that which the offensive player is about to occupy, the offensive player will have room to shoot on the catch. This is obviously of no consequence against a below average shooter and it might even encourage him to take a shot the defense is willing to cede.
Take a look at Kemba Walker of the Charlotte Hornets below, who is guarding Victor Oladipo of the Oklahoma City Thunder — a below-average perimeter shooter — as Steven Adams readies to set a wide pindown. Notice how, in its initial stages, shooting the gap mirrors locking and trailing: Walker locks up physically with Oladipo and prevents a backdoor cut with his inside position.
Even though Walker is slicing under with drive-prevention as his primary concern, he cannot completely abandon his responsbility to contest a potential jumper. Shooting the gap is not an opportunity for total relaxtion — the large majority of NBA players can consistently make uncontested shots from all ranges. He must still close the gap and put up a hand.
As Oladipo works his way through, Walker’s teammate Spencer Hawes opens up space between himself and Adams. Shooting the gap is not a two-under proposition — that is, going under both bigs. If Walker were to do that, he would leave far too much space for a catch-and-shoot jumper. By going under one, he’s not completely selling out in one direction.
Oladipo’s momentum naturally carries him toward the ball, and a catch on the move as he curls around the screen would send him middle. Once he clears the screen, Walker’s next goal is to shut down this possibility by over-recovering in that direction. Should Oladipo catch the ball, pivot and rip baseline (possibly with the help of an Adams ball-screen), Hawes is waiting to help.
Also take note of the space now created once Oladipo receives the ball from Russell Westbrook. There’s enough room to shoot, but Walker isn’t so far removed from a contest that he can’t at least somewhat bother Oladipo. As we can see in the full video of the play below, he accomplishes his task.
2. On The Weak Side
A great passer can straddle the middle of the floor when two off-ball screens are developing on either side, but most players lack the strength to throw such a pass or the vision to track both actions simultaneously. In order to cut down on the length of a pass, a ball-handler will often inch toward the off-ball screening action he prefers. In these situations, defenders on the weak side have an opportunity.
It’s all a matter of timing. Because the ball-handler’s movement necessarily lengthens a potential pass to the weak side, the defender is granted an extra tick of recovery time through a screen. Shooting the gap, therefore, becomes not only viable, but also more logical. If the defender attempts to jump the passing lane, he has a much greater likelihood of nabbing a steal. And if the offensive player fades to the corner and the pass is nevertheless thrown by the ball-handler, it would naturally have a higher arc due to its length of travel — not to mention the precision with which it would have to be dropped in over such a distance.
Below is an example of this concept as Kyle Lowry takes a dribble toward the right side of the floor. His eyes are clearly locked on Terrence Ross flying off a pindown, and his positioning all but cuts off the possibility of a throwback to Cory Joseph on the weak side. Beno Udrih, who is guarding Joseph, recognizes this development and quickly redirects his route underneath the screen. If Lowry wants to risk this pass, Udrih will be waiting for it.
If Joseph follows the bottom arrow and fades to the corner — the natural offensive counter to the defense shooting the gap (more on this later) — Lowry likely won’t be able to make the pass anyway: He’s too far away and has far too little margin for error. Udrih’s decision to shoot the gap completely shuts down that side of the floor as an option.
There’s also the added benefit of Udrih’s positioning post-gapping. Instead of causing him to hide in the corner attached to Joseph, gapping naturally realigns him into a more friendly help position. If, say, Ross catches the ball and knifes into the lane, Patrick Patterson can step up and Udrih can sink into Stanley Johnson on the block.
When Not To Shoot The Gap: Against Great Shooters
Briefly mentioned above was the natural counter to gapping: fading off of a screen. In a lock-and-trail, the offensive player is encouraged to curl or, at the very least, pop out to the three-point line moving toward the ball. When a defender shoots the gap, he ostensibly eliminates these options. So what is the offensive player to do? He simply moves away from the ball once he clears the screen, leaving the defender hurtling toward a point no longer occupied by ball or player.
Screeners play a crucial role in this action as well. The act of lining up the screen opens up their vision to the intended path of the defender. If they sense the defender will short the route, they can slide their bodies inside. With the defender traveling at such a high rate of speed, his only choice is to continue on that same path and veer further inside. This will allow the shooter to find space easily.
On the wide pindown below for Buddy Hield of the New Orleans Pelicans, Danny Green of the San Antonio Spurs gets punished for picking the wrong gapping moment. With the ball on the other side of the floor, Green chances it — an indefinsible and lazy move 19 seconds into the game while guarding a good shooter. But as he swerves inside, so does the screener, Alexis Ajinca. (Rarely do bigs get called for illegal screens in these situations.) This pushes Green more toward the middle of the floor, separating him farther from Hield. Hield properly responds by fading to the wing, and Anthony Davis looks to fire a pass before Green can stick a hand in the passing lane.
With the ball in flight and Hield at the three-point line, Green has one of two choices: Alter his path back toward Hield, or make a desperate attempt at the ball and then recover. Either way, he must stop on a dime and redirect his sprint — a difficult feat of agility. In the time it takes him to transfer weight and explode toward Hield, Hield is already lining up an open shot.
A secondary offensive benefit of Green’s gamble is that it provides Hield with time to align his footwork and balance his momentum. Instead of sprinting away from the basket, curling and rising to shoot — as would be encouraged by a lock-and-trail, the more arduous but proper technique here — Hield can maneuver into left-right, one-two step shooting footwork. This is the most comfortable method for shooting on the move, which thereby increases the likelihood of a make.
The entirety of the play below shows Green lunging for the ball, missing and desperately scrambling back to contest late. Hield, a near 40% three-point shooter in his rookie year, buries the shot.
The most common gapping instance is actually a compound error. Defenders who lose track of an offensive player or are disadvantaged in some way on a lock-and-trail will try to rectify the mistake in one fell swoop. Since they’re so far behind on the lock-and-trail, they might as well attempt a last ditch effort at salvaging the play. What ends up happening, however, is confusion: If the man guarding the screener doesn’t know which path his teammate is taking, it becomes to difficult to react appropriately.
Notice, how, in the play below, Nicholas Batum of the Charlotte Hornets is guarding Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors very loosely.
It’s clear that Durant is moving toward the ball off a pindown from teammate Draymond Green, but Batum initially errs by not guarding him closely. Batum’s teammate Spencer Hawes is tangled up in other action, making Batum’s attachment to Durant even more important. When Durant slides up the three-point line, Batum tries to jump the pass to compensate for his first mistake. He misses, and Durant walks into a pull-up.
These are the type of mental mistakes that drive coaches crazy. Everything here is easily preventable if Batum is locked in. But he isn’t, and the Warriors pick up two points.
Film Study: “Shoot The Gap”
Below is a video compilation of various examples of defenders shooting the gap in NBA games. Included are all types of gapping: proper strong side and weak side, and improper gambles leading to jumpers. As you watch, remember that relevant gappging does not occur only on the strong side. Be mindful of the weak side, the movement of the screeners, the footwork of the shooters and the personnel invovled.
