Three (More) Things I Noticed on League Pass: A triple double
Digging into three versions of the double screen
I’m having some laptop issues at the moment and thus don’t have access to the editing program I use for Film Findings, but I can still download clips, so here’s another edition of Three Things I Noticed on League Pass, starring one of my favorite actions: the double screen.
The Warriors, delayed
I love the very slight delay before Trayce Jackson-Davis comes and sets the second screen here. Brook Lopez is playing way deep in the drop against Stephen Curry (typically unwise!), but the Bucks have Malik Beasley (Gary Payton II’s man) act as the initial screen defender even though Jackson-Davis is all the way outside. So, Steph just takes a slight dribble forward as if he’s going to attack downhill, then slides outside TJD’s second screen for an open three.
I’d assume this was improvised, but they ran it again against the Bulls on Thursday night. (It wasn’t as successful.) It’s a neat trick to beat the kind of bespoke coverages that teams throw at Steph.
The Kings, circling back
I’m a sucker for anything and everything involving Malik Monk, so this here action was essentially designed just for me.
After Monk and the center (first Alex Len, then Domantas Sabonis) set their double screens for De’Aaron Fox (moving to his right, by the way), they briefly feign like they’re going to set double pin-downs for the man in the opposite corner. But then Monk wheels around and circles back toward the ball, and has a whole host of options from there.
In the first clip, he gets to his spot and hits a fadeaway. In the second, the Lakers have Spencer Dinwiddie top-lock Monk to take away the Sabonis screen. So they flow right into that pin-down action; but the corner man (Trey Lyles) goes underneath Sabonis toward the back door, then Monk comes quickly flying around Domas for a dribble hand-off, and they work their two-man magic. It’s beautiful stuff.
The Magic, pressing advantages
It’s honestly not very difficult to score against the Wizards (they are last in defensive rating and 28th in pick-and-roll defense, per Second Spectrum), but I nonetheless like how the Magic set this up so that Franz Wagner can attack either a big man or a point guard — both of which provide him an advantage off the bounce.
The Wizards bend their defense so far toward him on the first screen that Paolo Banchero winds up wide open in the corner. He misses, but it forces Washington to guard the next one differently. Franz draws a switch onto Landry Shamet, bullies his way into the paint, and draws a foul. Easy-peasy.