Back to Basics (intro and using downscreens)
Reading screens is fundamental The hardest part about this blog is the editing. I tend to be a typographical error machine. Usually, I have my wife edit pieces for me since she is a trained professional in such things. Unfortunately, she's much more of a baseball person, so getting her to copyedit these posts is difficult because she simply doesn't understand what I'm trying to say in many cases. So with that thought in mind, I thought it might be useful to break down some of the more technical stuff I talk about into some less-jargonny component parts. Hi Honey!
The first topic I'm going to cover is the simple down screen. Anyone who's played even pickup ball at a decent level will recognize the basic action. A wing waits near the block area for a big man to set a large screen on the wing's man, while the player pops out to the elbow area for a catch and shoot.
Of course, at the professional level (heck, even the JuCo level), it rarely works that way as a simple down screen is not complicated to defend - keep your body on the guy coming off the screen and chase him (under control) out to the arc. So the savvy shooter has developed a series of options for himself to use the screen to allow himself the best chance to get open:
Depending on his defender plays the screen, the 2 guard can either pop out to the wing area, the "standard" down screen (A). He can flare or fade to the corner (B); he can curl into the lane (C); or back cut to the basket (D).
Before I get into examples and uses of each of the options, a quick primer on some basic principles in using screens.
Before I get into examples and uses of each of the options, a quick primer on some basic principles in using screens.
- Wait - without assigning percentages, the ratio of illegal screens called on big which are actually the fault of the guard receiving the screen going to early is pretty high. The big man is an obstacle for the defender, not a road grader. Even if there is no moving screen set, if the screenee leaves to early, it basically means there was no real screen set.
- Set the man up - if you watch off the ball, you will see tons of tussling and body contact as the offensive and defensive player work to best position themselves to either use or deny use of the the coming screen, In the Reggie Miller clip above, you can see him sort of man handling the defender to ensure he has to run into or around the screen to keep up with Reggie. This set up play isn't necessarily pushing and shoving, but moving in such a way that the defender ends up not having a straight line to run to keep up with the offensive player.
- Come off the screen tight - what's the point of the first two if the defender gets between the cutter and the screen (and thus between him and the ball.) The coachspeak for this is "shoulder-to-shoulder" as in that's how close the recipient of the screen should try to run with respect to the screen setter.
Option #1 - Pop out (standard)
This is the basic version - 2 sets up his man before running shoulder to shoulder with the screener, looking to pop out and shoot. Some teams run this play to get 19 footers for the shooter, but some teams are also stuck in the 90s. An example of a non-anachronistic version:
Despite the above, example this action doesn't usually result in an open look for the 2 man, and but is often used to initiate other offensive options, such as dumping the ball into the post:
Or running a pick-and-roll. or even a wing isolation play. The downscreen is a reliable method for this kind of planned ball movement because even though its simple to defend from the standpoint of stopping the immediate shot, it's difficult to keep the guy popping out from getting the ball. In fact the other options are generally used as counters to the defense overplaying the basic action of getting the ball to the player coming off the screen.
Option #2 - flare/fade
A common method of "cheating" to attempt to defend a downscreen (especially if the downscreen is the last in a series of picks and exchanges for the moving offensive player) is trying to jump "over the top" of the pick - going around the screen to the ball side as opposed to following the offensive player to the basket side (at left). Aggressive defenders also like to "shoot the gap" and to try and intercept the pass to the wing and get themselves an easy dunk going the other way, as Tony Allen does here.
To combat this tactic, the recipient of the screen simply steps back towards the corner, preferably in 3 point territory, to get a good look at the highly valuable corner 3.
Ray Allen has long been a master of this particular move:
Option #3 - curl
In an effort to blanket the best shooters, sometimes defenders will go far under the screen, conceding the pass, but allowing themselves an easy line to the wing to contest any shot and/or close out easily on a potential drive (at left). The downside is now the offensive player is to the basket side of the defender, which the canny user of screens can use to their advantage by "curling" into the lane instead of popping all the way out to the wing (see below).
The offensive player can also choose to curl any time the defender gets too hung up on the screen. This curl move can lead either to a short jumper:
a drive to the basket:
or even a direct pass for a layup:
I'll discuss it more in a later post about defending the downscreen, but the 5 man's defender is key to properly stopping the curl.
Option #4 - Back cut
Occasionally, either through poor timing of the screen, or defensive over aggression, the defender will position himself all the way on top and out side the guard receiving the screen, in effect trying to hard deny the pass to the wing (at left). In this case, the offensive player can "backdoor" the defense for an easy shot by getting the ball moving towards the basket with the defender on the wrong side (see below).
This is done either by a direct basket cut which is relatively uncommon:
In the above example, the play worked because the initial screen was set slightly higher up the floor to allow for there to be space for the cut and pass. More common is "pushing" the defender towards the perimeter to create space of a leading pass to the basket:
So that's a quick "back to basics" primer on what to look for when you seen NBA players using downscreens. Hopefully, it will help you understand not just the mechanics of setting and using a screen, but also make some sense of what commentators are talking about when they describe "using screens" during broadcasts.
In future installments, I plan at looking at defending off ball screens, "icing" the pick and roll and other bits of basic NBA movement and strategy. Let me know in comments or on twitter if this was helpful, remedial or still too technical/jargonny.
In future installments, I plan at looking at defending off ball screens, "icing" the pick and roll and other bits of basic NBA movement and strategy. Let me know in comments or on twitter if this was helpful, remedial or still too technical/jargonny.
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