Lots of movement with all five players playing a part, some nice misdirection, and most importantly, a clean look at the end of it.
First step is to dump it into the high-post to Davis. We’ve seen a lot of high-post initiation this season, and this is no different. Whether the big actually makes a move is irrelevant, Casey only wants the big handling the ball in that area to initiate movement of other players, including both guards.
Ball gets dumped to Ed. Two motions happening, Bayless slips to the right wing, and DeRozan fakes the cut with the help of a gentle ass screen from Magloire. This is the misdirection.
Hibbert’s attention is momentarily caught by DeRozan, which is exactly when Magloire sets the screen on Dahntay Jones.
Jones gets completely caught in the screen, and was expecting Barbosa to cut in the same manner that DeRozan did, hence he went under. This proved to be a mistake, as Barbosa came back out and Davis delivered the pass right on time.
This is a clean look in the NBA.
The play in its entirety:
This is a good play which has several options:
- Davis can drive the ball if Hansbrough is playing him too tight
- If a weak-side double comes over for Davis, he can pass to Bayless for a clean look or a drive
- If DeRozan was afforded space on his cut, a quick pass could’ve resulted in a layup
- Barbosa had two ways to go on the screen set for him
If you’re watching the game casually at a bar and this play happens, you might even think of it as one of Barbosa’s chucks, when it’s anything but. I like this play because it has all five guys playing a part in it, and as stated, has multiple options. When watching the Raptors, keep an eye out for post initiation of plays rather than the point guard running a set on his own. Casey is on record saying that this offense isn’t a democracy and nobody is entitled to a set number of shots. The best way of satisfying players who want shots is to give it to them as an incentive, and in this case good individual movement and team play will get you a shot!
