Momentum Kills Dennis Schröder
The side pick ‘n roll action with Lou Williams and Chuck Hayes serves as an nice distraction to the eventuality of Vasquez scoring. The main effect of Williams going left on the Hayes screen, which he never had any intention of using, is that Schröder has left Vasquez to come towards Williams. Schröder’s close-out is poor because his momentum takes him a foot too far, thus conceding the angle to Vasquez. The latter recognizes this and immediately drives. Shelvin Mack has to respect Williams’ three-point shot and can’t leave him, which puts the 6’5″ Vasquez on the 6’1″ Schröder, allowing for an easy shot.
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When You’re Covering Kyle Korver, That’s The Only Thing You’re Doing
There are some three-point shooters that you can cover while showing help on other players. Kyle Korver is not one of them. In this sequence, James Johnson does the tough work of negotiating the screen set for Korver, forcing a pass back out to Al Horford who has Chuck Hayes on him quite some distance away. Hayes is a smart and strong enough defender to handle it from there, and at this point doesn’t require any further help. Johnson, out of habit perhaps, shows just the slightest of attention to Horford by taking half a step towards him, which takes him half a step away from Korver. That is enough for the bang-bang play of Horford passing to Korver for, what is for him, a wide open three.
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Get the Passing Big Man in the Paint
This is a sequence that I hoped the Raptors would run a lot more of. They have good, mobile passing big men in Patrick Patterson and Amir Johnson that should be able to slip screens the way Patterson does here, forcing the defense to collapse. In a well-spaced floor with shooters, you should then be able to get a good look from three as Johnson does here. The missed three is irrelevant, it’s the process that got the clean look which is important, and something we should be seeing on a much more consistent basis.
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