Raptors Playbook: BLOB “3”
Over at the Raptors Playbook YouTube channel (@RaptorsPlaybook on Twitter), I am breaking down the X’s & O’s of the Toronto Raptors. This week, we’ll focus on “3”- a Baseline Out of Bounds play almost exclusively used for Kyle Lowry to get a three pointer. Watch the video embedded below alongside the summary written, and remember to follow and subscribe to never miss out on a video.
Option 1: 3 Staggered Screens – Starting at 0:10
The Raptors have run this play for nearly a calendar year, as I believe they introduced this nearly three-quarters of the way through the 2017-18 season and have sporadically run it ever since. Most notably, in Lowry’s odd mid-season shooting slump this season, Nick Nurse dialed it up with increased frequency to get Lowry into his spot (drifting from right to left) on a jumper.
The play starts with the desired shooter (almost always Kyle Lowry) as the inbounder with the remaining 4 players positioning themselves in the area between the baseline and free throw line extended.
A staggered screen will first be set by the two Bigs to free up the pass for the first receiver cutting towards the inbounder.
Those two Bigs will move together and set another staggered screen for the other non-big on the weak side of the court. Once again, this is to free the off-ball player up to receive the pass.
The two Bigs will move together once more and set a final staggered screen, this time for the inbounder to cut towards the top of the 3-point line. These final set of screens aim to create an advantage for Lowry to execute upon by taking a catch-and-shoot jumper. In the event he is run off the line, Lowry can also drive and see whether the screen defender steps over to his probing dribble and dish a dump-off pass to one of the screeners diving to the rim.
Note: I believe the call for this play is “3” in BLOB situations
