Movement makes basketball players and teams succeed: move yourself, move the ball, and help teammates do likewise. As a result of this movement, the ball will get inside with quality shots and possessions abounding.
Phil Jackson and Tex Winter believe that the Triangle Offence is not effective without penetration. Obviously neither are screen and roll plays, motion sets, nor zone offences which is why San Antonio blew Utah away in the fourth quarter of Game 4 Monday night.
Jackson believes in a 60-40 split between possessions devoted to guards and posts. According to the Lakers’ coach, offences are more productive when bigs take sixty percent of the shots in the first half and littles take sixty percent in the second half. Depending on the pace of each squad, this equates to a difference of 9.0 to 10.2 possessions each half between the two groups.
Ideally, the Spurs and the Jazz will respectively establish Tim Duncan and Carlos Boozer early in tonight’s game before relying and Manu Ginobli and Deron Williams down the stretch. Teams should practice post moves, lay-ups against contact, and one dribble pull-up jumpshots in order to establish a rhythm of high percentage scoring plays for posts. When defences become extended as the game progresses, players should be prepared to find quicker ways to score.
The benefits of establishing a post presence in the first and second quarter include:
- Posting and re-posting (after a kick out the best look is often right back inside)
- Passing out of double-teams (tall players can pivot and have excellent passing lanes to find open cutters and shooters)
- Screening and rolling (all team members should learn how to read the play and execute the appropriate counter)
- Team building (anyone can learn post moves and gain confidence from scoring early and often)
- Forcing the opponent to adjust (defensive moves may open up the perimeter)
Keep feeding the posts when they succeed but keep moving. Now that the a double-team is demanded inside, there are more opportunities for guards to get their sixty percent: curl shooters, cut backdoor, post big guards, throw skip passes, penetrate and kick, set dribble picks, get to the line, fill the high post (wouldn’t LeBron be an awesome threat in the high post?), hand off the rock, get to the hole…
Phil Jackson – despite what Kobe may say – wasn’t advocating that a coach ignore their wings but by focusing on the posts first, everyone has an equal opportunity for high percentage shots when they really matter. As Gregg Popovich and the Spurs demonstrate nearly every game: movement and feeding the ball inside lead to quality shots, excellent possessions, and wins. If the Jazz figure this out they have a good team too.