We’re back! Happy New Year! Welcome to the five highest-IQ plays of the week!
Sure, we love the high-flying dunks and the deep, off-the-dribble step-back threes, but this is a place for the under-the-radar plays that might not get the credit they deserve. The plays that get the basketball sickos and nerds out of their chairs. The plays that even YOU could make in your weekly rec league game.
Each week, the plays will be ranked from five to one—one being the smartest—and will only be taken from games that occurred within the past week. For this week, games from December 24th to December 31st are considered. The C’s went 2-1 this week, with wins over the Pacers and Jazz and a loss to the Blazers.
Walk into virtually any basketball gym in America and you’ll hear the phrase “get to two feet” shouted at offensive players. The idea behind getting to two feet—as opposed to jumping off of one—is to give yourself more balance, control, and therefore decision-making capability because of the amount of extra time you have to hold onto the ball and watch the defense shift. That’s exactly what Baylor Scheierman does on this play, and it serves as a perfect illustration of why it’s an effective strategy. When Baylor jump stops in the lane, he makes multiple head and ball fakes, eventually finding Simons for a wide-open shot. But he wouldn’t have been able to do this if he had left his feet, because he wouldn’t have had the time or space to read the defense. Smart, fundamental play that players of ALL levels can learn from.
We’re watching Jaylen Brown grow before our eyes. His scoring is up this season and he’s clearly the type of guy who can carry a team as the number one scorer. But it’s his control and comfort in the painted area that really impresses me. Here, Brown makes a move IMMEDIATELY when he gets the ball and then gets to two feet in the lane (much like Scheierman in the play above) before making an on-time, on-target pass to a great three-point shooter. Assists are at a career high for JB this season, and I think they can get even higher if he continues to lean into playing this way. These are the sorts of simple decisions he needs to consistently make.
Luka Garza’s recent play has awarded him a seemingly consistent role in the Celtics’ rotation, and it’s because of elementary effort plays like this that don’t show up in the stat sheet. By simply sprinting hard to the rim, Garza forces McConnell to guard him under the hoop (mismatch) and Walker to think twice about covering the cross-court feed. Once Jaylen gets the rock, Luka does a phenomenal job legally holding space in the paint and getting himself in prime offensive rebounding position while also setting a semi screen for Brown to get space for a finish. It’s the little things!
2. The future of on-ball screening
Pick-and-rolls are down this year, and it’s partly because NBA defenses—both the two defenders involved in the action and the other three defenders in help-side positions—have continuously improved pick-and-roll coverages as they’ve become more common. That’s why simple alterations to the play can be wildly effective, like White passing and following into a pick-and-roll as opposed to Garza just running into a traditional screen and roll.
Look at Walker the moment White passes Garza the ball. That split second that he turns his head is already enough for Derrick to get a head of steam going towards the rim. A simple change makes the play far more unpredictable.
1. Strong-side corner help… in the NBA?
Basketball players at almost every level are religiously taught to avoid helping off of the strong-side corner. The decision to continue your drive or pass to the open corner shooter once the help comes is an easy one (especially for NBA players), much less difficult than having to make a read on the opposite side of the floor—so basketball coaches have largely decided that we shouldn’t offer the offense this choice. But the peel switch the Celtics pull off here negates this problem by making the offensive player think the strong-side corner is open without realizing that his own defender is actually sprinting out to guard the shooter. Gonzales and Brown don’t even execute this that well here, but it’s still super effective. Don’t be surprised if we see a lot more of these peel switches on strong-side corner drives during the rest of the season.
