Portland Double High Ballscreens

This is a double high ballscreen appreciation post.

One of the most versatile and simple actions is the Double High ballscreen. The offense can run it in a flow situation like a double drag or as a set play in half court offense. It is easy to manipulate personnel by putting the better shooter first or second. You can change the angles of the screen and the other two offensive players can change positions.

Lets look at some of the ways that the Portland Trail Blazers use the double high to great success for Dame Lillard ballscreen attacks.

Roll & Pop or Pop & Roll

The easiest way to manipulate the double high is how you align the two players involved. You can run the same action but by switching the two players involved can completely change the action.

If you put your better shooter as the first screener, you will usually roll with the second screener. This would put your second screeners into a tough choice between ballscreen coverage & staying with a shooter. This would be Pop/Roll.

If you put your better shooter as the second screener, your first screener would be the roll guy. Your second screener would pop into space. On an empty side, this action is extremely good.

Or you can be like Chris Mack at Xavier and just have both guys roll. A really good concept that sounds weird, until you see it.

This is an example of the pop/roll. Ariza pops and Whiteside rolls hard. The lakers are in a switch type defense, but with Ariza as the first screener they have to eventually get back to home base. Whiteside rolls and the only person to help is Kuzma at the rim.

Here is another double high look, where the Jazz put 2 on the ball. Whiteside is able to roll unimpeded down the lane.He is tagged late because of the defense on Carmelo. Mitchell gets caught behind and doesn’t have a chance to get to the ball.

This clip shows the value of having your better shooter as the second screener. Eventhough Melo doesn’t shoot this you can see the opportunity for shot here. Instead he throws it back to Lillard for a 2nd ballscreen.

Double Drag

One of the main parts of transition flow is being able to seamlessly flow into action without much of a setup. If you have both of your bigs or even a wing and a big trailing the play. It puts pressure on the defense to recognize, communicate, and then executer their coverage. Add in a dynamic playmaker like Lillard and you put the defense in a red alert to get it all correct on the fly.

Portland flows into a double drag. With Lillards shooting ability, the Jazz have to be up much higher than normal. Both screeners get a piece of the on-ball defender and it forces Gobert away from the basket . Once Lillard is able to get by Gobert the middle of the floor is wide open due to the natural spacing of the double high.

Here is where personnel can make a big difference, Portland flows into a drag with #24 Kent Bazemore as the first screener the defense can’t help in on the roll in an empty corner situation like this. The Heat put 2 on the ball and this leads to a Whiteside Roll and layup.

Defensively, the defense must be on the same page for the double high. Especially with Lillard as the ball handler. Lillard acts like a running back trying to find the hole on a running play. If the first gap isn’t plugged, he will turn it upfield and get to the basket. Lillard is also a threat to pull up at any time and will shoot off that first screen

The Bulls try to guard this with Markanen in a drop and Carter hedging on the 2nd screen. Lillard is probably the best in the NBA at being able to split the middle of the double high. As Lillard gets downhill, he is able to make an easy pass to the dunker spot for a dunk.

Opening up the Middle of the Floor for the roll

We have talked about the spacing of the double high opening up the paint. Here we will look at how it opens up space for the roller. A hard roll puts a ton of pressure on the defense and forces one of the corners to pinch in to help.

Although the clips show the roller scoring, you can easily see how this can be an area to run offense from if you have a passing big. With the big short rolling to the free throw line, it would force one of the corner guys to help in. This would lead to easy kick outs or a layup.

These technically might not be short rolls, but I though it was close enough to classify as that.

The Rockets put 2 on the ball.Lillard hits Whiteside just below the FT line. The lane is wide open other than Eric Gordon at the rim. Whiteside makes a post move to score, but you can easily see how a kickout would be possible.

This time it is Swanigan setting the second one and short rolling to the nail. Barton has to come in and help from the opposite corner. This would be a great time for a corner cut from McCollum (if he was a different player) to the basket because he has a clear path to the basket.

Reject

The reject is one of the best ways to try and score on a ballscreen. In the double high, it is even more effective because if you are able to reject it, you are downhill into a 3 on 2 situation with great spacing.

Portland gets into the alignment and Lillard beats the his defender with no one at the basket to protect

Lillard rejects the screens and is able to get downhill. The defense can’t help from the corner and the weak side corner is to far to get in the play. Javale Mcgee makes a great effort to get in and contest, but ends up fouling.

Lillard rejects it and it forces Hardaway to have to cut him off. This puts the defense into a scramble leading to an open Ariza 3.

Double High Creating a Single Tag

I talked about this concept in an earlier blog post about Northern Colorado. Single tag actions are extremely difficult to navigate defensively. Forcing a defender to do two things in a row is a great way to cause a breakdown. So for this example it would be the first defender having to help guard the ballscreen and then having to help on the roll.

Portland does a great job of leveraging their best shooters in the first screener spot. Whether this is McCollum or Carmelo, the defense is put in a tough situation of helping on the roll or staying with a shooter.

Not the most ideal combo in the double high, but with Hezonia setting the first one and Tolliver setting the second one, Portland catches Philly in an unorganized coverage. Tolliver rolls hard and gets behind Horford. However the bobble makes it a harder shot than it should have been.

Carmelo gets enough of the on ball to allow Whiteside to sprint out early on his ballscreen. With Jokic putting 2 on the ball, this gives Whiteside the inside position on Melo’s defender. Barton recognize the action but is late on the help and unable to stop Whiteside at the rim.

Portland runs some good double high action out of their sets. Here is one that creates a single tag situation for the defense.

Melo gets the ball and swings it over to Lillard. He is the first screener and Whiteside is the 2nd screener. You can see that Davis is more worried about guarding Melo and lets Whiteside roll.

Staircase

The staircase concept is another great concept I have learned from the guys at Efficient Sauce. The staircase double high is a double high setup with the 2nd screener below the level of the 1st screener. This is a great concept for guards that can shoot like Lillard or guards that are more drive.

With the 2nd screen being lower, this would take away the under from most defenses because that second screen would result in an easy dribble 3. It also makes the switch harder, because if the defense switches the first screen he must now actively work to get back over the first screen.

For a more drive heavy guard (think Ja Morant/Ish Smith) that isn’t as much of a threat to shoot the 3, this gives the ball handler a way to create some downhill momentum to the basket.

The warriors are not organized at the point of the screen, but you can see that Lillard is able to get downhill momentum from the staircase. Once Tolliver sees that Lillard’s defender is going high, he starts adjusting up to make it harder to get back in front of the ball.

Here is more of a transition type situation. Collins sets a great screen on Fox. Whiteside reads that he can sprint out because of the large advantage Dame has. Lillard is able to explode out past the hedge for an easy layup.

The Knicks try to switch the first screen, but this causes Morris to get caught up by the lower screen. The Knicks put 2 on the ballWhiteside is able to roll/short roll into space for a layup.