Part 1 of the RGV Vipers Low PNR blog posted a couple weeks ago(Sorry for the delay, its been a crazy couple weeks). In this post I want to look at other parts of how they used this concept to have great success.
This post will look into
Logo PNR
Screening Towards the Baseline
VS Push
Building into the 2nd side
Logo PNR
The Logo PNR is a low pick and roll that happens in the short corner area of the court. It is called “Logo” because on the NBA floors they usually have a logo in that spot. For the first clip the PNR occurs right at the Kia logo. It is a really effective action to run because it forces the defense to have to really exaggerate help to prevent the score. With the ball so close to the rim, actions can happen really quick.
The lower angle takes away the under and if the 2 defenders involved in the ballscreen aren’t on point in the coverage, the offense can get easy baskets. This action puts the 2 defenders into a situation where they have to guard the ballscreen by themselves in a very vulnerable area. Any mistake by the defense gets magnified in this situation.
The ball handler gets the ball down to the logo and the trailing big follows for the ballscreen. The ballhandler reads the drop defender sliding up to help take away the drive and he makes the pocket pass to the roller.
RGV runs some action and the ballhandler gets stopped at the block on the bounce out, the big follows for the ballscreen. As the guard turns he reads the hedge defender stepping up to help on the drive and that opens up the lob. You can see how this alignment really puts the 2 defenders on an island.
Here the hedge defender stays with the roller and the ballhandler is able to turn the corner and score. Due to the spacing, the nail defender is unable to help stop the ball.
A pistol action gets them into the logo PNR. The defense hedges hard and Hartenstein sprints on the roll to get a dunk. The low man is late to helping on the roll.
Screening towards the baseline
Another concept that RGV used with a lot of success is the low corner screening to the baseline. I really don’t know how to classify it, but it was super effective. Screening towards the baseline opens up the roller in the middle of the floor. It distorts the defensive responsibliites and would be one of those things that a defense must really prepare for because it is different. It also puts the low man into a tough spot if the ballhandler can turn the corner at all because he must choose either tagging the roller or helping on the drive.
The defense guards the low angle in a drop and the big sprints off to the middle of the floor. It is interesting to see tagging responsibilities when the big is rolling to the middle. The ballhandler makes a late pass for the layup.
The screener doesn’t always have to roll. Here you see the pop being effective because the high tag defender has to really cheat over to take it away. With the drop defender so deep its a really tough cover.
Hartenstine sets the screen out of a transition push. The other 3 defenders are still trying to match up and get set defensively. The ballhandler stretches the drop and is able to get the ball to the roller.
A little higher screen, but same type of action. The hard screen and fast roll makes the low man come over even more. The guard reads this and is able to hit the corner drift and get the defense into dominos.
Vs Push Defense
A common defensive tactic against side PNR is to go into a push coverage. Push coverage is any coverage that pushes the ball away from the screen (Ice, Blue, Down, etc). Like with all coverages, RGV has the option to prevent or punish the coverage. They seem to do a really good job of punishing the coverage. Here is how RGV attacked it.
The ballhandler accepts the push and works to dribble lower. This baits the drop guy to come over, which opens up the Hartenstine roll.
The ballhandler catches the defense in a tough situation with the on-ball defender pushing the ball down and the screener’s defender attached to the screen. The ballhandler is able to beat the early baseline help for the score.
A little pistol look and the on-ball pushes the ball down. The ballhandler is able to reject the ball to the baseline and when the big comes over the screener rolls into the pocket for the finish. You can see how the other 3 defenders are caught between tagging the roll and staying locked in on their matchup.
2nd Side Action
One of the things that I like about the way RGV runs their offense is how they get into second side actions. It ends up looking like normal ball screen continuity that we see all over. That is why I think that adding the low corner ballscreen to your offense can be an easy and effective tweak.
The low corner PNR stretches the defense and once the ball gets to the top, the wing cuts through. On the swing, they get into another PNR on the second side. They do a good job of having that second side screen occur around the break which maintains the spacing that they have so much success with.
Here they get the ball to the top and when the cutter goes through it opens up the driving lane for the player at the top of the key. The player in the corner does a great job of holding his spot and the spacing is perfect.
My next blog post will be the final look at the RGV Vipers PNR concepts.