The classic “pick-and-roll” recipe? A ball handler, most often the playmaker, takes advantage of a screen from inside to attack the circle, serve the screener who has cut into the key or the outside shooters. In Denver, and it’s rare in the NBA, we often practice the opposite. In other words, Nikola Jokic regularly receives screens from Jamal Murray.
“ It’s interesting because three or four years ago, the best pick-and-roll combo in the whole NBA was Nikola and Jamal, and most people thought Nikola was setting the screen for Jamal. In fact, it was the reverse. It was Nikola who carried the ball and Jamal who set the screen “recalls Mike Malone.
create separation
This choice was naturally imposed to take advantage of one of the main qualities of the Serbian pivot: his vision of the game and by extension his passing quality. The point of letting a player of his size dictate the tempo from the racquet head is to get the opposing inside away from the racquet. Jamal Murray and the others thus have more space to be served by cutting in the circle, in the “backdoor” for example.
” jamal (Murray) also knows that if Nikola has the ball and puts his screen down, his player has to come to the aid, which will allow him to stand out. If you want to simplify basketball, it comes down to creating separation. Great players, great offensive teams find ways to create it. Great one-on-one defenders and great teams find a way to neutralize it, ”summarizes Mike Malone.
And when the defender of the double MVP focuses too much attention on the smaller but also more mobile screenwriter, Nikola Jokic can find himself alone and punish behind the arc. He would be wrong to deprive himself of it because in these playoffs, he displays an impressive level of skill at 3-points (47%).
The other possibility, rather than “pick-and-roll”, is a hand-to-hand transmission. Nikola Jokic thus delivers the leather to Jamal Murray while hampering the movement of the defender of the latter at the time of the transfer of the leather. This can result in a doubling of passes between them. The range of possibilities then becomes endless.
Another factor to take into account: the physical dimension. ” The reason it’s so effective, apart from the obvious that they’re two really talented players, is that Jamal is big, strong, physical and not afraid of contact. Some players prefer to avoid screens because they don’t want that contact, they don’t want to indulge. Jamal, from the beginning of his career here, showed that he was ready to go and put a screen on a big or a small, it doesn’t matter, because he is strong “, details the coach.
His playmaker may set up screens for Nikola Jokic and the others, he remains a formidable pick-and-roll player when he wears leather. The Canadian is even the third best scorer in the playoffs in this context, with 11 points on average, behind Trae Young and Jalen Brunson. Nikola Jokic, he cuts much less often in the circle, after the screen, than his future racket opponent for example, Bam Adebayo.
Threesome with Aaron Gordon
This explains why this Nuggets attack, in addition to being atypical, is the most effective of the playoffs with 120 points scored per game (out of 100 possessions).
” Jamal realizes that when he sets good screens, whether it’s on Nikola or anyone else, it’s going to allow him to create some separation to shoot or go for penetration. Nikola, Aaron (Gordon) and Jamal have a very good synergy in this threesome game “, even expands Mike Malone.
To see if his players manage to impose this philosophy of play on the defense of the Heat. Especially if the Floridians decide to reuse their famous zone…
