Thursday, August 7, 2014

Serbia vs. Lithuania U18 Notes

This next set of notes comes from the U18 game between Serbia and Lithuania. Lots of solid Xs and Os stuff in this game. Below, are some notes from the game that I thought would prove useful. 





Serbia Perimeter Post Up Set
It's always good to have a quick hitter to get your perimeter players a quick post up look early in the offense. Serbia gets this look out of a dribble hand off in a 2-3 high set. 

The 1 dribbles down and hands off the the 2, who they wanted to get in the post because of a mis-match. Right after the handoff the 2 reverses to the opposite slot spot (3). The high post 5 steps out and sets a back screen for the 2 who cuts to the front of the rim (not the block, this is key). The 5 steps out and the 3 reads the defender and either passes to the wing or back to the 5. 



Serbia Thumbs Down Full Court
You don't see much pressing in FIBA, but was nice to see both teams bring some at different points in the game. What Serbia ran here is basically ran is the "thumbs down" scramble full court. Thumbs down is what Jim Larranaga runs at Miami U. It's a one trap and done deal where you trap down on the first pass. It's usually done in the half court but can be effective in the full court as well. As you can see in the video the point defender rotates over to trap and the backside wing rotates over to take away the middle. 



Lithuania Spread Motion
Lithuania ran some good spread motion. Wasn't much of a pattern except the bigs would follow the pass and ball screen. What I was impressed with was they ran some good backside action setting some down and flair screens. It was almost like blocker-mover with the blockers (posts) setting ball screens.



Re-Screen in the PnR
Something I've noticed a lot of the good Euro teams and point guards do is re-screen in PnR situations to get a look. Sometimes it almost looks like they run the PnR just of the sake of forcing the defense to react and then turning and coming back off it. The both the Lithuanian point guard and ball screener in this clip do a great job of coming off, seeing nothing, and going right back at it.

Serbian Inbounds Set
Nice little quick inbounds from the Serbian team. It's similar to the Trail Blazers BLOB set that I love.

The set starts with a shooter in the backside corner for spacing and your point guard inbounding the ball. The other three players are in a stack with your athletic wing closest to the ball, 5 in the middle other other player at the 4 spot on the top of the stack. The 3 cuts out to the corner and then curls around the stack to the basket. If that's not open, the 5 in screens for the 4 who pops out and gets the inbounds pass.

 The inbounder (1), then cuts up the middle, 5 can either just be in the way or down screen him. The 4 passes to the 1. As the 1 receives the pass, the 5 comes up and sets the pick and roll.


Deep Post
Something Serbia did well, and was rewarded for, was having their guys bully their defender deep into the paint and post up. Not something you see enough of at the high school level. Something that I need to teach our guys this year. They would force them down, leg whip, and post deep. Even the guards knew how to do it and I was impressed.




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