Welcome to “Basketball, Neat.” This is an intermittent column throughout the 2015-16 NBA season where DIME will discuss some basketball play or trend without extraneous information.
If you’re a fan of single-malt Scotch, you should be familiar with ordering a drink, neat. That’s what this is, but with basketball. So there will be none of the usual contextual or superficial noise you might hear on Twitter or even in our pieces at DIME. This isn’t some referendum on basketball coverage or anything quite so lofty; it’s just a tiny place to talk exclusively about hoops. We’d like to nerd out about basketball for a little bit before we go back to the overarching culture of basketball and the NBA we normally cover. We hope you like it, but it’s primarily just a selfish way to publish what we’re already talking about with each other.
The Horns set is ubiquitous in the NBA. Sometimes it’s called an A-set because it seems to form an upside down letter “A” when the point guard brings the ball up the court and the two big men — the power forward (4) and center (5) — line up past the charity circle outside the lane at the three-point line. The two wings — the shooting guard and small forward — line up in each corner to spread the court and force their men to – hopefully — stick with them near the dangerously shallow three-point shot. Now both big men can set a screen for the ball handler. This is why a lot of traditional sets begin with the Horns alignment.
The Celtics did the same in their Game 1 loss to Atlanta, but the quick-footed Isaiah Thomas combined with the mirrored movements of Kelly Olynyk and Jonas Jerebko birthed an easy layup.
Spencer: Olynyk and Jerbko don’t line up opposite each other at the three-point line like a perfect Horns set. Instead, Kelly is below the elbow and comes up to the three-point line to meet Thomas’ pass. Jerebko is further from the basket, lined up at more of the traditional spot beyond the three-point line on the far wing.
When you watch the play over and over, you have to marvel at how perfectly matched up Olynyk and Jerebko actually are. They move towards Thomas almost in lock-step. It’s sorta eerie if you keep watching it (I sorta zoned out to for a while this morning).
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Olynyk is receiving the ball at the three-point line, that’s how far up he runs to meet the ball. It was like he was lulling his defender into thinking he wasn’t going to be involved.
Dennis Schroder is giving the Celtics All-Star a lot of room because he knows the screen could be coming from either side and doesn’t want to get burned by Thomas going to the basket. Plus, he’s aware of this set like all NBA guards. This allows Jerebko to almost set a blind side screen that acts as a pin-down on Schroder.
Take it away Jack.
Jack: It’s the initial pass to Olynyk that really gets this play moving. In a typical set like this one, the point guard would run off the big man at the elbow for a hand off – a staple of Boston’s offense – or dash down to the near corner and set a screen for his awaiting backcourt mate.
The Celtics aren’t just counting on Schroder’s fear of Thomas’ quickness, but also his knowledge of basic NBA playbooks. By the time Atlanta’s live wire guard briefly turns his head and takes a small hop toward Olynyk, Boston is already way ahead.
The main goal of primary defenders while navigating picks on and off the ball is to “stay attached” to their individual assignment. Boston’s subtle misdirection affords ample space between Thomas and Schroder, and Jerebko sets the ensuing flare screen with wide legs and active feet, ensuring the Hawks’ best course of action is to switch Mike Scott onto Thomas rather than help and recover.
Scott is a mobile big man. He can check opposing perimeter players who pose minimal long-range shooting threat with no negative recourse. But Thomas, of course, is one of the most gifted players in the league with the ball in his hands, equally capable of rising for a pull-up lefty triple as he is beating defenders off the bounce with quickness and nuance.
This play is essentially over when Thomas catches a pinpoint pass from Olynyk over the top of Jerebko. Scott’s momentum is carrying him the toward the near sideline as the Celtics playmaker gathers the ball, and he’s forced to bail out of a stance and cross his feet to disallow an unabated path to the basket as a result.
Scott actually does an admirable job of recovery here. Most power forwards don’t have the agility to move like this in such tight confines. But it just doesn’t matter. Scott gives Thomas room to drive with his preferred strong hand as opposed to walling him off entirely, and a simple hesitation dribble leads to an easy finish.
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Boston is one of the deepest teams in the league, yet lacks the star power reserved for true title contenders. In a vacuum decided by talent alone, Brad Stevens’ team shouldn’t have gone 48-34 during the regular season.
How’d the Celtics pull it off? With countless schematic wrinkles and counters like this one. And to beat Atlanta without Avery Bradley, Boston will need to leverage even more effectiveness from similarly intricate yet basic designs going forward.
