The Dominating Post Offense of the Lopez Twins

It was a great day in conference tournament action and the night was capped off with a dominating performance by 11th ranked Stanford over Arizona in the PAC-10 conference tournament.

The Lopez twins have certainly matured in their second year in the NCAA and that maturity has allowed head coach Trent Johnson to move them around as defenses attempt to adjust to their low post presence. Tonight was a perfect example of how to utilize all the skills of your big man and to keep them involved in the offense despite fronting defenses and swarming double-teams. Here are 5 sequences from throughout the game showing the various ways that Stanford moves around both Brook and Robin Lopez to get them open looks,



When you have 2 big forward/centers, there are a lot of things you can do on offense. I like the way Stanford adjusts within the game to keep their primary goal focused on pounding the ball down low. Just because the defense is trying to take away your best offense, doesn't mean you should go away from it, you should counter-attack and beat the defense while still accomplishing your goal.

To start the game, Arizona decided to double the Lopez twins on the dribble. This proved futile as the Lopez twins are fast enough to catch, make a move and score. Here are 4 ways in which Stanford was able to continue to get Lopez the ball despite the changing defenses.

Pick and Roll:

The pick and roll is still one of the most potent offenses to use with a dynamic big man because of the many options out of it. Almost every NBA team uses it for their big men,


Give and Go:

Most people think that the give and go is mostly only for guards, but it can be just as effective for forwards. See the key here is that once you get your big man moving in space, it's very difficult to defend, especially when the defender sags to help in the low-post,


High Post Dive:

In the Hi-Lo offense, your forwards are taught that when the ball is entered in the low post, and you are in the high post, you dive to the low post. That is essentially what happens here, Robin gets the ball and Brook dives to the low post and catches a pass for the easy lay in,


Lob Over Fronting Defense:

This is the simplest strategy. If the defense decides to front, make a well-timed lob pass to Lopez who keeps the ball above his head and catches and shoots,


Summary:

Tomorrow's game against Washington State is going to be quite a treat. The key for the Cougars will be how they choose to defend the Lopez twins. They play the packline which should give them advantages automatically in helpside defense, but they lack solid shot blockers that can really get up and challenge the Lopez twins. Though, the last 2 times they played this season, the Cardinal won by less than 10 each time. Should be a great game.

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