Partizan Igokea 3-man/2-man Offense

With only 3 NBA games on the sked and no college (sorry NIT), I decided to review some Euroleague games this morning instead. Things are really heating up there in their ULEB cup, I think they're down to the quarters or semis. Some really intense basketball going on there.

I decided to take a closer look at the game between Partizan Igokea and Tau Ceramica. Both tended to play alot of zone defense at times, so the pace wasn't very good. But in the times they played M2M, Partizan ran what looked like a triangle-style offense. It really looked like a series of 3-man/2-man games. Here are a few sequences,



3-man Game:

Basketball can be such a simple game, especially when you break things down, which is why I like the way this works. It's just a series of 3-man games and 2-man games, and you play basketball. O2/O3/O5 are on the strong side, and they try to get the ball into O5. Either O5 scores, or kicks it back out. Here is what it looked like against a fronting defense,


2-man Game:

In the 2 man game, it's the same thing. The 2 players on the weak side also try to get the ball in the post. Again, either the ball is scored, or it's kicked back out. On the strong side, the corner and wing switch spots so that there is some motion and it's easier to get open for an open shot on the kick out,


Summary:
Probably what I enjoy most about watching the Euro game is from a reffing point of view. The game is called the way it is supposed to be called. Fouls are called consistently, traveling, palming, double-dribble, 3-seconds in the lane, all those things that most refs don't call in North America. It makes it much more of a skilled game, all players must have better fundamentals.

For some info on your players can improve their offensive fundamentals, check out new Indiana head coach, Tom Crean's DVD on dynamic skill development. Some great shooting and ball-handling drills. To discuss this and other basketball coaching topics, head over to the X's and O's of Basketball Forum.