Scouting Angola's Offense vs Australia

From Wednesday night, Angola and Australia faced each other in a warmup game to the Beijing Olympics next week. It was a very close game throughout with Australia winning it on a last second 3-pointer. I thought Angola played as well as they could against a much bigger Australia team, especially with Andrew Bogut in the middle for Aus.

I thought Angola played very smart, and used what skills they had to their advantage. They used a lot of dribble drive but also had some nice inside play as well, mostly off of pick and seals. Here are a few nice plays from Angola that I picked out (the play-by-play is in Chinese and the feed isn't great so apologize in advance),



Pick and Seal:

All of Angola's plays are out of the 4-out 1-in set. Here, it's just a simple baseline screen for the corner. Because Australia is switching all screens, they get a big on small situation and the Angola player is able to seal. The entry pass is perfect (notice the use of the pass fake) and the finish is as well,


Dribble Drive Offense:

On this night, the Angola guards were quicker than Australia's, and they used it to their advantage. By getting dribble penetration, Angola was able to breakdown Australia's guards and force help to come, or finish the play outright.

In this first play, it's out of 4-out 1-in again. The Angola forward sets a downscreen for the corner wing. At the same time the PG beats his defender off the dribble forcing Bogut to help and the forward is there for the easy dump off,


In this next one, Angola's primary offense has broken down. With time winding down on the shot clock, they spread back into 4-out 1-in, and let their PG beat his defender off the dribble again. He fakes like he's going right, then crossover to the left and to the basket. The other forwards collapse for the rebound which is unnecessary as the basket goes in and the AND1 after,


Summary:

I watched Angola last night against Serbia and they got thoroughly thumped. Serbia just shot absolutely lights out, something like 60% from 3-point land. I think Angola is going to do OK, their biggest issue is giving up height and therefore rebounding. As for Australia, as you can see, they don't have great speed in their backcourt which will be a problem against the top tier teams like US, Spain and Argentina. They beat China earlier who is similar to them in many ways.

I'm a big Fran Fraschilla fan, I always try to catch the college games he broadcasts on ESPN when they are on. If you're looking for more specific video tips on the dribble drive motion offense, check out Fran Fraschilla's new DVD set on the Encyclopedia of the Dribble-Drive Motion Offense
. The set includes 3 DVD's where Coach Fraschilla breaks down 3 different kinds of the dribble drive based on the different formations, 4-out, 3-out, and vs zone. Don't forget to check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum to talk hoops with other coaches.