Suns Secondary Break Against the Blazers

I've been watching the NBA Playoffs lately but with teaching and Spring football I just haven't had time to breakdown any games. Of course being Canadian, I've been following Steve Nash and the Suns very closely. I was very impressed with the way they were able to beat a good defensive team in Portland. I was going through my RSS feeds the other day and one great website I recommend for all of you players, coaches, fans who follow the NBA is the NBA Playbook. The author does a great job breaking down plays of NBA teams.

In the latest post, the author breaks down this specific play the Suns used consecutive times to score against the Blazers in Game 6. It's really quite simple, it's pretty much their standard secondary break out of the 7 seconds or less they inherited from D'Antoni, using a strong side small to big screen, the person screened reads the defense and either curls up top to receive the handoff, or cuts hard to the basket.

The defensive breakdown, as the author presents, is basically Brandon Roy who is defending Grant Hill in the weakside corner. As a rule, we usually say weakside defenders should have 1 foot in the lane. As you can see, Roy is about 1 step to far. This may not sound like a lot, but it allows Richardson enough room to make the play twice,


(Pictures from NBA Playbook)

But really, in my opinion, it's just a great job of spacing by the Suns. They do a great job with that spread offense that it forces the defense to take that extra step out, with a guy like Grant Hill out there, you can afford to be caught trying to close-out, especially with a not 100% Brandon Roy.

For more on the spread offense, check out Billy Donovan's DVD on the Spread Offense. Coach Donovan used it to win back-to-back national championships at the University of Florida.