JoePgh
Cranky pants and wise acre
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- Aug 30, 2011
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Replaying the Baylor game, I took note of a quick comment by Jeff Van Gundy in the second half when Brittney Griner was swatting away all the layups after otherwise successful backdoor plays. He said (roughly), "Unless you have a mid-range/pullup game, there is no reason for Griner to stay high on those back cuts."
It occurred to me that this is a very insightful and apt comment on UConn's offense in that game. Obviously Griner didn't fear Stef's foul line jump shot, and certainly not Heather's. But why does it have to be the UConn center? Couldn't a play be designed where Bria / Kelly / Caroline / Tiffany (they were all doing it) successfully beats her man with a back cut to the basket and takes a pass, but then (instead of passing to the corner for a jump shot as they sometimes did, and certainly instead of laying up a ball that will surely be blocked) passes back to KML or one of the other guards for a foul line jump shot? Stef or Heather could screen for that shot instead of taking it themselves. It's certainly a higher-percentage play (with a better chance of recovering a miss) than a blocked layup. And if a few of those are made, then Griner would have more of a reason to stay high so that the regular backdoor play, finishing with a layup, might actually work.
I think that is a real difference between the upper levels of WCBB and the NBA -- in WCBB, offense is either in the paint or from the 3-point line (at least 80% of the time), whereas in the NBA the midrange game seemingly gets much more attention.
Does anyone know a reason for this pattern, if it is a pattern?
It occurred to me that this is a very insightful and apt comment on UConn's offense in that game. Obviously Griner didn't fear Stef's foul line jump shot, and certainly not Heather's. But why does it have to be the UConn center? Couldn't a play be designed where Bria / Kelly / Caroline / Tiffany (they were all doing it) successfully beats her man with a back cut to the basket and takes a pass, but then (instead of passing to the corner for a jump shot as they sometimes did, and certainly instead of laying up a ball that will surely be blocked) passes back to KML or one of the other guards for a foul line jump shot? Stef or Heather could screen for that shot instead of taking it themselves. It's certainly a higher-percentage play (with a better chance of recovering a miss) than a blocked layup. And if a few of those are made, then Griner would have more of a reason to stay high so that the regular backdoor play, finishing with a layup, might actually work.
I think that is a real difference between the upper levels of WCBB and the NBA -- in WCBB, offense is either in the paint or from the 3-point line (at least 80% of the time), whereas in the NBA the midrange game seemingly gets much more attention.
Does anyone know a reason for this pattern, if it is a pattern?