ATLANTA SETS: Mike Budenholzer
- ATL triangle updates: For as much flack as it gets from players, coaches and executives around the league, a great number of teams have installed some concepts of the triangle into their offenses. With the Hawks, Mike Budenholzer has been using a few of the most basic principles. The triangle always requires a passer to make some type of move after they throw the ball to a teammate. One such move is for the wing to screen down for the player in the corner when the ball is in the middle of the floor. The Nets have also used a few staples of the triangle in their offense under Atkinson. Whether they’re using a backdoor cut off the high post–more properly referred to as “Blind Pig”–or cutting off the post and screening for the opposite block, these are essential elements of the vaunted triangle offense.
- ATL screen away quick hitter: Another play from Atlanta’s arsenal is a screen away that gives the team the option for a quick three-pointer. The Hawks often use this play to get sharpshooter Kyle Korver good looks early in the shot clock. In Brooklyn, players like Joe Harris and Bojan Bogdanovic have been the beneficiaries. In this set, the team sets up in its base offense (guard on the wing, big filling the middle lane, guard on opposite wing, and the other two players in the corners), but instead of the guard swinging the ball to the big in the middle, that player screens away for the guard on the opposite wing. Defenders are caught off guard, expecting a pass to be made to the middle. Instead, a screen comes and before they can react a shot is already on it’s way to the rim.
- ATL wing PNR: This play also starts out from the base offensive set, except with one minor change. Instead of there being a player in each corner, one player is positioned on the low block. For the Nets, they are usually in this alignment when Brook Lopez is on the court as he’s the team’s biggest low-post threat. This time the ball does get swung to the middle of the floor from the guard. The middle man has the option to swing it again or reverse it back to where it came from. When he reverses it back he immediately goes to set a screen and that turns into a two-man game with that side of the floor clear. Another way they get into this play is by making it look like the quick hitter mentioned above, but instead of shooting, the opposite wing comes off and attacks the lane as the screener rolls to the hoop from the free throw line extended.
- ATL double pin down: A play that initially is designed to get an open look for a shooter has many wrinkles attached to it. To begin, the guard passes to the middle and sets a down screen for the wing. The middle passes to the opposite wing and then sets a second screen for the wing. As the wing comes off the second screen, he receives the ball from the opposite wing if open. If not, the second screener rolls to the rim and with the rest of the players on the perimeter, is likely wide open in the middle of the lane.
- ATL post to kick out 3s: This isn’t a set play, but more of a philosophy of the offense. Both the Hawks and Nets like to get threes off of passes out of the post. The Hawks would routinely throw it into Paul Millsap and Al Horford on the block and then move off the ball in order to get open perimeter shots. The Nets are doing the same thing, mostly with Brook Lopez down low. Lopez is a force inside the paint and teams are likely to send help or double teams at him to keep him from scoring easily. Brooklyn is using this to their advantage by getting great looks from outside when teams send extra defenders down low.