A Few Good Plays is back, and we’re once again heading around the NBA to highlight a handful of snippets of good basketball.
A Toronto Twist on the Pick-and-Roll
The Toronto Raptors have been turning to Pascal Siakam as a primary ballhandler, a role he’s taken to nicely. When Canada’s team wants to get really funky they use point guard Fran VanVleet as a screener for Siakam. The inverted action forces guards unaccustomed to defending in space to try to handle Siakam coming off a screen without losing track of VanVleet.
Confuse your coverage and VanVleet gets a wide open look. Defenses can scramble to close out to Toronto’s diminutive All-Star, but the Raptors will have Gary Trent Jr. waiting in the corner, as in the play above. It’s an incredibly difficult action to defend, with multiple potential points of failure for opponents.
Franz!
Franz Wagner is a smart cutter and a surprisingly explosive dunker. He applied both skills in the Orlando Magic’s recent matchup with the Indiana Pacers. Wagner sneaks past a snoozing Justin Holiday and baptizes poor Terry Taylor, who has an NBA level motor, but not NBA size.
Marcus Smart, Transition Menace
Marcus Smart is basically good at everything defensively, including causing chaos in transition (when he doesn’t opt for a take foul). He’s got an incredible ability to get back in front of opponents and contest them by the basket without fouling.
Sometimes he goes low for strips and other times he stays big and stonewalls attackers at the rim, like he did to Kelly Oubre in the Boston Celtics’ recent victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
Joel Embiid’s Post Passing
Joel Embiid has been utterly dominant for most of the year. He’s leveled up as a passer, which has only intensified his outsized offensive impact. Here he is firing a cross-court laser to the corner, perfectly on-time and on-target after Devin Booker loses track of Seth Curry for just a moment.
Embiid won’t have the pleasure of passing to Curry any longer (he was included in the Sixers recent trade to acquire James Harden), but he’ll continue to find teammates out of the post, and Philly’s offense will continue to benefit from it significantly.