The Denver Nuggets Offense at times can be stagnant and spacing issues have occurred, but Mike Malone has some great half court sets at his disposal. This weeks set is a nice Pick & Roll set for Danilo Gallinari and creates a bad hedge opportunity with a down screen before a ballscreen. Here is a video breakdown of this week’s set:
Gallinari in the Pick & Roll has been great for the Nuggets early in this season and this set allows him to make easy decisions and read the defense. Starting out by freeing up Gallo, Jameer Nelson sets a pindown screen near the wing and designed toward a Logo Pick & Roll concept. For those of you who do not know, a “Logo” Pick & Roll is where a ballscreen is designed toward the Logo of the team on the court:
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Gallinari is not exactly on the Logo, but the concept is what I used to call it a Logo PNR. After Mudiay makes the pass to Gallinari, he then sets a down screen on JJ Hickson’s defender Roy Hibbert to force a bad hedge.
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You will notice in the picture below, that both Roy Hibbert and Jordan Clarkson are in the paint clogging up the lane where Gallo would be looking to attack. The key to this set is creating a bad hedge and then having the guard who screens down cut to the top of the key to clear the lane and pulling his defender. Due to the fact that Roy Hibbert is a slower defender than most bigs, a majority of the time he will soft hedge or fall back and sag when defending the Pick & Roll.
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After Mudiay clears and Hibbert steps up to stop Gallinari, you will notice Kobe trailing the Pick & Roll that allows an easy read for Gallinari. If Hibbert sags back to his man then Gallinari would attack the rim or pullup for a jumper and as Hibbert steps up, it is a simple bounce pass to Hickson to go to his strength of catching and dunking.
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I hope you enjoyed this breakdown and this weeks edition of Denver Nuggets set of the Week. If you are looking to talk more basketball or Nuggets, you can follow me on twitter @HalfCourtHoops. I look forward to see what other creative ways that Mike Malone can utilize Gallinari and this Nuggets team in Half Court Sets.
