One of the keys to the game of basketball is understanding your personnel. By utilizing his personnel in their most productive way possible, Rick Carlisle was able to manage the game and with the stellar play of Dirk Nowitzki beat the Miami Heat for the 2011 NBA Championship.
(1-Jason Kidd, 2-Jason Terry, 3-Shawn Marion, 4-Dirk Nowitzki, 5 – Tyson Chandler)
This set was a staple of the Dallas Mavericks offense and they were able to use it continually due to the two built in counters. The initial set starts in a triangle stack with Tyson Chandler setting a ballscreen for Jason Kidd. Jason Terry sets a baseline flex for Dirk, and Shawn Marion pops out. In a screen the screener action, Tyson Chandler pins down JET for a flex action. The focal point of this action is Dirk having a post iso on the right block.
The first counter is used primarily in the first 3 quarters and occasionally in the fourth. If JET can’t shoot off of the catch up top, he swings it to Marion on the left wing. Tyson Chandler then sprints to set a ballscreen for him. The shooters on the perimeter space for open jumpers.
The second counter was a fourth quarter staple for the Mav’s. They used the action of Terry setting a pin-down screen for Dirk frequently, which forces the defense to make a decision on whether or not they risk letting the guard slip the screen or give dirk the option for a 3. **The Thunder used the same action with Durant/Harden against the Maverick this season with similar success. This time on the swing, instead of a ballscreen Kidd and Terry stagger for Dirk (the pin-down action), Kidd runs off a baseline screen from Chandler. If they can’t get anything off of this action Dirk and Terry run a pick-and-roll game.
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