Sheed and Ray Workin’ Together

I watch a lot of C’s basketball, so it’s nice when a play catches my eye as something new or different. Such was the case with this play in which Ray Allen and Rasheed Wallace work together off the ball to free Sheed for a three-pointer.

We see Ray involved in all sorts of screening action all over the court, but we rarely see this sort of inter-looping action between him and Sheed.

Let’s break it down a bit.

Here’s how the play looks at the start:

Rondo has just received the inbounds pass near the top of the key, and Sheed (guarded by Andrea Bargnani) is at the foul line, preparing to do something. Ray Allen (guarded by rookie DeMar DeRozan) is standing in the left corner.

Sheed and Ray begin moving toward each other at about the same time, and Sheed positions himself to set a screen for Allen halfway up the left edge of the paint:

You see the screen above. It’s not going to hit DeRozan flush, but it’s good enough to get Ray a little bit of separation. Look at Bargnani: He sees that DeRozan is in a little bit of trouble and has already stopped pursuing Sheed and planted himself in position to get in Ray’s way as Ray comes off the screen.

This is going to doom Bargnani, though I’m not sure what else he should have done. I’ll get to that in a second.

Here’s how the play looks as Ray comes off the screen:

It appears that DeRozan has done a nice job sticking with Ray, who cuts through the lane instead of pausing to receive a pass at the elbow for a possible jumper. Look at Bargs: He’s in the paint, head turned toward Rondo to see what Rondo is going to do.

Sheed, meanwhile, has taken a bit of an unexpected route: He’s curling around DeRozan and Ray and moving back out toward the three-point line on the left side of the floor.

This isn’t the natural thing for most big guys to do. Most jump-shooting bigs who want to pop out for a jumper after the screen like the one Sheed sets on this play would do so by drifting out toward the baseline for an 18-footer. (Think of how Udonis Haslem hurt the C’s last week in Miami).

Maybe Bargnani was anticipating that sort of move, since he’s in a much better position to recover and contest a baseline jump shot. Or maybe he just had to focus on Ray; maybe Ray would have been free for an easy jumper without Bargnani’s help, or maybe Rondo would have had a clear passing lane to hit Ray in the paint. (Try and erase Bargs out of the above photo in your mind. When you do, does it look like Rondo could have hit Ray for a lay-in? I’m not sure).

In any case, Bargnani has a long way to go to catch Sheed, and he has no good angle to get there. Here’s the course he takes once he realizes Rondo is looking for Sheed:

No chance. Look at poor Bargs taking a step way wide to his right to get around DeRozan/Allen. He’s got no shot, and Sheed knocks down a wide-open three.

How could the Raptors have defended this better? I threw out a couple of ideas for Bargnani above, but the more I look at this, perhaps DeRozan should have switched onto Sheed once Bargnani dipped into the paint to help on Ray?

I have no idea.

But I know it’s a nice little play, and a sign that the C’s offense continues to evolve.

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