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Tonight’s post will be a quick hitter. These are two of the key side out of bounds plays both Finals teams have used this year.

Oklahoma City ran a simple play to get Durant a quality touch and shot by sending him off screens after taking it out. Miami’s is a bit more complicated and uses Wade and LeBron as a distraction to create a three point shot for one of their shooters.

Thunder SOB

OKC side out starts with a “zipper screen” where 5 screens down for 1 popping out to get ball.

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4 back cuts off the wing as 2 fills up to take his place. 1 passes the ball to 2 on the wing. 3 cuts in off 5 back screen toward paint as 2 is catching the ball. 4 sets up a second screen for 3 in middle of paint.

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3 finishes his cut through paint off 4′s screen to get a catch between the block and corner. This has given Durant open jumpers and easy post touches through the first two games of the series.

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SOB situations are a great chance for the coach to influence the game. Both coaches have been solid out of time outs through the first two games. This set was useful for Oklahoma City multiple times but I doubt it will work much longer. NBA teams are so great at adjusting defensively to take away things that are working and I assume Miami will start to take away KD’s easy touch on this set.

In one of the biggest moments in game 1 Miami ran a SOB play that was designed to get Mario Chalmers a 3. Spoelstra has set up multiple sets in big moments this playoffs that key on Chalmers shooting a three. I thought this particular side out play worked tremendous, unfortunately DWade decided to just go one on one and ended up turning it over.

Something I always do as an active coach is break a set down and figure out how I can improve it to fit my personnel better or simply add a wrinkle to it that makes it more dangerous. I highly encourage coaches to do this as you watch and chart sets. Don’t just be a robot taking the information given to you in these games, be creative and innovative by adding to them and thinking about how they can work for you.

Hit the jump for Miami’s side out of bounds play…

Miami SOB

Miami sets up in a strange alignment but starts with “zipper screen” action for 1 to get the ball at top of the key. This was Wade for them. 2 is your primary shooter and he cuts hard to opposite block.

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4 and 5 set up a staggered “Iverson Screen” for 3 coming in bounds. 3 cuts across the FT line to opposite wing. This is LeBron James for Miami and the design of the set makes the defense think he is the key man. 1 even dribbles toward his cut to sell that the pass is coming his way.

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As 3 and 1 move to right side of the court Miami hits the defense with weak side action. 5 and 4 set up right inside the three point line for an “Elevator Screen.” 2 cuts between them and as soon as he splits in between them 4 and 5 close the gap by stepping together. This is designed to squeeze the gap before the defense can run through. This is where you will get an open three.

*This is the moment where you as a coach can think about what you can do if that pass to 2 is not there? How will you space the remaining players and what will they do? I think a pass to 3 and cut to the corner by 1 sets up a nice side pick and roll opportunity if you sprint 5 into a ball screen. You could also have 5 come sprinting out of the elevator screen for an angled flat screen for 1. This may create little to no hedge as 5′s defender may be worried about the elevator screen happening directly before it. Take the chance to draw up different looks and options to continue to get better at creating your own action.

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Basketball coaches call Side Out of Bounds and Baseline Out of Bounds our version of football’s “special teams.” In football if you can score, create a turnover, or dictate field position on special teams you can create a significant advantage. In basketball it is much the same. If you can create more easy looks than your opponent and steal a few points from OB plays it can give you a give you a big edge in a game that is decided by less that 10 points.

Here are the sets in full (copy and paste images into Word if you want to print out or save):

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The Chase Down Block Chris Berry Interactive Chris Berry Interactive