Part 2: The Memphis Grizzlies with no downtime in HCO
In Part 1 of this series, I discussed how the now 5-0 Memphis Grizzlies have eliminated much of the downtime in their transition offense. Now I want to look at how that same philosophy carries over to the half court.
For Memphis, the line between transition and half-court offense is blurred. They're getting into the frontcourt quickly with optimal spacing, looking for opportunities to attack, and flowing right into their half-court actions when nothing materializes. According to InPredictable, the Grizzlies are now taking the 7th-quickest shots following defensive rebounds and 9th-quickest following made baskets. Throughout their possessions, Memphis wastes remarkably few of its 24 seconds in a non-threatening state.
Even when the bigs trail the play, they waste no time hunting down the ball handler's defender, setting drag screens just three seconds into the shot clock!
From there, one action springs into the next. Memphis keeps the offense moving without resetting or slowing down to call a play. On a recent Zach Lowe Show appearance, Ty Jerome said he was drawn to Memphis in part because of Tuomas Iisalo's system, where the point guard could potentially get 15 ball screens a game.
He's certainly getting his opportunities. According to NBA.com/Stats, no one is averaging more shots (10.6) or points (14.4) as a pick-and-roll ball handler so far this season. Watch the Grizzlies run three on-ball actions in just four seconds here, all around excellent perimeter spacing.
The ball continually moves from side to side, forcing the defense to shift with it and leaving little time to anticipate what's coming next. It's a form of cumulative pressure, where the sheer quantity of actions coming in quick succession creates more opportunities to catch a defender out of position or force a breakdown in coverage.
Memphis' speed, spacing, ball movement, and continuous flow culminate in an offensive philosophy that goes by several names: advantage offense, .5 basketball, or dominoes. The idea being: create an advantage, recognize it quickly, and build on it to get a great shot before the defense can recover. In great offenses, each decision builds on the last, with players working together to accumulate small advantages rather than starting from scratch.
An advantage can be as subtle as a defender falling a step behind, a momentary mismatch, a reckless closeout, or a rotation that leaves someone else vulnerable. Against sophisticated defenses, these windows can be incredibly small, hard to notice, and short-lived. Hesitate for a moment, miss the open teammate, or take one dribble too many, and the advantage disappears.
In the possession below, try to pinpoint when the Grizzlies first gain an advantage. Is it when Cedric Coward draws two defenders in the initial action? When Toumani Camara closes his stance to deny the reversal to Jerome, leaving Jerome more open on the other side? Or when Zach Edey anticipates Camara's positioning, receives a quick pass in the high post, and screens for Jerome, who beats Camara around the screen for a driving angle? Maybe it's when Jerome gets downhill and kicks the ball out to Cameron Boozer as Deni Avdija helps, allowing Boozer to attack the closeout and force Donovan Clingan into a predicament, opening the lob to Edey.
There's no single right answer. What ends in a dunk is the product of several smaller advantages created and exploited throughout the possession, with each decision serving as a vital piece of connective tissue. There's a bit of Newton's third law of motion in the way it all unfolds: every action causes a reaction, and the defense never recovers.
Whether it's in transition, early drag screens, or continuous actions in the half court, the urgency never lets up. The defense might have an answer for the first action, or even the second, but the Grizzlies are already working on the third.