EL SEGUNDO — The Lakers’ usage of Stack/Spain pick-and-roll isn’t anything new.
The offensive set, run by most teams in the league, has been in their playbook since the preseason.
But they’ve been leaning on it more in recent weeks to great success, providing themselves with a go-to set that leads to effective offense.
“Stack is hard to guard,” D’Angelo Russell said during a recent episode of his podcast, “The Backyard Podcast”. “You got one guy setting a screen on the ball, you got a guy setting a backscreen on the guy setting the screen on the ball. Can’t nobody guard that.”
As Russell explained, Stack (the common term in the NBA), is a pick-and-roll combined with a backscreen for the picker, who rolls to the hoop. The set is especially effective against defenses using drop coverage against pick-and-rolls.
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If the defense is unprepared or caught off guard by the set, or is prioritizing staying attached to shooters, the roller (typically a big man) will most likely be open for a lob. If the defense packs the paint to prevent the lob or the ball handler from driving to the rim, the player setting the back screen will likely be open for a 3-point attempt if they cut above the arc. Or a pull-up opportunity could open up for the ball handler. If the defense tries to switch all screens, scoring opportunities can open up if the screeners ghost (fake) their ball screens or slip out of them before making contact.
And even when the action is defended well, counters exist all around the court.
The Lakers have run Stack 29 times in the past five games, or about six times per game, according to data compiled by Cranjis McBasketball, a founder of BBall Index, which is a basketball data and analytics website. They’ve scored 1.7 points per possession when running those sets recently. They ran Stack 47 times over the first 65 games – less than once per game –…
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