Pick and roll
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The "pick and roll" (also called "screen and roll" or shortened to "screen-roll") in basketball, is an offensive play in which a player sets a screen (pick) for a teammate handling the ball and then slips behind the defender (rolls) to accept a pass.
The play begins with a defender guarding a ballhandler. The ballhandler moves toward a teammate, who sets a "screen" (or "pick") by standing in the way of the defender, who is separated from the still-moving ballhandler. The defender is forced to choose between guarding the ballhandler or the intruding teammate. If the defender tries to guard the ballhandler, then the teammate can move toward the basket, sometimes by a foot pivot ("roll"), and is now open for a pass. If the defender chooses instead to guard the screening teammate, then the ballhandler has an open shot.
A successful pick and roll play may result in the screener being in position to receive a pass with a clear path for an easy shot, with the chance of drawing a foul as other defenders move towards the play to try and prevent penetration. It may alternately lead to the ballhandler being momentarily without a defender, and thus free to pass to any open teammate, or take an uncontested shot, which greatly improves the chance of scoring, again with the chance of drawing a foul as the screened defender hurries to get back into the play.
The success of the strategy depends largely on the ballhandler, who must recognize the situation quickly and make a decision whether to take the shot, pass to the screener who is rolling (if the defender switches) or pass to another open teammate (if other defenders come to help). The screener also must recognize the open spaces of the court to roll to and be alert to receive the pass and finish the play.
The pick and roll is often employed by a shorter guard handling the ball and a taller forward or center setting the screen. The purpose is that if the taller defender switches to guard the ballhandler, then the offensive team can have favorable mismatches. The shorter guard has a speed advantage over the taller defender, while the taller forward has a size advantage over the shorter defender.
Variations of the pick and roll are the pick and pop (or pick and fade), where the screener moves for an open jump shot instead of rolling to the basket, or the pick and slip, where the screener fakes setting a screen before slipping behind the defender to accept the pass.
In the NBA, John Stockton and Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz used this play to great effect in the 1990s, leading their team to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998. Stockton, a point guard, was a good shooter and exceptional decision maker and Malone, a power forward, was a great finisher. In recent times, Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire used the pick and roll to lead the Phoenix Suns to the top of the 2004-05 league standings.
