Portal:Basketball/Selected article/March, 2007
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A pick-and-roll is an offensive basketball maneuever in which one player–most often a forward–applies a screen (or pick) upon the defender assigned to a teammate–most often a point or shooting guard–blocking the path of the defender in order that the teammate should free himself and then pass the ball to the screening player, who rolls behind the defender; although typically employed against a man-to-man defense, the technique can be used against a zone defense as well.
The play begins with a ballhandler's, usually positioned on the court external to the three-point (semi-ellipsoid) arc and most frequently proximate to the free throw line and separated from the basket by a defender, moving in the direction of a teammate, who obstructs the defender with his static body (or, impermissibly, with his arms or legs or whilst moving), providing the teammate with open space.
Should the obstructed defender elect to pursue the ballhandler, the player applying the pick pivots (rolls) parallel to the ballhandler and in the direction of the basket, behind the defender, forcing the defender to choose whom to guard and creating extra offensive space even if the defender of the player applying the screen returns to guard the former; should the defender elect to guard the player applying the pick, the ballhandler either shoots, from distance or in a layup, before another defender can rotate to him or passes to an unguarded player.
A larger player typically applies the pick so that a mismatch–either of a smaller, ostensibly faster player against a the picker's larger defender or a tall player against the ballhandler's undersized defender–is created. Contemporary professional practitioners of the maneuver have used that formulation, most prominently the Utah Jazz of the mid-1990s, who advanced to the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals behind power forward Karl Malone and point guard John Stockton, whom statutes outside Salt Lake City's Delta Center, pictured, left and right, respectively, honor, and the 2004-05 Phoenix Suns, who finished with the league's best record behind point guard Steve Nash and power forward/center Amaré Stoudemire.
