Explain One Play: Pacers' 1-4 low BLOB "Rolex" (Patreon)

Breaking down the baseline out of bounds play that works like clockwork for the Pacers

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Following last month's mailbag, there were still plenty of Pacers-centric questions leftover, requiring additional time and space, that seemed like perfect topics to dive into now that the offseason portion of the offseason is officially in full-swing. As such, some of the submitted inquiries are going to be turned into full-scale articles over the coming days and weeks, with this latest entry focused on breaking down a specific play-type for the Pacers and why it works.

SGD: I feel like 1-4 flat/low BLOBs are more often used in college basketball than the NBA. Without knowing whether that first statement is accurate, I would think that if they are used less frequently, it may be because the safe lob entry to the big popping out to the wing is more easily taken away at the NBA level. This set seems very successful at the college level (Bruce Pearl and Bill Self come to mind as adherents). If you have clips available, could you maybe provide a couple of examples of the Pacers or other NBA teams using 1-4 flat/low BLOBs and what the advantages and disadvantages of this BLOB setup may be and the players that may perform out of that set better?

From watching film of Johnny Furphy last season at Kansas, the Jayhawks typically run hand-offs out of their 1-4 flat alignment, which means -- as you mentioned -- a lob entry is required to the big popping out to the elbow-area extended. From there, the player in the weak-side corner will spring into "zoom" action, flying off a pindown connected to the hand-off at the top of the key. At the same time, the pindown screener receives a screen under the basket from the inbounds passer. Options!

For the Pacers, 1-4 flat/low baseline out of bounds plays are actually quite common and include many of the same elements as Kansas (i.e. zoom action, screen-the-screener) just with a reorientation of which players are involved and when. Like most NBA teams, the Pacers routinely go to a screen-the-screener action but start with the 1-4 low setup, with the middle two players both lifting up, followed by a back-screen into a screen toward the corner, like so:

But, spot the difference. Rather than triggering the play with the big popping out to the elbow from the strong-side block, the Pacers have their center stationed in the strong-side corner, which means the opposing team's center is displaced from the paint and there also isn't need of the lob entry. As such, the first option is the shooter circling toward the ball-side corner.

Over the last few seasons, one of the best ways to visualize the credibility of the floor spacing for the Pacers has been to watch how often the slip becomes available out of this set-up when the defense over commits to Buddy Hield, whether showing or switching out. In essence, all the big has to do is catch the ball for free points.

Another way the Pacers will access that slip is by intentionally rejecting the initial back-screen.

Here, for example, rather than cutting to the weak-side block off the screen from Sheppard, Obi Toppin fakes the set-up and then darts to the corner off a screen from Jackson before stepping forward into a corner pin-in screen for Sheppard. Then, similar to Hield, when the defense overcommits to the extra commotion, Toppin simply slips toward the basket for an easy dunk.

Put simply, lob entry < potential lob finish, amirite? The Pacers have a few tells for that particular counter, though. Whenever they are going to feign the back-screen and, shall we say, turn back the clock in the opposite direction to the corner, someone from the bench or a player on the floor can oftentimes be heard yelling the word "Rolex" as the trick play. Or, if they're trying to be more discreet, they'll point at their wrists -- as Haliburton can be seen doing here, just before Toppin makes a run for the corner.

Notably, whether "Rolex" or the normal screen-the-screener variation, the Pacers almost always have one of Haliburton, McConnell, or Nembhard as the inbounds passer to read where the advantage is and find/access the necessary passing angle. Plus, if there isn't a clean shot for the shooter moving toward the ball-side corner, Haliburton will use that set-up to immediately flow into "zoom" action to potentially get downhill moving to his dominant right, with said shooter automatically pinning him into a hand-off at the top of the key.

Then again, to take things full circle, if the defense steps out and switches on the screen toward the corner, guess what type of entry is required to trigger the "zoom" counter?

Why, yes, it's a lob pass (albeit over the top of a smaller defender). Turns out, that's the benefit of having Haliburton as the inbounder.

Overall, the combination of off-ball gravity and clever counters that intentionally look the same up until the last second paired with several point guards who can deliver pinpoint passes or launch into the next action makes the 1-4 flat/low alignment work like (ahem) clockwork for the Pacers, even at the NBA level.