The Los Angeles Lakers have had their ups-and-downs since Mike D'Antoni was named their new head coach, which was expected with Steve Nash being out, but the one consistent theme with the offense so far has been how well Kobe Bryant is working out of the pick-and-roll. Forget scoring, which Bryant is doing at an elite level even in his 17th season, Kobe, whose reputation as a gunner has sullied his beautiful passing ability, is facilitating the offense extremely well in the abscene of Nash. On this play we can see how Kobe makes a great read to find a wide open shooters as well as how much attention Dwight Howard draws onn the pick-and-roll. This is the kind of play that D'Antoni is thinking about when he considers starting Antawn Jamison over Pau Gasol for spacing purposes.
This play starts with Antawn Jamison setting a downscreen for Kobe to get him some space for the catch at the left elbow, one of his favorite spots on the floor and also a perfect spot to run a pick-and-roll from. Jamison sets the screen for Kobe and clears to the corner. Duhon clears to the right wing after passing it to Kobe.
Once Kobe is in triple threat position, Dwight comes over and sets a screen on Andre Iguodala (Kobe's man). Iguodala gets caught and has to fight over and McGee sags to prevent the Dwight roll, which leaves Kobe some space for a jumper.Kobe doesn't take the jumper, though, because Dwight's roll has also sucked in Faried. Faried leaves Jamison wide open on the weakside.
And Kobe, who has been excellent facilitating out of the pick-and-roll this season, finds Jamison, who did a good job shifting up from the corner to the wing to create a better passing lane. Jamison missed the shot, which was a rarity for him on that night.
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