brunson fr

Right off the bat here, first play of the game, Brunson's going to be using these skips. You'll see a lot of good guards do this often, and this allows them these moments of time just to read the floor and decide what they're going to do next. Now he's going to skip for a third time right here, but he's going to use it to transition into his move, where he partially pivots into more of an open stance, hits right foot then left to give himself momentum as he swings his right foot around to attack the baseline. He's going to punch down his dribble as his left foot comes forward, partially pivot with that left foot before skipping off of it, landing again in an open stance. And all this has just gotten him to a spot where he's really going to create separation for his shot. So he's going to take a pivot step with his right foot to get wider than Nembhard and shift his weight to that side. As you'll see the inside of his left foot touching the ground, that's a good indication of this shift. Nembhard's going to bite on this, shuffling his feet in that direction, and that's all a player like Brunson needs to get his shot off of if he gets to his turnaround fadeaway. And on the shot, you'll notice his body is not at all squared to the basket, but for players like Brunson who especially love to shoot going right, all they need is their elbows squared to the rim to line up their shot. And they also have the ability to square their body to the rim and the air, so they don't need a lot to get their shot off. On this play, Brunson is isolated against Nembhard again, this time on the left elbow. And he's going to get into an action similar to that first play. So he's backing him down, gives him a nice little bump, although for Nembhard he's probably going to be feeling this one. But as you'll see, he hops off of that left foot, lands slightly left-right so he can load to his right side. Again notice how the inside of that left foot is touching the ground. But also those feet hit close enough in succession so that he can pivot with either foot. He's dropping that right foot though, pretty much sealing Nembhard off with it, getting around his body, making Nembhard move in that direction as Brunson is getting to his turnaround. And again, that slight movement from Nembhard is all Brunson is going to need. As Brunson's bringing up the right side of the floor on this play, he's dealing with some ball pressure from Aaron Nesmith. So he's going to keep his body between Nesmith and the ball by dribbling in this relatively closed-off stance. But as he glances up, he sees all this open space behind Nesmith. So as he takes his dribble step right here, he's going to use an inside hip rotation. He partially pivots with his left foot, which is closest to Nesmith, and this allows him to push into Nesmith's space as he gets into his drop. This gives Nesmith two choices. Either back up or give the ball handler an easy path to drive. This gives the defender two choices. Either back up or give the ball handler an easy path to drive. And an aggressive defender like Nesmith usually won't back up enough, so you see the result. This is something that Steve Nash also used to kill defenders with. And it's an extremely effective move. Brunson comes off the screen here using an inverted skip to an inverted punch drop. Another set of footwork guards commonly use to make reads. This one especially coming out of the pick and roll. But what I like here is as TJ drops back to cut him off, he's going to immediately drop his left foot, replace on it, swing his right foot around, and spin into the post. He deals out one of these bumps again, pushing into TJ. Touch replaces with his left foot getting outside of his body and into TJ's space. Actually tripping him and slide stepping getting into the shot. On the shot, Brunson uses an extended high lift point. He tends to have a high lift point on his shot, which makes him so good in the mid range and getting his shot off over taller defenders. As the Knicks are inbounding here, the Pacers are applying some full court pressure, and Brunson releases. Now here's one of his favorite moves in transition or going downhill. You can see Nembhard coming back into the picture, but Halliburton is pretty much the only person that Brunson has to beat here. He hits him with a side jab and an inverted low to his left side. Takes an open step to get around Halliburton's frame, and gets into a one hand controlled pickup for the finish. Now coming off this screen, Brunson is going to see Miles Turner and drop coverage. And is going to hit him with a swing step, so his left foot is going to swing around here. And as he takes his step with the right foot, he's going to get the ball to his right hip in order to avoid a potential reach in from Turner, and hit him with this floater. On the floater, you'll see Brunson keep an open palm, which actually limits the rotation on his ball, but gives it a soft touch on the basket. Now Brunson's going to use a swing step into a floater again here, but the pickup here is critical. So as he digs his inside foot to accelerate into this move, Nembhard extends his left arm and keeps it on Brunson's shoulder. Brunson loads his left foot into a crossover, and kills his crossover by picking the ball with both hands. Stepping in with his right for his gather step. It's right here when he sweeps up through Nembhard's arm, forcing him to move it away or else Nembhard's going to foul. And this opens up the space for Brunson to score. In this game, the pacers were often shading Brunson to his right, but he's very comfortable getting into jumpers going right. As he dribbles on his outside foot here, again his left foot is going to come forward for his touch replacement. Slides, steps away, and gets that midrange off. This was a huge bucket here to tie the game, and it might have been his nastiest one. He bounds to the middle of the floor. As he gets into his drop, he decides to change direction by stepping in through his legs. Attacking Nembhard's top foot, making him open up the other way. Now Brunson's going to float the ball into the basket. Now Brunson's going to float the ball as he comes into his stop. Pulls the ball deeper into his pocket. Getting into another drop. Goes through and Nembhard shifts the other way. And Nembhard recognizing this, he tries to reach out his arm to play the cross back. But Brunson actually goes with a straight behind the back dribble to keep the ball protected as he goes the other way. Sweeps the ball up on his pickup to draw a foul on any potential reach in from Nesmith. Gets into an overstep stop so his left foot becomes his pivot. And again goes to the turnaround fade going right. As Brunson's bringing the ball up the right side of the floor on this play, he's going to be dealing with some ball pressure from Aaron Nesmith. So he's going to keep his body between Nesmith and the ball by dribbling in this relatively closed off stance. But as he's doing this, he's going to glance up and he sees all of this open space behind Nesmith. So as he takes this dribble step right here, he's going to use an inside hip rotation. And again, he's going to be dealing with some ball pressure from Aaron Nesmith. And again, he's going to be dealing with some ball pressure from Aaron Nesmith. So as he takes this dribble step right here, he's going to use an inside hip rotation. He partially pivots with his left foot and this is the closest foot to Nesmith. So this is going to allow him to push into Nesmith's space as he gets into his drop. This gives the defender two choices. Either back up or give the ball handler an easy path to drive. And oftentimes an aggressive defender like Nesmith won't be backing up. So you'll see Brunson gets into his drop and steps around Nesmith's frame and gets all the way to the rim. This is a technique that Steve Nash used to use a lot as well. This is a technique that Steve Nash used to use a lot back in the day.