200px|thumbnail|right|[[Trevor Booker sets a "screen" on Tony Parker for Kirk Hinrich]]
The pick and roll (also called a ball screen or screen and roll) in basketball is an offensive play in which a player sets a screen (pick) for a teammate handling the ball and then moves toward the basket (rolls) to receive a pass. In the NBA, the play came into vogue in the 1990s and has developed into the league's most common offensive action. There are, however, many ways in which the defense can also counter the offensive screen.
Execution
The play (in its elementary form) involves three players. The play begins with a defender guarding a ballhandler. The ballhandler moves toward a teammate, who sets a "screen" (the "pick") by standing in the way of the defender, who is separated from the moving ballhandler. The defender is forced to choose between guarding the ballhandler or the screener. If the defender tries to guard the ballhandler, then the screener can move toward the basket (as the player defending the screener may try to trap or guard the ballhandler, giving the screener space) sometimes by a foot pivot<!--per WP:REDLINK--> (the "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. Alternatively, freed of his defender, the ballhandler may pass the ball to an open teammate.
200px|thumbnail|left|A forward sets a "screen" on defender
The pick and roll is often employed by a shorter guard handling the ball and a taller forward or center setting the screen; 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/center has a size advantage over the shorter defender.
Results
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 toward the play to try to prevent penetration. It may alternately lead to the ballhandler being momentarily without a defender and thus free to 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, or pass to any open teammate.
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). 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. When they were teammates on the Phoenix Suns, Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire also utilized the high-screen pick and roll to great success. According to Synergy Sports Technology, use of the pick and roll in the NBA rose from 15.6% of total plays in the 2004–05 NBA season to 18.6% in the 2008–09 NBA season. Kostas Sloukas and Jan Veselý of Fenerbahçe İstanbul and Sergio Rodriguez and Kyle Hines of CSKA Moscow.
Other sports
The pick and roll was also used extensively in box lacrosse, the sport played in the National Lacrosse League.
See also
- NBA records