How Caitlin Clark has TAKEN OVER WNBA, Indiana Fever offense COOKING | Hoops Tonight

Introduction all right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume I hope all of you guys are having a great day we're going to mix things up today by turning our attention to the WNBA I want to spend some time doing a deep dive on the Indiana Fever specifically Caitlyn Clark but also the rest of the team and the way they've been the best offense in the WNBA over the last 13 games by a pretty wide margin doing some really interesting stuff in their five out attack a very balanced starting lineup awesome ball and player movement just playing a really beautiful brand of basketball so off the top we're going to talk about some of the specific ways that the Indiana Fever have been playing so well and then after that I've got 17 Clips we're going to do our first film session of the summer diving into the specific ways that Caitlyn Clark Kelsey Mitchell Aaliyah Boston and the Indiana Fever have been cutting up the rest of the WNBA you guys know the drill before we get started subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos follow me on Twitter _ jlt so you don't miss any show announcements don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast on Hoops tonight don't forget it's helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front in the last but not least you know the drill keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the Fall so let's Caitlin Clark & Fever offense on fire talk some basketball the Indiana Fever started this WNBA season one and eight not pretty right uh looked overmatched in a lot of specific matchups didn't really look like they knew how to play with their specific set of talent to be expected you're infusing a a a kind of a a very transformative type of basketball player in Caitlyn Clark into that mix and so naturally it ended up taking some time for them to sort things out but they're 18- n since that one and8 start that is the third best record in the league over that span they have the second best offense in the league over that span and they are third in Pace playing really really fast getting the ball up and down the floor a lot of kick ahead passes from Caitlyn Clark looks a lot like the old school uh Phoenix Suns a little B like the current Indiana Fever with the way that they prioritize kick Ahad passes to try to find advantages in transition in the last 13 games in particular they've been especially dominant they are 10 and three in that span they have the number one offense by a wide margin in that 13 game span Caitlyn Clark herself has been on an insane run in her last 14 games she's averaging 24 points per game that's the second most in the entire WNBA over that span six rebounds per game 10.3 assists per game Alyssa Thomas in that same span is second in the WNBA at 7.7 assists per game that's an that's an incredibly wide margin and her efficiency after being pretty rough in the early part of the season has gone up a massive level she is in that 14 game span shooting 46% from the field 37% from three and 93% from the foul line that amounts to over 62% in true shooting percentage for examp example just as a comparison to the NBA level that is a higher true shooting percentage than LCA donic had in this particular NBA regular season she's received Eastern Conference player of the week honors three weeks in a row really the only player that you can definitively say is playing better basketball than Caitlyn Clark over the last two months is AJ Wilson it actually reminds me of the early 2010s with LeBron and Steph where LeBron was just this clearcut best player in the world and so incredibly physically dominant and no one in the league could guard him and was just kind of running things but there's this upand cominging guard that is cutting everybody up and playing a really unique style and you know in terms of overall kind of impact it's starting to inch closely to that level of impact that LeBron had and obviously that those two ended up having an incredible rivalry in the middle of the 2010s now it remains to be seen if Clark and the fever can do that with Asia Wilson and the aces but it just kind of reminds me in a similar way to that Dynamic that we had in the early 2010s over in the NBA but I want to talk a little bit about the team concept here uh we're g to look at a lot of video that's going to show some specific examples of the way that Caitlyn Clark herself kind of drives things on the offensive end but I want to talk about the team in general for just a minute because this is in my opinion a very very well- constructed modern NBA or excuse me WNBA offense or should just say a modern basketball offense that is succeeding at the WNBA level so it's a m it's a masterpiece of five out basketball five out basketball is a concept I've talked about a ton on this particular show lately talk talking about the differences between five out basketball and some of the differences that we saw in the past it does not involve five shooters that has actually very little to do with uh how five out basketball Works five out basketball is about ball and player movement action cycling from side to side and specifically not occupying the paint in a permanent context but rather occupying the paint briefly when opportunities present themselves driving into the paint cutting into the paint screening and rolling into the paint you get in there see if there's an opportunity take advantage of it or get out but it's the the main difference is cycling from side to side and in order to cycle from side to side you have to have multiple players that can run action on both sides of the floor and that is where the actual lineup construct of the Indiana fever comes into the equation it's a simple construct it's a too big look it's Aaliyah Boston usually Nelissa Smith although they've had a couple of other players that have filled in for Nelissa Smith in that role benley had a really nice game against uh Atlanta the other night but those two bigs are typically focusing on screening and rolling and posting right so they're looking to set screens on Caitlin Clark usually at the beginning of the possession if they have an opportunity to roll into space they're looking to catch and make a read or a shot there but if it doesn't amount to anything they're turning and cycling to the other side of the floor where they're going to try to run something with Kelsey Mitchell and that's the second piece of this is It's a secondary scoring guard in Kelsey Mitchell that complement Caitlyn Clark beautifully lightning quick Lefty has a nice pull-up jump shot to kind of counter it one of the best transition players in the league Kelsey Mel Mitchell is second in a transition points scored in the WNBA this year and a big part of that is those kick ahead passes I was talking about Melissa Smith and and Kelsey Mitchell are always looking to run their lanes and anytime Caitlyn can throw that kick ahead pass she's looking to make it and they're scoring out of it but those those Partnerships it's the two primary shot creators in Kelsey Mitchell and Katlyn Clark and the two primary kind of screening folr rooms in Aaliyah Boston and Nelissa Smith and both of those two in particular Nelissa Smith has done a lot of really good work in ISO and post situations this year but Aaliyah Boston and Nelissa Smith have been torching mismatches whenever they do get switches in the post and so it's like that really nice mix of two good screening partners and two good ball handlers that make it work and then you tie in Lexi hle who's your Textbook 3 andd specialist right she takes a tough perimeter assignment every night on the defensive end of the floor and then on on offense Alexi hle is shooting 48% on catch and shoot jump shots this year not in effective field goal percentage in straight up field goal percentage she's making damn near half of her catch and shoot jump shot see she is the second most efficient catch and shoot player in the league to log at least 50 catch and shoot attempts so kind of a brilliant basketball mix that compliments each other really well right Kelsey brings more like speed and burst at the guard position Caitlyn brings more playmaking and a little bit more catch and shoot game right but the two of them are running the primary actions you've got these two screening partners and then you can't help off of Lexi hle and that is what ties everything together as far as their playing style they play with a ton of pace this was something that that identified early in the season that I think they used for a couple different reasons one to get advantages in transition obviously that you want there's just easier opportunities when the defense isn't set but a second piece of it was avoiding ball pressure Caitlyn Clark from the start of the season was getting picked up full court physical defenses people really trying to uh to expose her inability to handle that like physical ball pressure and so one of the biggest ways that Caitlyn is has uh gotten away from that is on her on ball reps she's looking to catch either on the inbound or on the rebound and just start moving up the floor as fast as possible like don't even give the defender the opportunity to set ball pressure and then the second thing is those kick ahead passes and it's not just the kick ahads to Kelsey Mitchell Drive for a driving lane or a kick ahead to Nelissa Smith running the middle of the floor a big part of it too is just hitting Aaliyah Boston usually kind of around like think about the top of the key extended out almost to the logo and she'll like catch there just so that Caitlyn doesn't have to face the ball pressure then Caitlyn will like kind of run hard at uh at uh Aaliyah Boston's left shoulder kind of on this side to get the defender to kind of kind of commit that side and then she'll Veer back and get like a dribble handoff from alyah Boston now she's in their screening action without having to dribble up the floor against pressure but between those kick ahead passes and trying to beat that ball pressure suddenly they're playing at one of the fastest Paces that we see in the WNBA uh as a team for the entire season the fever are second in transition points scored per game obviously that's not even accounting for the fact that they've been playing way faster over the latter portion of the season in the half court it's Advantage Basketball I've talked about this so much but modern basketball is about advantages it's about creating an advantage extending an advantage and finishing a play that's the three steps to scoring in five out basketball Advantage creation Advantage extension play finishing each of those three require different players to do different things Advantage creation is anything that causes either two Defenders to go to the ball or for the defense at large to lean one way which creates a close out opportunity right so the that is the first step of the possession create that initial Advantage the second step is Advantage extending right that's if you throw that pass because Kelsey Mitchell's Defender is sinking down to the nail and she now has an opportunity to catch with the Defender sprinting at her that's an advantage situation now it's Kelsey Mitchell's job to drive that close out to create an even bigger advantage and then eventually is the end of that sequence which is play finishing where someone either has a wide open Catch and shoot jump shot or they drive that close out and there's an opportunity to score another uh advantage that you'll see is on the roll so like if you'll see a lot of this in the in the film session today Caitlyn comes off of a screen brings the screen Defender up to the level the screener slips into open space Caitlyn throws it over the top now Aaliyah Boston is catching with either her Defender sprinting back in is out of position or no no hope it's somebody else coming over but it's a smaller Defender which now that Advantage is Aaliyah Boston is going against a smaller defender or maybe she has an opportunity to make a kickout pass from there whether it's on the roll or it's on the catch out on the perimeter you have to extend the advantage until you get a great shot which is your opportunity to finish the play and like that's the beautiful thing about all of this when it comes down to their playing style it's not heliocentric Caitlyn has the ball a lot but she's making quick decisions she's for the most part if she's looking to shoot she's doing it early in the clock for the most part she is looking to just create that Advantage get rid of the basketball and everyone on that team trusts each other to make plays off of it and that's why they're getting those uh returns that are beyond the scope of even what their talent would you lead you to believe they are ex that is the beauty of basketball when you can reach the point or the totality of your production is more than the sum of your parts it is beautiful basketball I'm excited to get into a film session and show you guys the variety of ways that the Indiana Fever uh have their success on the offensive end of the floor so without any further Ado let's get over to our film session TD tutty taking it to the house in for six whatever you call a touchdown one thing is for sure touchdowns matter more at draftking Sportsbook an official sports betting partner of the NFL on the ground in the air from the Special Teams or defense we don't care how they score them we want to bet on touchdowns and draftking Sportsbook is the number one place to bet touchdowns ready to place your first NFL bet try betting on something simple like a player to score a touchdown go to the DraftKings Sportsbook app and make your bet today you can also bet on who's going to win the Super Bowl right now DraftKings has the Kansas City Chiefs as the favorite at plus 500 followed by the San Francisco 49ers at Plus 00 ready to do a touchdown dance of your own new DraftKings customers bet $5 to get $250 in bonus bets instantly and get one month of NFL Plus premium download the draftking Sportsbook app and use code Hoops that's h o o PS that's code Hoops for new customers to get $250 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks and get one month of NFL Plus premium only on DraftKings the crown is yours this is Caitlin Clark Film Study an exact a an easy example of bringing the screen Defender up to the level of the screen so we're going to get a ball screen here and one of the things you'll notice is as Caitlyn Clark gets this ball screen one of the things you have to remember is that Caitlyn Clark has hit 77 pull-up jump shots this year 77 jump shots off the dribble that is the fourth most in the entire league and the crazy thing is she still isn't quite hitting those as efficiently as we know she's capable of she's been doing better as of late but there's still another level she can get to there and she's already the fourth most uh uh frequent pullup jump shot maker in the WNBA so watch as Aaliyah Boston comes up to set the screen when the screen gets set the screen Defender has no choice but to come up high and the reason why that screen Defender has to come up high is Caitlyn can knock this shot down so now what that opens up as an opportunity for uh Aaliyah Boston to roll into the paint right so now as a aah Boston rolls into the paint we have two on the ball right we have aiyah Boston going downhill and we have a two-on-one kind of materializing here on the back end watch this pass fake that Aaliyah Boston throws to the cutter boom pass fake look at the defender's eyes I'm gonna go back a little bit because you can literally see it happen watch as she catches watch on the pass fake watch the defender's eyes pass fake boom out of position now now it's dead to rights Aaliyah makes a hard dribble move to the right now that she she has that that space the defender overcorrects hard back to Aaliyah Boston's right hand side and she just spins right off and gets an easy Basket in the paint again that's an advantage created off of that initial action run by Caitlyn Clark right so it finishes in a one-on-one but what we get from the one-on-one is we get a different Defender so first of all the bigger Defender that is that is assigned to guard Aaliyah Aaliyah Boston is now out of the action now we have our two-on-one and this unleashes the pass fake to get the defender further out of position so that Aaliyah can go to work that's textbook Advantage Basketball in five out all right let's go to the next one one of the things that Caitlyn Clark fights against a lot at the WNBA level is just really aggressive ball pressure she if there's one thing that you can really point to that she struggled with it's turning the basketball over and there's a lot of context there she's throwing a lot of passes there is a lot of ball and player movement in the fever offense and with more ball and player movement means more turnovers that's been something that we've seen around basketball forever I mean famously the Golden State Warriors for running one of the most beautiful offenses of this era famously turn the ball over a lot right that's something that that to is to be expected but the second piece of it is Kaylin has struggled with ball pressure right so teams are always going to try to overplay uh on the basketball now what I want you to see here this is Jordan Canada on the ball against Caitlyn Clark watch the job that she does in these first couple actions they're setting up a double stagger but she's not allowing herself to get screened by staying attached to Caitlyn Clark and not giving an angle for the screener to actually set a a good pick on her right so one of the things that Caitlyn Clark has done a lot of I actually talked about this more in a transition context but she's going to do it here in the half court is avoiding that ball pressure by just getting rid of the basketball so in this case aiyah Boston goes like she's going to run a screen to the other side of the floor but she turns around and realizes Caitlyn wants to make a pass to her so Caitlyn makes a pass Watch What Happens here now from this situation it's setting up with the same concept of a ball screen with a ball handler but instead it's off ball because she gave it up but the action is defended exactly the same right this guard is going to try to chase Caitlyn over the top and this screen Defender is going to come up high to try to meet her but one of the ways that Caitlyn is countering ball pressure is identifying okay Jordan Canada just was trying to jump over every screen and meet me on the other side so why don't I just fake like I'm going to go off this dribble handoff she runs at it fakes it boom look at Jordan Canada she jumps way to the high side of the screen Caitlyn back cuts off of it ends up getting a clean look and knocks it down Caitlyn by the way is getting 1.23 points per catch and shoot jump shot this year that is sixth among the 33 WNBA players to log at least 100 of them this is a just an example of just how difficult it is to guard Caitlyn watch these off ball screening actions she sets a a cross screen for a post up here on the left block and then she immediately runs off of two off ball screens Jordan Canada is going to try to work her way through it this is really well defended too she's chasing she's pursuing she's staying attached now we have this dribble handoff kind of materializing right here and the way you want to defend this is you want this guard to continue to chase over the top and you want this big to show they do that it doesn't matter that's good defense but this is one of the best catch and shoot players in the league one of the best movement Shooters in the league she knocks it down Anyway by the way that is why you're going to see so many examples in this film session of her hitting clean rollers to the basket because she's constantly drawing that second Defender out to the level of the screen all right here's an example of one of those kick ahead passes that I was talking about so we're going to get a drive watch on the rebound Leah Boston is going to quickly give it to Kaylin watch as soon as the look at Kelsey Mitchell Kelsey Mitchell as soon as she sees as soon as she identifies we have the rebound so right here it's like oh we have the rebound she's gonna immediately start sprinting her Lane up the right side and she's got a big in front of her so she knows if she can beat this big on the Sprint There's an opportunity Caitlyn identifies this right away boom eyes up the floor right so we're already looking eyes up the floor it's a two on two but now it's like route running in the NFL it's like k Kelsea get open on this route she has a head of steam she starts to pass the defender turns her back towards the rim now she's backpedaling while Kelsey's sprinting she's dead to wrs Caitlyn hits her in stride beautiful pass easy basket there remember Kelsey Mitchell has scored in transition 61 times this year that's the second most in the entire WNBA here's an example of how I was talking about how you can actually get a lot of the same advantages that you get in ball screens but in an off Ball action so let's watch how this play develops into a wideopen three for Lexi hle so Caitlin gives up the basketball now we're going to flow into an action with Kelsey Mitchell right but instead of at running a ball screen with Kelsey Mitchell we're gonna get an off ball pick for Caitlyn Clark coming this way okay so f benley is gonna go set the screen Caitlyn comes off to softball action as we've seen Caitlyn has knocked down a bunch of these already right this is this is one of her calling cards right screen Defender look at the screen defender's body she's getting ready to close out hard Caitlyn comes off two on the ball okay so that's our initial Advantage so where do we go from there f benley is goingon to cut into the lane into this area she gives the ball to Kelsey Mitchell Kelsey Mitchell sees back benley cutting hits her boom on the catch all the Atlanta Dream players turn their heads here as these two in particular converge around her the the Defender guarding Lexi Hull in the weak side corner has to get down in box out here as she comes down to box out now Lexi Hull is wide open on the weak side for the catch and shoot three and as I mentioned she's been one of the very best catch and shoot players in the entire W WNBA this year so watch it full speed again you guys can see what I'm talking about off Ball action two on the ball okay roll into the lane hit the roller defense converges wide openen three on the weak side taking advantage of that initial Advantage again so our initial Advantage was created by Caitlyn Clark our advantage was extended by Kelsey Mitchell hitting F benley on the roll to the rim here and then our play finisher was Lexi hole on the weak side beautiful modern ball movement on offense here's another example of just giving Aaliyah Boston highquality role opportunities by virtue of Caitlyn Clark drawing the defender to the level of the screen so here we go here's our ball screen on the ball screen the defender up at the level Aaliyah rolls we hit her here now watch the screen Defender is actually recovering to guard Aaliyah Boston but she's not in position right if we were playing King of the court and it's just one-on-one and the Defenders faced up with her it's a tougher matchup right but now she's out of position from the start then from there she can just go to one of her post moves and the defender is not even set she just easily gets to her little left shoulder hook and knocks it down that's Advantage Basketball again it's a post up it's a one-on-one play but it's a one-on-one play against a Defender at a disadvantage that is going to be the primary driver of shot quality this was on a made basket look at the transition kick ahead pass from Caitlyn Clark she catches looks up the floor she sees F Bley running along this left side here all eyes are on Caitlyn Clark look at this beautiful kick ahead feed that's unbelievable basketball taking advantage of the easy opportunities no reason to even sit in the half court and try to execute if we don't have to how many of you guys have ever watched the Golden State Warriors and watched Draymond Green execute a fake dribble handoff with Steph Curry this is a great example of that in a huge moment late game down by two there uh Indiana's potential final opportunity to tie this game we're going to make a a simple entry pass here to Aaliyah Boston okay now as we're getting ready to throw this dribble handoff watch Aaliyah Boston's Defender she is going to on the dribble handoff show in case Caitlyn Clark comes off looking to shoot Aaliyah Boston just fakes the dribble handoff gets right to the rim easy two to tie the game how often can you expect an huge moment like that against a a defense that's really locked in to get a wide open layup it's all set up by that ball and player movement that they've used the entire game here's another example um here's another example in overtime uh this time benley is going to hit a catch and shoot mid-range jump shot off of the uh off of the handoff so we're GNA get a dribble hand off with Caitlyn watch same exact concept as she comes off screen Defender shows when the screen Defender shows we're just rolling into this space right here at the elbow easy jump shot again this is a wide openen completely uncontested jump shot in a crunchtime situation by virtue of the attention that Caitlyn Clark draws knocked it down all right so this is the other game I was pulling clips from a uh a monster Knight that Caitlyn had against the LA Sparks these are the last two wins that that Indiana had um here's another example of Caitlin Clark bringing the screen Defender up to the level so let's get ahead to the other side of the floor first to transition here so we're going to get a quick little ball screen in transition ball screen Boop screen Defender steps up we're going to hit the pocket pass to the roller roller coming down the lane but now watch Lexi Hull is like I had mentioned one of the best um catch and shoot players in the league so instead of this Defender stepping in and putting her body on the line she immedi immediately panics and watch her jump back out as if she's going to the shooter because she's worried about Lexi hole because of how deadly she is as a shooter as a result the role gets a wideopen layup Al righty this is an example of uh um Caitlyn drawing a trap with Nelissa Smith let's see here actually it was with Nelissa Smith was the one who was open on this play but we're going to get a basic Blitz of the ball screen right so Caitlyn again we're going to play Advantage Basketball here Kaylin gets the double right so now Nelissa Smith's Defender steps up and and she's standing wide open underneath the basket but there's just really good ball pressure and it leads to a turnover when I talk about how important ball pressure is when you're blitzing or any sort of double team this is what I mean because when you have a four on three you're going to give up something that's open in this case the Sparks end up giving up a wide open layup to Nelissa Smith but by virtue of just pressuring the ball and making the passing angle more difficult they forced the turnover but you can imagine even if she just gets a tip on this it might be enough for this Defender coming in from the weak side corner to come in and steal it that's why it's so important to apply ball pressure when you are um when you are sending two at the ball but that's another example Caitlyn Clark draws a blitz there's a wide open layup there for Nelissa Smith if they can execute on that in the second half in this game in particular uh La really started to Blitz and uh Indi struggled with it a little bit but they were getting good opportunities they were just missing easy shots Aaliyah Boston in particular missed a couple easy little short roll jump shots during that stretch we're going to get to that in a minute though this is an example of a a play that we see the fever run quite a bit and they run it in a bunch of different ways sometimes they'll have Aaliyah Boston set the screen first but then other times they'll just have her run to the post so in this case she didn't set the screen but sometimes they'll have Aaliyah Boston actually screen for Caitlyn Clark first but basically what they'll do is they'll wheel through their two bigs so the second big will then come up to set an action right and then as that's happening they'll bring Kelsey Mitchell out of that weak side corner to set a cross screen on Aaliyah Boston's Defender then she will get a deep post catch in this area but what's crazy here and this is one of the things that makes Caitlyn Clark such a wizard Caitlyn Clark let's go back to that action so we were watching the off Ball action we see Aaliyah Boston coming off of this P this uh uh um this cross screen here but if we go back to the action as the second screener comes up Caitlin's going to draw two immediately so what's ironic here is you've got an open opportunity on the roll as well but Aaliyah Boston is a good deep seal here and because Kelsey Mitchell who's normally occupying this corner is the one setting the pick there's still a passing angle there watch this pass from Caitlyn Clark against crazy ball pressure all the way from about 45t from the basket on a rope that hits Aaliyah Boston perfectly under the basket for a layup beautiful basketball but yeah the fever run a lot of that type of action we're going to go over a couple of the consistent actions that Indiana runs uh here in the next few minutes but that's one that I've seen from them quite a bit where they will just basically either have a Le set that first pick or in that case not set it but then wheel around as the other screener comes up to set the pick and then she'll come off of that cross screen from Kelsey Mitchell she gets a lot of really nice deep post catches there here's another play that The Fever have run a lot in the second half of the season that's worked really well and this is a beautiful example of how second side action can be so deadly as long as you take the time to run that first side action so again when I say second side action what I mean is is Caitlyn Clark is running the primary action and Kelsey Mitchell's running the secondary action after the ball gets reversed right so what we're going to do here is Kaylin's gonna dribble down she's gonna run dribble handoff that's our first action right look at all the LA Sparks players they're all keyed up on this side we have three players outside of the paint on the strong side of the floor so then when the ball gets swung Aaliyah Boston has it and Aaliyah Boston is going to turn to go run action with Kelsey Mitchell but look at all of the Sparks Defenders because they just ran action on this side of the floor I still have three Sparks that are on the left side of the paint and a fourth that's all the way 25 20 feet away from the basket so Kelsey Mitchell will come up like she's running a dribble handoff and then she's gonna cut back door now what is this defender's job this defender's job is to chase Kel Kelsey Mitchell off this action and you're going to see we're going to have a clip here in just a second where Kelsey comes off one of these like like crazy and gets all the way to the rim for a left-handed layup because she's really damn hard to guard when she gets the ball in those situations and she's coming off the screen right so but here's an example of her o uh beating the overplay by just cutting back door out of it and then I've talked all those of you guys you you NBA fans who have been watching me so much over the course of the last few weeks I've been talking a lot about this concept within Team USA and and other things and with the isaah hartenstein signing you got to have bigs in these situations that can make these reads and this is a beautiful feed from Aaliyah Boston that hits Kelsey Mitchell on the catch but again notice the entire backside help from La is not there because they just had to defend a Caitlyn Clark action on the strong side of the floor and they all got kind of worked up over there you can imagine in a scenario where this was the beginning of the possession where Aaliyah Boston was here and there was no action run on this side of the floor these Defenders are likely all at least one step further over to that strong side of the floor which is now this side right then if Kelsey Mitchell Cuts back door she's cutting into defense and she may not have that opportunity right that's why it's so important in five out to get ball reversal to run that first action and then to move the ball to the other side because generally speaking human nature will keep these three Defenders out of position and give you an opportunity to take advantage of that this is uh this next clip is just classic Caitlyn Clark ISO magic a beautiful step back jump shot let's fast forward a little bit here look at this dribble combination hard cross over to the left gets the defender way out of position try to cut off the drive gets plenty of Separation straight up and down that's the main thing I want you guys to see here on this play watch just the end of the shot if I showed you this look at her left foot notice when she takes the step back her left foot catches her body weight from here I'm GNA play it this is just a catch and shoot jump shot it's a wide open Catch and shoot jump shot right but there's a footwork element to it because she's actually going full speed she sets her body up to the right right now look at where her body is set up her her face is turned to the right her shoulders are turned to the right her hips are turned to the right her toes are pointed to the right everything is keyed up like she's about to go to the right this is why I talk about all the time with ball handling it's less about you whipping the ball around in some sort of dramatic dribbling technique and it's more about how you sell your change of Direction she is selling that she's going right she whips it back across to the left look at how low she is she drops her shoulder now her whole body is geared up like she's going on the drive that right foot boom right there hard step back catches her body weight now it's straight up and down so she got herself a wideopen jump shot but she did it with footwork and by selling her change of Direction and was able to actually make that out of a standard static one-on-one situation that's Elite ball handling that is Elite footwork that is elite shot making from Caitlyn Clark as I talked about earlier they were struggling with the Blitz in the second half not by virtue of not handling it properly just missing shots they were in these situations um you would see uh you would see the second Defender come toward Ward Caitlyn let's get out to where Caitlyn has the ball here first so okay you would have this situation and both Defenders would go with Caitlyn and aiyah Boston just missed a couple easy ones here in the short range but in this particular play they finally beat it here comes the blitz both are on the ball Aaliyah Boston rolls into space but now look what happens she's rolling into space and going up against a smaller Defender so yeah this is a one-on-one this is a post up this is a nice move and finish from Aaliyah Boston but it is an advantage that is cre from the initial action and again that's why in in Advantage Basketball you got to remember all three steps and all three steps are equally important to the ball going into the basket she spins right off gets an easy layup another nasty bit of shot making from Caitlyn let's watch the footwork of it let's watch it in full speed first that's nasty same kind of setup but instead of uh crossing over to Drive she's crossing over behind her back to shoot so again full body set up as if she's going to drive now as the defender the defender is completely geared up heading towards that right-hand drive we hit the step back dribble and that little extra Shuffle step and once again straight up and down at the end again A lot of times we look at that we go oh that's crazy it's a step back jump shot the shot making part is the easy part the harder part is can you get the separation and can you get the lift and reset your base and go straight up and down right there's a foot work element that we often Overlook in those situations nasty jump shot and then to end the game this beautiful transition drop off pass little turnover a push behind the back easy basket let's all yell and scream and celebrate another big win for the Indiana Fever so yeah um hopefully that guys that gives you guys a better understanding of some of the specific ways that Indiana has had so much success on offense I think that it's a it's it's a something that I've always been a big fan of because this is something that I think so many NBA teams in particular as I've been covering the league haven't done a good good enough job of exploiting which is just using simple actions to get an advantage and then having the floor spaced and set up properly for you to capitalize on those particular advantages but most importantly getting the ball from side to side reversing the basketball having multiple actions the same possession so that you get real ball and player movement that is what gets a defense out of their set configuration that is what makes you as an offense much harder to guard uh that's all I have for this particular video I plan on doing some stuff around Caitlyn Clark and the fever over the course of this playoff run so make sure that you guys follow our YouTube channel or subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven't already follow me on Twitter _ jlt so you guys can see our show announcements I will let you guys know when I plan on covering games again I appreciate you guys for supporting the show and I will see see you next time [Music]