In the modern NBA, spacing and movement are the most important thing. And as a pioneer of that, Mike D’antoni’s Rockets are the best example for all coaches around the world.

The Rockets have two extremely playing styles: Iso and Pistol (so called “21”).

With James Harden, basically nothing you can do on the Iso part, but the Pistol part is always what we can prepare before the match.

In R2G1 of Utah at Houston, not surprisingly, the very first play of the game is Pistol.

Chris Paul brings the ball up as all 5 players space out, and then he passes to Clint Capela on the top key. After that, James Harden pushes off his defender and comes off Chris Paul’s down screen.

Because of the spacing we mention earlier and the setting for the left hand drive, the dribble hand-off of Clint Capela and James Harden leaves so much room for them to workout.

And if you watch the clip again and again, you will also find that the timing of back screen from P.J. Tucker is another critical detail. It forces Derrick Favors, another Jazz’s rim protector, to step up instead of helping inside.

Quin Snyder make a quick adjustment.

Since that, the Jazz call a guard-to-guard switch every time the Rockets run any plays from Pistol series.

That is to say, the top guard stays for taking whoever is coming off a down screen, back screen, hand-off, etc., and his responsibility is forcing him back to sideline even without the ball.

So, the easy basket drive of James Harden like in the first play will never happen again, and it is absolutely acceptable to let Nene Hilario do James Harden’s job.

On the other hand, the low guard needs to drop a little bit for taking out Rockets’ other options: like Chris Paul’s fake hand-off drive or P.J. Tucker’s curl cut.

As you can see in the video, if Jazz force the ball to the sideline successfully, all weak side defenders can sink into the paint.

And there is no spacing any more.

OK, it’s Mike D’antoni’s turn.

In Q4 about 7 minutes left, Rockets come out of timeout with a great tweak.

Same thing, ball is on Clint Capela’s hand, who is on the top key, but this time, Eric Gordon starts from the weak side.

As Eric Gordon cuts to ball side, he is going deep so that his defender needs to chase him from his back. Therefore, as Eric Gordon flips the angle and sets the screen, his defender is NOT the top guard any more.

If he step out, Eric Gordon can easily slip to the rim. As a result, there is no way to switch.

James Harden’s defender need to chase by himself, like what happen in the first play, and the rest is history.