4. Nash And Stat Pick And Rolls
No need to bend the rules on this one, since Nash and Stoudemire were absolutely unstoppable in the high pick-and-roll. They were the second most mutually beneficial pick-and-roll duo of all-time, behind only Stockton and Malone.
If you went under the screen, Nash could knock down a three or a mid-range jumper as a regular 40+ percent three-point shooter. If you tried to trap Nash, he’d find STAT rolling to the rim or a shooter left wide open by the help defense. If you tried to switch the screen, Nash would break down the bigger defender off the dribble, or he’d capitalize on a smaller defender guarding Stoudemire. Or both.
Nash was crafty and quick enough to drive past bigger defenders and burn them at the rim with tricky little scoop shots that no one could block. He would always keep the ball just far enough in front of his defender that he could convert once he got by his man.
Even when the defender was in good position to reject the smaller Nash’s shot, he’d find a way to pull off a pump fake, find an open player or just do something silly like this reverse layup:
What’s scary is cutting off Nash was only Part 1 of the attack. Because if the defense managed to cut off Nash’s initial move out of the pick and roll, they still had to worry about his perfect pocket passes to Stoudemire, who would usually take them and do something like this:
Even a proper hedge on these screen and rolls would leave defenses vulnerable to STAT slipping the screen, catching a pocket pass from Nash and throwing it down with authority.
You really can’t contrive a better modern-day pick and roll duo. Nash’s ball handling skills, court vision and ability to get the ball to his man through a crowd mixed perfectly with Stoudemire’s strength, agility, soft hands and explosive finishing power at the rim.
It’s hard to pick one Nash-Stoudemire pick-and-roll highlight, but you can’t mention Steve Nash without talking about the pick-and-roll tandem that made Phoenix’s offense so unstoppable for so long.
Next: No. 3