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James and Scariolo's box-and-one debate

James and Scariolo's box-and-one debate

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21 December 20224 Mins read

The box-and-one is a hybrid zone defense that, even though it goes back many decades, is so seldomly used at the heights of pro basketball that it surprised a lot of people when two Turkish Airlines EuroLeague teams used the same strategy in Round 14.

First, a primer. The box-and-one is as it sounds. One defender is removed from the traditional 2-1-2 zone to stick like glue to a single offensive player on the other team, leaving his four teammates to defend in a box-like formation. There are many rules after that to make it work properly, so it ends up resembling more of a moving, rotating box, and often flattens into a triangle to cover the middle when necessary.

Trying to overcome a long losing streak on the road last week, ALBA Berlin used a box-and-one throughout its game with AS Monaco, isolating the home team's top scorer and assist-maker, Mike James, in single coverage to deny him the ball at every opportunity.

Did ALBA's box-and-one work?

One one hand, yes, because James took fewer shots, 5, than in any of his last 157 EuroLeague games and last-place ALBA was tied near the finish on the court of second-place Monaco, until Elie Okobo hit a game-winner on the buzzer for the hosts. Conversely, though he did not shoot much, James was still Monaco's top performer, with 8 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists for a performance index rating of 22 over almost 32 minutes.

Still, James was not elated with the experience, leading to a spirited discussion on his Twitter comment.

In another game that started a half-hour earlier, the box-and-one came later, as Virtus Segafredo Bologna strategically sprung it on Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv star Lorenzo Brown with just over 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Virtus was trailing 59-66 as Brown had 16 points and 6 assists until then. He was held to just 2 free throws the rest of the way as Virtus soon converted Maccabi turnovers for a 12-0 run en route to a 78-73 victory.

Virtus head coach Sergio Scariolo had mentioned in game-day interviews that Brown was Maccabi's fourth-quarter decider. To disrupt that, Scariolo ran double-teams at Brown when he got the ball, forcing him to pass, then left one defender, usually Isaia Cordinier, in a denial position to keep Brown from getting it back.

"We prepared this [box-and-one] and the coaches called for it at the perfect time. It was great timing," Virtus forward Tornike Shengelia said post-game. "At the end of the day, as our coaches mentioned a lot, it doesn't matter what we put in defensively; if we don't put the effort in, it's not going to work."

As it happens, James's comments calling the box-and-one ridiculous – if used for a full 40 minutes – were brought up a couple days later to Scariolo, who noted having used the same defense in in international competition as the head coach of Spain as well as when he was an assistant coach for Toronto in the NBA against Luka Doncic

"We used it for three minutes in our last game and it gave us the opportunity to completely turn the game around. We were down by seven and we ended up being up by six in just three minutes," Scariolo said. "Honestly, I have never played it for 40 straight minutes.

"Of course, the box and one annoys and suffocates you, but you must be able to answer it. I understand Mike James because playing a whole game with somebody on you shouldn't be fun. But I'm sure that [Monaco head coach] Sasa Obradovic thought about how to attack and try to find a countermeasure during the game. You can't go to the other coach and say, 'Please, don't use it because Mike is fed up'."