If Amir Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas had a plan going into the Toronto Raptors’ game against the Washington Wizards on Sunday night, they executed it to perfection. Toronto may have gone on to lose the game, but Johnson and Valanciunas were down in the trenches doing the dirty work just seconds after the opening tip.
The two big men apparently got together before the game and decided they were going to spring their teammates free on offense by setting double-screens. As you can see, that entailed locking arms and setting picks that were borderline impossible to break through.
Were they just screwing around? Given Johnson’s history of wearing sneakers like this and having eccentric haircuts, that’s probably a safe bet. But if I’m ever coaching a youth basketball team, this is one of the first things I’m going to teach about moving without the ball on offense.
