NBA Daily X&O Recap for Coaches: League opener Celtics at 76ers - Do not Make these mistakes Defending Wide Pins

Here we have Fultz at the Poin, Embiid at the elbow, and Convington in the corner. The action starts with the Embiid sliding down towards the baseline, and Fulc changing the position from the sideline to the middle of the court. By these two movements, the 45-degree spot was left empty for Convington.

If you want to know how to defend this kind of screen action, we have done some explaining in one of our previous articles called: Top Siding vs. Wide Pins

Here is a perfect example of how to get loose off of your defender by using this kind of screen. First, he made two steps towards the paint just to make a better angle in order for the screen to work the best way possible. If he ran straight onto Embiid, he would find himself in the same spot as Fultz and his defender, or he would eventually get to the wing position but with no advantage over Kyrie, who was guarding him.

The contact that he made with Kyrie before running for the screen was crucial because this way Convington is using momentum from the push and Kyrie is not able to follow him right away.

The court's awareness is at its best in this action. Convington sees that Kyrie is stuck on the screen and he is making a good decision by cutting towards the basket. Fultz is also making a good decision because he is not rushing the pass even though Convington is alone on the 3pt line and he is aware that there is no help defense inside the paint.

The action ended with the easy layup with nobody protecting the rim.

Notice the mistakes from the defense:

• No Top Siding vs. Wide Pins done by Kyrie

• Kyrie dying on the screen and Horford not helping

• Smart not helping as a weak side defender

Here we have both Redick and Embiid on the elbows and Fulctz is again at the Point. The action starts with Embiid making a screen for J.J., and sliding towards the 45-degree sport. Depending on how the defense is following the play, just out of this screen, there are many options:

• If the defender goes over, J.J. can dribble towards the baseline

• If the defender goes under, the middle of the court is open

• if the defender is stuck on screen Reddick can shoot an open three

In this situation Jaylen Brown is playing good defense and managing to catch Redick, so the action continues: Fultz is making a first screen for J.J., and Embiid is positioning for the second one.

In this situation we have Al Horford playing lazy defense as if he does not know about Redick`s shooting.

Fultz is going in a roll after the pick, and Embiid is stretching the floor. For the people who do not follow NBA this would be strange for the Point Guard rolling and Center going to 3pt line. Fultz was injured last season with some shoulder problems and his shooting form is far from being even average. On the other hand, Embiid is 38% 3pt shooter, so the play now makes a lot of sense.