Olympiacos Horns Miami Shallow

I am often asked about the differences between European and American basketball and while there are many answers something that comes up often is the order of operations that differs a bit in set design between the two cultures.

In America, a lot of actions start with dribble handoffs and then get into ball screens, but in Europe a lot of actions start with a pick and roll to then get into a handoff and THEN get into another ball screen. I feel like this is due to how aggressive handoff coverage is in Europe where defenses will look to blow up the action. A lot of European teams will use early, high angled ball screens to initiate offense, just like Olympiacos does here—setting up the Miami shallow. A Miami action with a shallow cut remains one of the prettiest actions in basketball to me.