NBA teams can't stop this Spurs play even though they know it's coming

We wrote about the San Antonio Spurs’ Hammer Play in depth three years ago, and we revisited it last season when the Spurs kept fooling teams with it. The play itself is relatively simple: a strong side pick-and-roll, and a weak side back pick that allows a shooter to sprint to the corner for a three-pointer. (The links above explain it in depth, if you’re interested.)

This play is no secret, of course, but other teams get baited into it anyway. In the past week, we’ve seen the Spurs run it successfully twice with one amusing wrinkle: the opponents can’t stop it even when their coaches are calling the play out.

If you listen closely here, you can hear someone yelling out “HAMMER, HAMMER, HAMMER,” presumably from the Indiana Pacers bench. The Pacers won this game on Sunday, but they couldn’t stop this three-pointer despite advanced warning.

The same thing happened to the Timberwolves earlier this week, as pointed out by Cleaning the Glass’s Ben Falk. Here’s his video breaking down the play, which worked despite Timberwolves assistant coach Andy Greer literally standing up to point out the developing Hammer play to no avail.

The Spurs will be successfully running this play in 3017.