NBA playoffs 2025 - The rise of the self alley-oop - ESPN
DONOVAN MITCHELL WAS stuck.
Midway through the fourth quarter of a home game against the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 5, 2024, Mitchell's Cleveland Cavaliers were leading by double figures. But the six-time All-Star found himself in a tough spot after running a pick-and-roll with big man Jarrett Allen. Mitchell knifed to the top of the key with defender Kevin Huerter trailing and picked up his dribble, seeing an open passing lane to get the ball to Allen. But Domantas Sabonis blocked it with his hand, leaving Mitchell hanging on his pivot foot with the ball at the free throw line.
Huerter caught up and started pestering Mitchell, who tried multiple fakes and pivot twists in vain. The shot clock was running down. With Huerter overplaying his right hand and Sabonis crowding Allen to deny an easy pass inside, Mitchell — running out of time and options — unleashed one final trick: He tossed the ball off the backboard to himself, leaping to slam home a self-assisted dunk.
«There's really no plan,» Mitchell told ESPN last month. «You're caught, you have nowhere to go. You're just trying to figure it out.»
That's what Ja Morant did when he found himself airborne during the Memphis Grizzlies' recent play-in game against the Golden State Warriors. After going up and not having a good look at the rim, he improvised and threw the ball to himself off the glass — then caught it on the other side of the rim for a layup, almost like an in-game version of the Mikan drill.
The «self alley-oop» was once a rare experience, one most fans and players alike trace to a handful of early 2000s legends who, in desperation, used it both to get out of trouble and to create memorable highlights. But in the years since, the play has evolved beyond its