How Bravo Slammed the Brakes on Truck

The strategy Bravo used to upset Truck and challenge DC's finely tuned offense.

December 13, 2022 by Max Charles in Analysis with 0 comments

Denver Johnny Bravo won a club men’s division title as the no.8 seed, shockingly taking care of business in the final against top seed Washington DC Truck Stop.

Much deserved recognition was given to the Bravo force middle defense in their campaign for the 2022 Men’s Division title. Particularly noteworthy was its ability to earn turnovers against a Truck offense that had carved apart every other team it faced on its way to the championship game, including Bravo in pool play.

With the season finale being the fifth meeting of the teams in the season, on-field adjustments were critical, and the final delivered an intense strategic battle.

What Kept the Truck From Stopping

Let’s begin by analyzing Truck’s offensive strengths and objectives. In a post-Nationals recap on their podcast, “One Throw at a Time”, Jonny Malks and Rowan McDonnell outlined some of the basic principles of the Truck offensive strategy:

[One Throw at A Time 5:35 -7:13]

One specific detail that stood out to me in Malks’ description¹ was the player left in the lane and their interest in springing that player across on an “under and L.” Horizontal cutting shapes are prominent in the Truck offense, a contrast to the typical introductory philosophy of cutting and attacking vertically.

Let’s take a look at some examples to see how Truck’s offense works on the horizontal plane to earn advantages:

1. Editor: Time stamp 5:35 to 7:13. ↩