The following is a listing of all posts in the category of Basketball Plays for our site.
Ball Screen Sets
Horns Sets
Post Up Plays
Man to Man Isolation Plays
Backdoor Plays
Man to Man 3 Point Shot
2-3 Zone Attack
BLOBs
SLOBs
Combo Defense Attack
Regardless of how well designed these plays are, they will not be effective for your team unless they are adjusted to fit the strengths of your players. I recommend taking bits and pieces of them and combining those movements with what you know to work with your players.
Successful offensive basketball teams are teams that have developed the skills through practice to pass, cut, catch, dribble with purpose, and shoot. Without working daily during the season and frequently from April to September, there will be no successful X and O execution.
Plays don’t win games, players do. Successful plays force the defense into difficult coverages and put players in spots to utilize their skills.
In addition to selecting the basketball plays that your team will run and teaching the timing and spacing necessary, there are several other factors to consider. Among those are:
1) How many times will you run each play during a game?
2) Do you have plays that will work against various schemes and styles of defense? Trapping? Sagging, Denying, Full Court, Half Court
3) Do your players know how to react if the defense “plays the play.”
4) What do you do if you run the play to completion with no shot?
5) Do you have plays that develop into scoring attempts quickly to catch up or at the end of a clock?
6) Do you have plays that set up or sequence each other?
7) Have you practiced substitutes in all spots that they will play in a game?
I hope that helps you to put together a solid plan for how you will best utilize set plays with your team.
Here are some effective plays to consider for the following situations and objectives:
Ball Screen Sets
Mustang Inside Screens
A quick hitter to run to get the ball inside against a 2-3 zone defense.
Syracuse Women’s Associate Head Coach Vonn Read submits two plays each month from his book The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays.
You can also see more of his plays in the Related Posts links at the bottom of this post. Vonn has also served as an assistant coach in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury, Orlando Miracle, and San Antonio Silver Stars. He was an advanced scout for the Orlando Magic as well as The Charlotte Sting.
This is a Great Lob Set for your 5 Player or best athlete.
The 2 and 3 players will cut in and set inside screens on the top 2 defenders in the Zone.
See the rest of this drill here.
Arizona On Ball Screens
This play is from the Arizona Basketball Newsletter.
For more screen actions like this Double High Ballscreen, click here.
VCU Ball Screens
These notes are from a presentation by former Virginia Commonwealth Men’s Assistant Coach Donny Lind.
1. MAKE 2 GUARD 1 TO CREATE SCRAMBLE
2. EXPLOIT POOR DEFENDERS • GUARDS WHO “MELT” or • IMMOBILE BIGS
3. SET BALL SCREENS IN SITUATIONS WHERE IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO GUARD PROPERLY
4. CREATE “COUNTER” OPPORTUNITIES
5. CREATE A ROLE FOR UNSKILLED BIGS
Check out the original post here to see more ball screens utilized by VCU.
Looking for more of our best ball screen sets? You can find them here.
Horns Sets
2 Horns Sets
In this horns had off jumper, 1 passes to 4 then cuts off of 5 into the lane and out to the right wing.
2 moves across the baseline as 3 steps in to the low post.
You can learn more about these sets here.
Iowa State Quick Hits
Hand off to back cut.
1 dribbles to the left wing and gives the ball to 3 on a dribble hand-off.
Click here to get more details on Iowa State Quick Hits.
Horns Elbow Bone
Coach Vonn Read has submitted several plays from his book The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays to the Coaching Toolbox.
Vonn has been the Associate Head Coach for the Women’s program at Syracuse since 2011 as was instrumental in their final four run in the spring of 2016.
Coach Read has also served as an assistant coach in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury, Orlando Miracle, and San Antonio Silver Stars. He was an advanced scout for the Orlando Magic as well as The Charlotte Sting.
This play is a quick hitter to get an isolation for your 1 player.
The numbers are meant to identify the players.
They are not meant to say that you have to have a traditional #1 to run this play, or that the player has to drive to their right hand. You can adjust the play to the opposite side of the floor, if you would want the player to drive left.
It is meant to stimulate your thinking to come up with ways to put your players in positions where they can use their individual strengths for the good of the team.
Go here to learn more about what Coach Read has to say on this quick hitter.
Post Up Plays
Fred Hoiberg 2-3 Corner Up
These plays with 2 options to finish are taken from the Basketball HoopScoop’s Fred Hoiberg Iowa State Cyclones Playbook (written by Wes Kosel).
To see the other options on these Iowa State post up plays, click here.
Hawks Double Rip
This play was contributed by Adam Spinella Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at Division III Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA.
The Atlanta Hawks run this action to get Al Horford or Paul Millsap open for a post-up situation. The Double Rip action usually frees them up to establish very deep position.
Click here to find more info on this play.
Box 53 Vandy Razor
Today’s play is a way to get the ball to a big at the basket.
Coach Vonn Read has submitted several plays from his book The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays to the Coaching Toolbox.
Vonn is the Associate Head Coach for the Women’s program at Syracuse.
Coach Read has also served as an assistant coach in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury, Orlando Miracle, and San Antonio Silver Stars. He was an advanced scout for the Orlando Magic as well as The Charlotte Sting.
You can get more details on this play here.
Man to Man Isolation Plays
Box Elbow Split High
I have posted several plays from Syracuse Associate Womens’ Head Coach Vonn Read’s book The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays
Coach Read has also served as an assistant coach in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury, Orlando Miracle, and San Antonio Silver Stars. He was an advanced scout for the Orlando Magic as well as The Charlotte Sting.
This play is a quick hitter to use against man to man defense.
See the rest of this isolation play here.
Backdoor Plays
Horns Swing Backdoor
This backdoor play was contributed by Jusin Scanson to the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library.
The play is designed to clear out the help defense and set up a backdoor cut.
From a horns set, 4 pops out to get a wing catch.
1 cuts through the lane to the weak side corner.
2 starts to cut towards the top of the key as 5 occupies the high post. 3 V cuts to get a catch near the corner.
Get the rest of the info on this horns swing backdoor play here.
Man to Man 3 Point Shot
2015 Eurobasket Tournament Sets
Estonia Horns Stagger
1 dribbles to the right wing.
5 screens for 4
1 runs a dribble hand off with 2
4 sets a ball screen for 2 after the dribble hand off.
To see the rest of this play, check out the diagrams here.
3 Point Sets – Pistol Hammer
This play is run by the Portland Trailblazers.
These plays were submitted to FastModel by University of Cincinnati Men’s program assistant Greg Youncofski. You can see the plays in their entirety on this page.
Zipper Pin Down Runner 1
This play is a set with a couple of 3 point shot options. These were submitted by Syracuse Women’s Associate Head Coach Vonn Read. Vonn has also served as an assistant coach in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury, Orlando Miracle, and San Antonio Silver Stars. He was an advanced scout for the Orlando Magic as well as The Charlotte Sting.
This is a good 3-point set for a shooter.
The 2 player (Shooter) will cut hard to the top off the Zipper Screen by the 5 player.
The 3 player will come up hard off the down screen to get the pass from the 2 player.
Click here to see more details about this play.
2-3 Zone Attack
Arizona 2-3 Quick Hitter
Arizona Throw Back
2 quick hitters to run against a 2-3 zone. One to get a corner 3 and one with several options to finish.
The plays are from Scott Peterman’s Ultimate Zone Offense Playbook.
To see more about these plays, check them out here.
2 Michigan State Zone Sets
These 2 Michigan State Zone offensive Sets are from Coach Scott Peterman’s Ultimate Zone offense playbook.
These two zone attack sets are from Scott Peterman’s Ultimate Zone Offense eBook.
I hope they give you some ideas that you can add to your zone attack.
Click here to see more info about these zone sets.
Boise Zone Quick Hitter
This post was made by Justin Scanson.
This is a great quick hitter that puts a 2-3 zone in a few tough situations.
This play works best if 4 is a threat to shoot the 3 at the top of the key.
Once 1 initiates the play and swings the ball, quick ball movement and spacing put x4 in a spot where they have to figure out to whom they want to give the wide open 3.
1 Dribbles up the right side until x1 initiates defense.
4 steps out for ball reversal as 5 cuts to high post calling for the ball.
3 runs the baseline hard.
To see the rest of this quick hitter, click here.
BLOBs
End of Game/Quarter, Need 3
These inbounds plays came from the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library.
The site has thousands of drills and plays that have been submitted by basketball coaches from around the world.
The first play is an under the basket inbounds play, the second is a side out play.
Contributed by Brandon Mullis, Ragsdale High School in Jamestown, NC
This is a last second play that can also be used at the end of quarters in high school.
One of our opponents ran this BLOB to perfection against us a couple seasons ago.
We did not defend the action very well and gave up the open shot in the corner to lose by one point.
You can see the rest of these plays here.
2 Xavier Under Out Sets
A couple of quick hitters against a 2-3 zone defense to consider adding as something that your upcoming opponents haven’t seen you run.
These two plays were included in the Xavier Men’s Basketball Coaching Newsletter.
This play is called 4 Across Screens. You can see the rest of this play, and another Xavier Under Out set by clicking here.
Arizona BLOB vs. Zone
This play is from the Arizona Basketball Coaching Newsletter.
It is an inbounds play to run against a 2-3 zone.
See the rest of this BLOB vs. Zone play here.
SLOBs
Short Seconds SLOB
Here is an idea for a short seconds Sideline Out of Bounds play to run against man to man defense that has three options. This is the second post this month from Syracuse Women’s Associate Head Coach Vonn Read. Vonn submits two plays each month from his book The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays
You can also see more of his plays in the Related Posts links at the bottom of this post.
Vonn served as an assistant coach in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury, Orlando Miracle, and San Antonio Silver Stars.
He was an advanced scout for the Orlando Magic as well as The Charlotte Sting.
You can see more diagrams from Coach Read on this SLOB play here.
OKC End of Game SLOB
This play was contributed by former Florida Graduate Assistant and current Fort Myers High School Boys Assistant Kyle Gilreath.
Billy Donovan drew up this ATO with under 10 seconds remaining as the Oklahoma City Thunder trailed by 3 at Orlando. If you’ve followed Coach Donovan for years, you know he loves screen the screener actions for his best players.
These plays were run by Thunder and the Cavs early in the 2015-16 NBA season. The plays are featured posts in the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library.
Note: The numbers are to distinguish between the 5 different players on the floor, not to say that you have to put a traditional “5” player (i.e. center or post player), or a traditional “4” player (i.e. power forward) in those spots if you run the play. If you need a 3 point shot, at the end the game, IMO it is better to put 5 players who are dressed for the game that give you the best chance of accomplishing that.
Note #2: The purpose of this post is not to say that you should run this exact play.
But, I hope it does motivate some discussion and thinking among your coaching staff as to how you can possibly incorporate some of the actions in this play to your team’s end of game situations, or as to what you can do to counter teams that switch everything at the end of the game in this situation.
See more of this OKC End of Game SLOB, and the Cleveland SLOB Back DHO Quick 3 play, here.
2 Gregg Popovich SLOBs
Here are a couple SLOB plays by Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs.
This play is called “Triple”. See more details, and find another Popovich SLOB play, here.
Combo Defense Attack
Box and 1 “Gut”
“Gut” looks to get the ball inside against a box and 1 defense.
This play was contributed by Rory Hamilton, Norman North High School.
The play starts by the point guard passing a guard on the right-wing. The guarded player then goes to opposite elbow area while a pass to the corner is designed to bring the bottom player of the zone out away from the block.
After passing to the corner the guard cuts hard looking for a quick give and go and one the point guards catch screens the weak side of the zone bringing the 4 man right into the gut of the zone for a quick pass. After setting a screen the guard will then receive a screen by the post player creating some misdirection and difficulty for the defense.
You can see more about this play by clicking here.
