Basketball isn't always competitive...sometimes it can be...
Your phone rings with an unidentified number. Maybe it's spam. But you answer and your favorite coach asks for suggestions for five ATO plays to run with ten seconds remaining on the clock. The game is tied and the defense is playing man-to-man (individual assignment) defense.
You feel humbled by the ask and promise to always do your best. You've watched decades of basketball and will not offer "isolation first" sets. Her team has capable players at each position but no superstars. She says they are fundamentally sound, capable of following directions and improvising. She is uncertain whether the opponent will deny or pack-line type defense.
You plan to share a "why" plus video and diagrams when possible.
Start with a list of multiple actions that find hard to defend. Distill the list.
- Back door cuts
- Mismatches on switches
- DHO standalone or into PnR
- Screen-the-screener
- Help side off-ball screens
- Staggered screens
- Screen-the-roller (Spain PnR)
- Slipping screens
- Short rolls against traps
- Sequential screens
DHOs create another way to run the screen game. The Nuggets occupy helpside defenders with staggered screens.
Alternatively, DHO into a PnR with the screener coming across creates serious defensive headaches.
3. Helpside Off-ball Screens
Pseudo-triangle offense into helpside scoring action. Don't get post entry too low in order to preserve the spacing. If you don't get the early pass, then 5 still has isolation as a fallback.
4. Slipping screens. This works best if you have established a solid PnR game.
Teams rely on defensive errors as the screener defender gets extended allowing the screener to roll down behind the defense. Sometimes it turns into short roll action into perimeter passes.
5. Corner Rip (Piece de resistance)
We have most commonly run it from a SLOB, with a cross-screen to enter the ball then a diagonal screen into a layup.
Lagniappe: Cross screens (don't always create a mismatch with solid defense)