Basketball Plays - 2-3 Zone Offense Plays
From the Coach’s Clipboard Basketball Playbook, @ http://www.coachesclipboard.netFirst read Zone Offense and 2-3 Zone Offense. We mostly attack zones with a general zone offense and just work that offense. Usually that is all we need to do, as long as we execute well and are patient, make the zone shift, and work the ball inside. But at times, we will run a set zone play to get someone open for a good shot, whether an inside shot or a 3-pointer. In teaching our system, we first teach our basic zone offense(s), and then add a few of these plays as the season progresses.
Yes, you can screen the zone. An effective method is to swing the ball to one side and then, as the zone shifts, back-screen the weakside of the zone. Note that with any of these plays, if the play breaks down, O1 should recognize this and resume your usual zone offense. So here are several set plays that you can run against the 2-3 zone: Carolina, Zone-1X, Iowa, 21 and 31, Indiana, 91, Corners 52, 45 & 54, UConn, Chicago, and Miami.
"Carolina"
This play is designed to attack the 2-3 zone from the back-side of the zone, using a skip pass and screening the back-side of the zone. Younger kids may have difficulty making the long skip pass and might find "Zone-1X" below a better alternative. But this is an excellent play for stronger high school teams.In diagram A, O1 passes to O2 and this will cause the zone to shift. O3 slides down into the weakside corner. O5 backscreens the outside low zone defender so that O3 is open for the skip pass from O2. As the pass is being made, O4 cuts to the ball-side elbow (diagram B). Once the pass is made, O5 lets the outside defender slip by out to the corner and O5 now screens the middle defender in the zone. O4 cuts off O5's screen to the block for the pass and lay-up (diagram C).
Zone-1 "X"
This play is similar to Carolina above but without the long skip pass, and younger teams would find this easier to run than Carolina. Sometimes the middle low defender will cheat up to the high post to guard O4 and the 2-3 zone now looks more like a 2-1-2. This play takes advantage of that. O1 dribbles to the right to engage the outside top defender. O5 sets a screen on the outside low defender while O2 slides down to the corner. O1 passes to O2. O5 allows the defender to slip outside (diagram B), and then O5 screens the middle defender in the zone. O4 cuts around O5's screen for the pass from O2 and the layup (diagram C).
"Iowa"
This play can be run either to right ("Iowa-2") or the left ("Iowa-3"). Once again, we take advantage of the zone over-shifting and we screen the backside of the zone. In the diagrams below, we run it to the right ("Iowa-2").First, O1 passes to the opposite wing O3 to get the zone to shift. Notice that O5 starts on the side that we are running the play to and does not go to the ball-side short corner in this case (like we do in our normal zone offense where O5 runs the baseline). Next O3 skip passes to O2. O4 screens the top defender while O5 screens the low defender and posts up on the low block. O2 has the option of shooting or passing to O5 or O4 posting up. If the pass goes to O4, O4 might be able to make a "hi-lo" play with O5 (passing to O5), especially if O5 is being fronted (like our play "High-2").
"21" and "31"
Run this simple play either right ("21") or left ("31"). In the diagrams below, we show "21".In diagram A, O1 dribbles at and tries to engage the top defender on the side the play is being run. Either O2 ("21") or O3 ("31") screens the outside top zone defender for O1 to dribble around and shoot the mid-range jumper. The opposite post (O4 in the diagrams below) slides up to the high post-opposite elbow area to occupy the middle defender in the zone. O1 can shoot the short pull-up jumper (diagram B), or pass to O5 if the low defender comes up to defend (diagram C). The opposite wing (O3) should drop down inside to become a back-side rebounder. After screening, O2 pops out on top as our safety.
"Indiana"
These two plays try to exploit the outside weakness of the 2-3 zone. This is a simple pass to either wing ("Indiana-2" to the right, and "Indiana-3" to the left), followed by O1 setting a screen on the ball. The wing dribbles around the screen for the medium ranged jumper. If the opposite wing defender cheats over, the pass could be make to the weakside wing for the open shot (diagram C), but the first option is the shot off the dribble.The other very important part of this play is that both of our posts setup very low, below the defense (diagram A). This keeps the down defenders down. More important, once our wing makes the move and takes the shot, O4 and O5 should be able to step inside the defense and box-out for perfect rebounding position. Half of the time the shot will be missed and our posts should look at this as a great opportunity for an offensive rebound and a easy put-back.
"91"
Some years, we have a point guard who is an excellent outside shooter and we want to get some shots for him/her. "91"is part of our "90 Series" that we run against man-to-man defense. We can also run a simplified "91" against the 2-3 zone. O4 and O5 move up to the top. O1 passes to either O4 or O5 (can run it right or left). The opposite post (in this case O4), sets a back-screen for O1. O1 flares to the wing. Meanwhile the ball-side wing (O2 in this case) moves inside to clear the wing for O1, and this also keeps the X4 defender down low.The pass goes over the top to O1 on the wing, and assuming O4 makes a good screen, O1 will almost always be wide open for the outside shot. This is because of a fault in the zone itself. Versus the zone, when O4 moves up top to screen, ordinarily no defender will move up with O4 and this results in no defender being there to switch on the back-screen. This ensures O1 is wide open.
After passing, O5 moves inside to rebound, as does O4. O3 rotates to the point.
"Corners 52"
We run this play out of a 4-out zone offense, our "Corners" offense. O1 passes to O2, while O5 slides up and screens X2. O3 slides down to the corner. O4 cuts underneath the zone to the ballside block. O2 dribble-penetrates the seam, looking for (1) the pull-up jumper, or (2) the pass to O3 in the corner (if X3 drops inside), or (3) the pass to O4 cutting underneath the zone (if X5 comes up to defend).
"45" (or "54")
Sometimes our "Zone-2" offense works well against the 2-3 zone. And we can run "45" (to the right side) or "54" (to the left side) against the 2-3 zone. In "45" (above right), the pass goes to O2 in the right corner. O4 makes two screens. The play starts with O4 screening the outside low defender X4 so that the pass can go to O2. After the pass is made, O4 lets X4 slip the screen and as X4 moves out to the corner O4 screens the middle-defender in the zone X5. This frees O5 for a cut to the ball-side low post and the lay-up. In "54", it's all the same, except on the opposite side with the pass going into the left corner. O2 runs the baseline to the left corner for the pass. O5 sets the inside screen and O4 cuts to the ball-side low post for the pass and lay-up."UConn"
In recent years, we have been fortunate in having some very good shooting guards (O2). This simple play gets O2 a shot in the paint, and works well against teams that play the middle low defender (X3) fairly low in the paint. We start with a 1-3-1 set. O1 passes to O3 (to get the top defenders to move), while O2 drops down to the short corner. O3 passes back to O1. O4 sets a down-screen on the middle defender X3. O2 curls around the screen, gets the pass from O1 and the turn-around jump-shot in the paint. If not open for the pass, O2 moves out to the usual spot on the right wing, and could get the pass and shot there instead.
"Chicago"
Submitted by Coach Ken Sartini, Arlington Heights, ILHere is another play attacking the 2-3 zone defense. Having an athletic O3 who can jump and finish inside is key. See the diagrams below. O2 sets up on the left wing, v-cuts and gets the pass from O1. O5 and O4 set up below the defense. O5 back-screens the middle defender (X5), while O4 back-screens the weak-side low defender (X4). By crossing O4 and O5, we get better screening angles on both screens. O3 slides below the screens for the lob pass from O2, and possible dunk. Or if unable to dunk, O3 catches the pass, gathers and scores off the glass.
"Miami"
There is also a man-to-man version of this play. In diagram A, O1 passes to O3 and O1 moves outside to the left wing, with O3 dribbling toward the top. The initial pass to O4 curling around O2 is less likely to be open against the 2-3 zone (but could be open against a 1-2-2 zone). O4 mainly becomes a screener. After cutting, O4 locates in the left short-corner area (diagram B). O3 passes to O2. O2 skip passes to O1 who has dropped down toward the left corner. This causes the low outside defender to run out to defend O1. O4 will bump and delay the X3 defender just enough to make the skip pass to the corner open. Then O4 lets the X3 defender move out to defend, and now O4 screens the middle low defender. O5 cuts underneath for the pass from O1 and the power lay-up.