Newsletter #210

Today's Theme:  Attacking the Box-and-1 Defense

See "Attacking the Box-and-1 Defense" for more details.  This email discusses two ways of getting your shooter open: (1) flare-screen and (2) dribble hand-off action.

"Flare-screen"

Use a perimeter flare screen to get your star shooter O2 open for a 3-pointer. In diagram 2, O1 dribbles a little to the left as O2 comes up high, up to the lane line extended. It's very important that O2 gets high so there will be spacing for the flare cut.

O4 moves up and sets a flare-screen for O2.  O2 cuts hard to the open wing for the two-handed overhead skip-pass from O1, and the 3-point shot.

If your point guard is small and has difficulty skip-passing over the defense, instead have O5 or O3 cut to that top left point-wing area for a pass from O1. O1 then just cuts thru and out to the left corner. Sometimes it's easier for a taller post player to make that skip-pass.

Dribble Hand-off (weave-screen) for your shooter

Use a dribble hand-off to get your star O2 open. In diagram 3, O2 starts in the left corner. O1 passes to O3 and O1 fades to the right wing. O3 dribbles at O2 for a dribble hand-off/screen. Note that O4 back-screens X1, maintaining inside position and sealing.

If O2's defender overplays and denies the hand-off, O2 cuts back-door for a pass and a mid-range corner shot. If X5 comes out to defend, O4 dives inside for a pass from O2.

Diagram 5 shows O2 gets the hand-off and attacks the seam for a shot, or a kick-out pass to O1 for a shot. If the defense stops O2 outside, O4 reads this and slips for a pass from O2 and a shot.  See more diagrams.

I believe that you could use dribble hand-off actions anywhere on the perimeter to get O2 the ball, and then let him/her create.