Transition play
Transition: Carolina Secondary, Back Screen Lob
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 9 steps
About this play
The Carolina secondary break's signature play: the reversal to the trailer, the swing to the weak wing, and the back screen on the trailer for the lob. Run it when the primary break is stopped with three or more defenders back, because the secondary is organized before the defense is matched up, and the first reversal happens while the defense is still finding its men. Post first, every trip: 2, 1, and 4 all look at 5 on the block before the ball ever reverses. Why the back screen works: the defender guarding the trailer at the top has just watched the ball go by him twice, and the screen arrives on his blind side from a corner player he stopped watching when the ball left that side. Personnel: 4 has to be a big who can catch a lob or finish through contact, 2 a corner shooter who will screen, 3 a wing who can throw the lob on time. The read is X4 on the back screen. If he trails 4 over the screen, throw the lob. If X2 hedges into the lane to stop it, the counter is 2 popping to the top where 4 was, open for the three, and the play keeps going into the cross screen. If the reversal is denied, 4 passes back to 1 and the back screen still happens on the give and go. Common mistakes: the trailer arriving at the elbow instead of above the arc, so the reversal is a lob the defense reads; 2 screening while still moving; and 3 holding the lob until X4 has recovered. I learned the pattern from Randy Sherman's secondary break 101 on Busting Brackets and Coaches Insider's Carolina break article for school teams, and Jordan Sperber's hoopvision clips show what it looks like at Carolina; give them a look.
