Transition play
Transition: Double Drag, Roll and Pop
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 6 steps
About this play
The double drag, 77 in NBA shorthand: both bigs trail into stacked ball screens for the point guard before the defense is set. Run it when the primary break is stopped and both bigs are behind the ball, which is most trips after a made basket. The two screens are offset a step, the first screener higher than the second, so the on-ball defender has no gap to slide through; whoever gets there first screens first, and usually the 4 is first and pops while the 5 is second and rolls. Why it works: one ball screen in transition is hard to guard because the screener's man is behind the play, and two give the defense two chances to be wrong. The second screener's defender has to choose the roll or the pop, and neither corner defender can help without giving up a three. Personnel: 4 a big who can shoot from the top, 5 a big who rolls hard, 1 a guard who attacks downhill and throws the throwback. The reads: against the under, keep attacking downhill; against a late hedge, split the second screen; when X5 drops with the roll, throw back to 4 popping. The counter when the defense switches the second screen is to attack the switched big off the dribble and take him to the other side of the floor before the defense can trade back, and when the defense leans hard toward the screens, flip them. Common mistakes: the screeners standing on the same level so X1 gets through, the roller leaving early, and 1 coming off the screens flat instead of downhill. Slappin' Glass's double drag primer is where I learned the offset and the reads against each coverage, and The Film Room's breakdown shows the roll and pop at NBA speed; look them up.
