Transition play
Transition: Pistol Chase, Handoff and Flare
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 9 steps
About this play
Pistol, or 21, the three-player early offense the Seven Seconds or Less Suns made famous. It is a three-player action between the point guard, the wing on his side, and the big trailing to the top, run out of five-out spacing before the other two players are even set. Chase is the first branch: 1 pitches ahead to the wing, chases his own pass, and takes the handoff back, and the big flares the wing the moment the handoff is done. Run it on any trip where the primary break is stopped and the ball is on one side, because the action is already going while the defense is still matching up, and nothing about it needs a call. Why it works: a handoff is a hard screen to ice, since the ball and the screener arrive together, and the flare behind it means the defender who helps on the drive gives up a three. Personnel: 1 a guard who can turn the corner off a handoff, 2 a wing who can hand off cleanly and shoot off a flare, 5 a big who screens twice in two seconds. The read is X2. If he chases 2 over the flare, 1 drives; if he sinks to help on 1, the skip to 2 is open. When the defense switches the flare, the counter is the slip. 5 goes to the rim the instant X5 steps out to 2, and 1 has him on the roll. When the defense starts jumping the handoff, the wing keeps it, which is the Keep play in this set. Common mistakes: 1 jogging the chase so the handoff happens standing still, 2 handing off and stopping, and 5 flaring before the handoff is done. Hooper University's Pistols breakdown is where I got Chase, Keep, Dribble, and Down, and Coach Daniel's video walks through how each NBA team runs it; start there.
