Transition play
Transition: Secondary vs 2-3 Zone, Flash and Skip
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 12 steps
About this play
The secondary break against a 2-3 zone: attack it before it is set, flash the middle when it bumps down, and skip it when it slides. Most teams let a zone get set and then run their zone offense; this gets the first pass in while the zone is still sprinting to its spots, because a zone defender running to a spot cannot also guard a cutter running through it. 1 dribbles at the top guard to make him commit, passes to the wing, and the three players behind the ball fill the spots a 2-3 hates: the short corner behind the forward, the mid-post in front of the middle man, and the high post when the zone bumps down to take those two away. Why the backside screens work: a zone defender slides to a spot, not to a man, so a body in his path keeps him from getting there, and after the reversal the two players still on the far side are standing behind the zone with nothing to do but pin. Personnel: 3 a wing who can catch in the high post and shoot the skip, 5 a big who plays the short corner, 2 and 5 willing to screen defenders who are not guarding them. The read is the forward on the ball side. If he stays home on the mid-post, the short corner is open; if he drops out to the short corner, the mid-post is open; if the zone bumps down to take both, the high post is open. The counter when the middle guard recovers to the high post is the reversal: 3 steps out to the top, the ball goes to the weak top, 2 and 5 pin the backside, and 3 fades to the wing for the skip. Common mistakes: wings starting above the top line so the zone can see both the wing and the high post, the short corner standing on the block, and the skip thrown late and low. Mark Zacher's zone attack out of transition on Coach and AD gave me the short-corner and mid-post fills and the backside pins, and the Carolina break's own vs-zone back screen in Coaches Insider's article is a cousin of the same idea; start there.
