The short corner against the 1-3-1, from Coach's Clipboard and HoopTactics. Why the short corner against this zone: it is covered by the baseline runner alone, and whatever he does opens something. The action: with two guards up, 5 at the free-throw line and 4 in the ball-side short corner, the wing feeds 4 behind the zone, the warrior is the only defender who can get there, and as he commits, 5 dives from the free-throw line to the ball-side block for a three-on-two on the baseline. If the dive is covered, 4 throws the skip to the weak side; against a 1-3-1 the weak-side wing has dropped to the baseline to help, so that corner has no one near it. The read is the warrior leaving the block for the short corner. The counter is for the zone whose high middle drops to the block to cover the dive: the free-throw line is now empty, so 4 passes out, 5 flashes back to the high post, and the high post catch leaves two low defenders to cover 5, 4, and 3 along the baseline, with the pass going to the open corner. Common mistakes: the short corner player standing on the block instead of behind the zone, 5 diving before the warrior commits, and the skip thrown with a soft lob the wing can run under. Coach's Clipboard's Zone-23 against the 1-3-1 and HoopTactics' 1-3-1 reads are where this comes from, and the Read and React Tribe video on the two-guard front is a good companion.
