Zone Offense play
Zone Offense: Short Corner Lift and High-Low vs 2-3
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 12 steps
About this play
Kermit Davis's way of using the short corner against the 2-3, from Coach's Clipboard: the point dribbles to the wing to engage the top guard, the wing drops to the corner, and the corner catch pulls the forward out. Then the corner player takes two dribbles up the sideline to "lift" the forward, and that lift is what opens the short corner behind him. On the short corner catch, 4 dives from the gap to the ball-side block and the middle has to choose. X5 comes out at 5, and 4 is alone under the rim for the layup; X5 sits on 4, and 5 has a baseline jumper from eight feet or a drive at a defender who is not there. Why the lift matters more than the pass: the forward is the only defender who can take the short corner from the outside, and a defender who has been pulled up the sideline cannot drop back in time. The counter is for the zone that sends the other forward across the lane to meet 4's dive: the moment 3 sees X3 leave, he runs to the block X3 just left, and 5 throws it across the lane to him. Common mistakes: the corner player catching and standing (no lift), 5 setting up on the block instead of the short corner, and 4 diving before the catch. The lift is Kermit Davis's idea; I got it from his Championship Productions clinic on the short corner and Coach's Clipboard's write-up of it, and his full tape goes deeper than I can here.
