Zone Offense play
Zone Offense: Swing, Swing, Skip vs 2-3
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 11 steps
About this play
The rhythm every zone offense needs before any set: pass to one side, reverse, and skip over the top before the weak-side forward can recover. From the 1-3-1, the first wing pass sends 5 to the ball-side short corner and 4 to the gap; the reversal brings the zone back to the middle; and the skip to the far wing arrives while the zone is still leaning toward the last pass. On the skip, 5 cuts into the open middle to arrive before the rotating defender and 4 fills behind him. Why the skip is the pass zones fear: a 2-3 slides as a unit toward the ball, and a pass over the top lands while the whole unit is still leaning the wrong way; HoopsKing adds that two quick reversals leave a closeout you can drive. The read is the weak-side forward: if he is slow, the shooter has the catch-and-shoot; if he comes out, the middle is open behind him. The counter is for the zone whose weak-side forward starts leaving early to jump the skip: 1 shows the skip to the wing, the forward bites, and the ball goes over him to 5 on the weak-side block instead. Common mistakes: skipping with a soft two-handed lob that the cheating forward reads, the shooter standing on the arc instead of a step behind it, and nobody cutting into the middle on the skip. The reversal rhythm is from Coach's Clipboard's zone offense pages and HoopsKing's two-reversal rule, and Sherri Coale's skip pass clinic shows it at game speed; go deeper there.
