Basketball 3-Out, 2-In Motion Offense - your Mascot Offense

From the Coach’s Clipboard Basketball Playbook, @ http://www.coachesclipboard.net

This 3-out, 2-in motion offense was important in our success over recent years, which included several trips to the state tournament (boys and girls). You can name this offense after your school mascot... for example, if your school's mascot is "Eagles", call it your "Eagle offense".

Use this offense if you have two good, solid inside post players. We will "tweak" this basic offense from season to season with special plays for our better scorers. If we have a strong shooting guard O2, we will use some of the 2-series plays... or a gifted point guard, we go to the 1-series for a play or two. If the play falls apart, we just fall back into this basic motion offense. See "Motion Offense" for basic motion principles.

Perimeter play

Perimeter players should catch the ball in triple-threat position, and then (1) look to shoot, (2) look into the post, and (3) look to jab-step or shot-fake and dribble-penetrate. This is very important, as too often, especially early in the season, players will simply catch the pass and start dribbling. After receiving the pass, read the defender. If the defender is sagging off, hit the outside shot. If the defender is up tight, attack with a dribble move. If the defender is flying out at you, shot-fake and dribble around for a mid-range jump-shot (or a take to the hoop).

On dribble-penetration, make the correct decision. Sometimes our guards will make a nice move around the defender, but then take it all the way up the middle of the paint to the hoop, where he/she is met by a tall defender (or two) and either gets the shot blocked or turns it over in traffic. Instead (especially vs a 2-3 zone), dribble-penetrate and pull-up with a jump-stop just inside the lane, low arc area and take the short jump shot in the lane… a high-percentage shot with our rebounders in place down low. Guards must learn when to go to the hoop, when to pull-up, or when to pass to a post player inside, or when to kick a pass out to the opposite wing or corner.

Tips on passing into the low post... the wing player with the ball should read the post defender.

If the post defender is playing behind our post player, we just pass it in.
If the defender is fronting from the top, then curl-bounce pass from the base-line side.
If the defender is fronting from the base-line side then make one dribble toward the top and feed from the top.
If the defender is full-fronting, don't force the pass... pass back out on top, or to the weak-side post cutting to the ball-side elbow (see diagram PP4) below.

After feeding the post, the wing player slides to the corner for the possible pass back out. See these post feed drills for details.

Move! Get open! Perimeter players should use v-cuts, back-cuts and screens to get open. Don't stand still! Screen for each other. Pass and cut (diagram B). Pass and screen-away (diagram C). Fill the open spots on the perimeter. Maintain good spacing at all times and keep the defense spread out. An outside player can make a cut inside, but should not stay inside and clog things up for other players. For example, (diagram B) if O1 cuts inside through the paint and does not receive the ball, he/she should immediately cut out to the opposite corner and wing, while that wing player O3 moves out to fill the spot at the point.

"Dribble-at" rule: If a teammate is dribbling at you, back-cut through and out to the opposite side (diagram D). The exception is if we are running a weave-screen ("WS") play, which is a called play.

Point to wing pass denial: If O1 is having difficulty passing to the wing (good deny defense on the wings), O1 can simply dribble the ball to the wing. Following our "dribble-at" rule, the wing back-cuts through to the opposite side, as the opposite wing fills the top spot. For example, (diagram D) if O1 dribbles toward the wing O2, O2 back-cuts underneath along the baseline and fills the O3 spot while O3 rotates out to the point. Other things that we can do when the wing pass is being denied are simply run (1) a weave-screen play, (2) a "zipper" cut (below) or a (3) "Hammer" play (below).

O1 is our "safety" and has "back" responsibility when the shot is taken and must prevent the fast break. If O1 dribble-penetrates, then the wing player on the opposite side away from the penetration moves out and becomes the safety.

Post play

Post players work together, screening for each other and reading what each other is doing. Whenever a post player gets the ball inside in a 1-on-1 situation, the opposite post should slide up to the weak-side elbow (diagram PP1). We want to give our post player with ball more spacing so he/she can score (or get fouled). When the ball is on the wing, the post player on that side should fight for position in the low post. If he/she can't get open within a count of two, he/she should screen away for the opposite low post player (who then comes to the ball-side low post looking for the pass) - diagrams PP2 and PP3.

3-out, 2-in motion offense post play

Oftentimes, one post can get open at the high post or elbow (diagram PP4). When this happens, we may be able to go "hi-lo". The low post should aggressively seal for inside position down low and the high post may be able to pass down low (a "hi-lo" pass). Our high post player could also take this shot or make a dribble move around the defender to the hoop (to the open side of the lane).

Two rules for post players on dribble-penetration:

Base-line dribble penetration. (Diagrams E and F) If the ball is on the wing and the wing player makes a dribble-move to the base-line, the ball-side post player should "slide-up", or "I-cut", to the ball-side elbow, not only to clear out for the wing, but also for a possible dump pass to the elbow for a shot.
Dribble-penetration from the top. (Diagram G) If the ball is on the wing and the wing player makes a dribble move into the top seam, the ball-side post player should slide to the short corner, again for spacing, and also a possible pass and shot there.

Post player movements on dribble-penetration

The following details of the offense and a detailed animation are contained fully on the Deluxe CD and downloads.

Much more in the Deluxe CD and downloads!

Starting the Offense - Off the Break
Descibes and diagrams how we get into the offense off the secondary break, with options.
Running the basic pattern
Descibes and diagrams the basic pattern of the offense.
"Zipper"-Cuts and "Ice"-Cuts allow dribble-penetration
Zipper and Ice cuts are described and diagrammed. These concepts help open lanes for dribble-penetration. Several plays flow from these concepts... "zipper-2", "zipper-3", "zipper-ice-dump".
"Hammer" Series - staggered double-screens
The "Hammer" series creates staggered double-screens. Several set plays are presented... "hammer-1", "hammer-2", "hammer-3", "hammer-12", and hammer-special".
Plays that complement the offense are also listed.
Detailed animation.