Basketball Plays

Action Descriptors

The first word in a play name is a descriptor of the primary action of the play, e.g., ISO 1 GO, FIST HORNS FLIP 35. ISO ... are isolation plays. FIST ... are pick and roll plays. PUNCH ... are post up plays. HIGH ... are high post plays. CUT ... are cutter plays where the target player is heading to the basket. GIVE ... are plays where the last step before a shot is a handoff. QUICK ... are offscreen plays where the player comes off a screen ready to shoot. FLOPPY ... are offscreen plays where the player coming off the screen can choose the direction in which to run off.

Quick Hammer Plays

A quick hitter is a play that uses a brief number of passes, cuts, screens, or dribble actions to create one or more scoring opportunities. Their typical simplicity might not be effective against a team with solid defense fundamentals.

A hammer set occurs when a weak side player cuts to the nearby corner, usually with the help of a screen. It is generally difficult for the defense to productively guard the baseline attack on the strong side and the off-ball actions on the weak side. The weak side perimeter player is the real target of the set play.