Attacking the 2-3 Zone

What it is

• Flash a player to the high post (elbow) — forces the zone to collapse

How it works

• - Move the zone, not just the ball — the zone shifts as a unit; one pass is not enough - Every pass moves the zone one step — you need 2-3 quick passes to open a quality gap - Attack the high post — the 2-3 must collapse, opening everything else
• Move the zone, not just the ball — the zone shifts as a unit; one pass is not enough
• Every pass moves the zone one step — you need 2-3 quick passes to open a quality gap
• Attack the high post — the 2-3 must collapse, opening everything else
• If the low post is denied: high post looks opposite for a skip to the corner Why it works: The 2-3 cannot guard both the high post and the low post simultaneously without leaving a gap.

Reads and counters

• High-post flasher reads the back-line center: if the center steps up to him, hit the low post or short corner behind that vacated spot.
• Ball handler at the top reads the two guards: if both close to the ball, the gap between them is open for a dribble drive or high-post entry.
• On a skip pass to the weak side, the corner shooter reads the bottom defender's closeout speed and either shoots or attacks the late closeout baseline.
• High-post catch faces up and reads four defenders collapsing: pass opposite to the open shooter the rotation cannot reach in time.
• Overload side reads which bottom defender is stretched: if he commits to the corner, the short-corner or dunker-spot player is open for a duck-in.

Teaching cues

• Flash the middle, split the bigs
• Skip it, swing the zone
• Drive the gap, draw two
• Screen the zone, not the man
• Find the short corner

Bilingual terms

Learn before and after

These graph neighbors help place Attacking the 2-3 Zone in the larger basketball map.

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