Objective
Generate layups and open catch-and-shoot looks against a 2-3 zone by occupying the high post and short corner, shifting the zone with reversals, and punishing slow rotations.
Setup
Area
Half court
Players
5v5 (walk through 5v0 first, then guided 5v5 against a set 2-3)
Equipment
1 ball
Duration
15–20 minutes per install block
How it works
- 1
Overlay the 1-3-1
1 splits the two top defenders, 2 and 3 hold the wings at free-throw line extended, 4 flashes to the high post, and 5 slides short corner to short corner along the baseline behind the back line. Every player now sits in a seam between two defenders.
- 2
Shift the zone with reversals
Swing point-to-wing-to-point-to-opposite-wing, no dribbles, nothing held longer than two seconds. After two fast reversals the bottom defenders arrive a step late — that step is the short-corner and high-post window.
- 3
Play through the high post
Whenever the middle opens, hit 4 flashing to the free-throw line. He pivots to face the rim: first look is the high-low to 5 sealing the middle defender, second is either corner shooter as the back line pinches in.
- 4
Attack the gaps and play inside-out
From the wing, 2 drives the seam between the top guard and the bottom-corner defender — two dribbles, stop, and read. If the corner defender steps up, drop it short corner to 5; if the top guard chases, spray it back to 1 relocating behind the ball.
- 5
Skip and screen the back line
After an overload pulls the whole zone ball-side, throw the skip pass over the top to the weak wing. As the bottom defender sprints to close out, 5 back-screens him mid-rotation — the shooter fires or hits 5 slipping to the open block.
Coaching points
Feed the middle every third pass or so — a 2-3 that never has to guard the high post is playing at half difficulty.
Catch on the hop with shoulders square; against a zone, the half-second saved on every catch compounds into open shots.
Drive to pass, not to finish: gap attacks make two defenders commit, and the kick is the point.
Crash the offensive glass from the corners — zones have no box-out assignments, and weak-side rebounds are the zone's structural tax.
Variations
Overload the ball side
Slide 1 to the ball-side corner so four attackers fill one half: corner, wing, short corner, high post. Three defenders cannot cover four spots; the ball finds the fourth.
Screen the top
Have 4 step out and screen the ball-side top guard while 1 dribbles off it into the seam. The zone must trap, lift the back line, or concede the free-throw-line jumper — each answer opens a pass you can pre-teach.
Build it in Coach Board
Set up the 2-3 zone as opponent tokens in Coach Board and animate the defenders shifting on each pass, not just your own players — zone offense is about what the ball does to the defense. Loop the two-reversal sequence and pause where the back line arrives a step late — that frame teaches the timing of the short-corner pass.
Open Coach Board