Hoop Dictionary
Look up a basketball word you heard
Somebody in the room says “they iced the drag and the low man tagged, so 5 short-rolled and hit the weak corner.” Type any of those words, or any other word you heard, into the box. Each row says what the thing is in one sentence. Click the term for its full entry and picture, or the number for the lecture that teaches it.
| Term | What it is | Taught in |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2-1-1 press (diamond press) | A full-court zone press shaped like a diamond with a point on the inbounder, built to trap the first pass the moment it is caught. | 4.7 |
| 1-2-2 zone | One defender at the top, two at the elbows, two on the blocks; it covers the arc better than a 2-3 and the baseline worse. | 4.6 |
| 1-3-1 zone | One at the top, three across the free-throw line, one on the baseline; built to trap and force long passes. | 4.6 |
| 2-2-1 press (2-2-1 zone press) | A three-quarter-court zone press with two defenders at the front, two behind them and one safety; it concedes the inbound and traps the first dribble against the sideline. | 4.7 |
| 2-3 zone | Two defenders up top and three across the baseline, packing the paint. | 4.6 |
| 2-for-1 | Shooting quickly at the end of a period so the offense gets two possessions to the opponent’s one. | 3.13 |
| 3-2 zone | Three up top, one at the top of the key and two at the free-throw line extended, and two on the blocks, pressuring shooters at the cost of the glass. | 4.6 |
| 4-on-3 | The advantage behind a trap: four attackers against the three defenders who did not trap. | 3.3 |
| 4-out 1-in | An alignment with four players outside the arc and one inside, usually in the dunker spot or on a block. | 3.10 |
| 45 cut | A perimeter player cutting to the rim at a 45-degree angle when his defender’s eyes leave him to help on a drive. | 3.7 |
| 5-out | An alignment with all five players outside the arc and the paint empty. | 3.10 |
| Amoeba defense (amoeba) | A zone that changes shape during a possession, starting from something like a 1-3-1, so the offense cannot be sure which zone it faces after each pass. One glossary calls it a junk defense and another a zone. | 4.6 |
| At the level | The big meets the handler at the level of the screen, between drop and hedge. | 4.3 |
| ATO (after timeout) | A set play drawn up during a timeout, often the offense’s best-rehearsed action. | 3.12 |
| Back cut (backdoor) | A cut behind an overplaying defender to the rim. | 3.7 |
| Back screen | A screen set behind a defender, out of his view, so the cutter can go to the rim. | 3.5 |
| Backcourt count | The time a team has to bring the ball across the midcourt line; the count a press is built to run out. | rules |
| Basket cut | Any hard cut straight to the rim. | 3.7 |
| Blitz (trap, double team) | Both defenders trap the handler at the screen, leaving three defenders against four. | 4.3 |
| BLOB (baseline out of bounds) | An inbound play from under the offense’s own basket. | 3.12 |
| Block | The painted mark on the lane line near the rim; the traditional low-post spot. | 3.10 |
| Boomerang | A pass to a teammate followed at once by a pass straight back, so the first handler catches again on the move with his dribble still alive. | 3.7 |
| Box set | An inbound alignment with four players in a square at the elbows and blocks. | 3.12 |
| Box-and-one | Four defenders in a box zone with one chasing the opponent’s best player man-to-man. | 4.6 |
| Center (5) (the five, the big) | The primary screener, roller and rim protector. | 3.10 |
| Chin | A back screen set at the weak-side elbow for the slot player, who cuts to the rim. One glossary treats that screen as the whole action; another treats it as one part of a Princeton-family set with the post at the high post. | 3.5 |
| Closeout | A defender sprinting from help back to a shooter and slowing down as he arrives, to contest without being driven past. | 4.4 |
| Combo guard | A guard who moves between initiating and spacing without a fixed role. | 3.10 |
| Corner (weak corner) | The spot where the three-point line meets the sideline; the closest three to the rim, and the spot the low man has to leave to help. The weak corner is the one on the help side, which is why it is the open one. | 3.10 |
| Corner fill (fill the corner, run to the corner) | A lane runner continuing all the way to the corner rather than stopping on the wing. | 3.1 |
| Corner three | A three-point attempt from the corner, where the line is closest to the rim. | 2.2 |
| Court dimensions | The length and width of the playing court. | rules |
| Crash or get back | The trade-off, decided per team and per shot, between sending players to the offensive glass and sending them back on defense. | 4.1 |
| Cross screen | A screen set across the lane so a big can cut from one block to the other for a post catch. | 3.5 |
| Cross-match | A deliberate transition match-up that is not the half-court assignment, such as a wing taking the opposing big so the big can run to the rim. | 4.1 |
| Cut | Any quick move by a player without the ball to get open for a pass or to clear space for a teammate. Every named cut on this site is one kind of it. | 3.7 |
| Defensive three seconds | The NBA rule that a defender in the lane must be guarding someone within three seconds; the reason a rim protector cannot simply stand under the basket. | rules |
| Delay (5-out delay) | An early-offense alignment with the big at the top holding the ball and the four others spaced, from which he hands off, screens or reverses. | 3.2 |
| Diamond-and-one | The box-and-one with the four zone defenders in a diamond, one at the top, one on each side of the lane and one under the rim, while the fifth chases the scorer. | 4.6 |
| Dig | A perimeter defender reaching in at a post player or a driver without leaving his man entirely. | 4.4 |
| Double drag | Two drag screens in a row from two trailing bigs; typically the first pops and the second rolls. | 3.2 |
| Double screen | Two screeners standing shoulder to shoulder in the cutter’s path, so his defender has to get around a wall twice as wide as one screen. | 3.5 |
| Drag screen (drag) | A ball screen set by a trailing big while the defense is still retreating. | 3.2 |
| Dribble drive motion (DDM, dribble drive) | A spread offense with no post player in the lane, built on driving gaps and kicking out or dropping off when the help comes. | 3.9 |
| Dribble handoff (DHO, handoff) | The ball-handler dribbles toward a teammate and hands the ball off, screening the receiver’s defender in the same motion. | 3.2 |
| Drive (penetration) | Dribbling past a defender toward the rim to score or to force help and pass. | 3.10 |
| Drop coverage (drop) | Against a ball screen the big stays back near the paint while the guard fights over the screen. | 4.3 |
| Dunker spot (short corner) | The baseline spot just outside the lane, below the block, where a non-shooting big waits for lobs, dump-offs and offensive rebounds. | 3.10 |
| Early offense | Actions run in the first seconds of a half-court possession, against a defense that is back but not yet organized. | 3.2 |
| Early seal | A big pinning a smaller defender under the rim the instant a switch happens, before the defense can fix it. | 3.7 |
| Elbow | Where the free-throw line meets the lane line; a hub for handoffs and high-post play. | 3.10 |
| Elevator screen (elevator doors) | A shooter runs between two screeners who then step together to close the gap on his defender. | 3.6 |
| Fast break (primary break) | A transition attack that reaches the rim before the defense does, usually with a numbers advantage. | 3.1 |
| Flare screen | A screen that lets a perimeter player fade away from the ball along the arc, punishing a defender who cheats toward the ball. | 3.5 |
| Flash | A quick cut into an open spot in the defense, usually across the lane toward the ball, to catch where nobody is guarding. | 3.7 |
| Flat screen | A ball screen set at the top of the floor with the screener’s back square to the baseline, so the handler can come off it to either side. | 3.4 |
| Flex offense (flex cut) | A continuity offense whose repeating unit is a baseline cross screen followed by a down screen for the screener. | 3.9 |
| Floor balance (safety, get-back man) | The offensive team’s rule for who stays back on a shot so the other team cannot run. | 4.1 |
| Floppy | A shooter under the rim chooses either side, one with a single screen and one with a stagger. | 3.6 |
| Flow offense | Offense that runs continuously from transition into half-court actions without a called play, governed by rules for who screens and who spaces. | 3.2 |
| Foul game (fouling up three, intentional fouls) | Deliberately fouling late in a game to stop the clock and trade free throws for possessions. | 4.9 |
| Free-throw lane (key, lane) | How wide the painted lane is; the number behind the paint, the blocks and the elbows. | rules |
| Free-throw line | How far the free-throw line is from the backboard; it fixes the nail and the elbows. | rules |
| Front the post (fronting) | The post defender playing on the passer’s side of the post player rather than behind him, so the entry pass has no angle. | 4.4 |
| Gap (double gap, single gap) | The space between two perimeter players; a single gap is one spot wide, a double gap is two, and a driver wants the double. | 3.10 |
| Get action (get) | A guard passes to a big and immediately follows the pass to take a handoff back, a two-man action that starts a possession. | 3.2 |
| Ghost screen | The screener runs at the handler’s defender as if to screen, makes no contact and slips out to the arc. | 3.4 |
| Give and go | Pass to a teammate, cut to the rim, and get the ball back. | 3.7 |
| Goaltending | Touching a shot on its way down, or off the backboard, while it can still score; the rule that limits what a rim protector may do. | rules |
| Gravity | The pull a shooter exerts on defenders who will not leave him, which opens space for teammates. | 2.2 |
| Hack-a (Hack-a-Shaq) | Fouling a poor free-throw shooter away from the ball to give the offense two free throws instead of a possession. | 4.9 |
| Hammer | A baseline drive on one side with a back screen on the other, freeing a shooter into the weak-side corner for a drift pass. | 3.6 |
| Hedge (show, hard hedge) | The big jumps out above the screen to stop the handler, then recovers to the roller. | 4.3 |
| Help side | The weak-side defenders’ positioning, sagged toward the lane to help on drives while still able to recover to shooters. | 4.4 |
| High-low (hi-lo) | Two bigs, one at the high post and one at the low post; the high one catches and feeds the low one, who has sealed his man. | 3.7 |
| Hit-ahead pass (pitch ahead, kick ahead) | A long pass up the floor to a player ahead of the ball, instead of dribbling it up. | 3.1 |
| Horns | An alignment with two bigs at the elbows, two shooters in the corners and the ball at the top. | 3.8 |
| Ice (blue, down, push, iced) | On a side ball screen the on-ball defender forces the handler toward the sideline and away from the screen, with the big dropped toward the baseline. | 4.3 |
| Isolation (iso) | Clearing a side so one player can attack one defender. | 3.11 |
| Iverson cut (Piston cut) | A cut from one wing to the other across two screens set at the elbows, to catch on the move. | 3.7 |
| Jam the rebounder (pressure the outlet) | Pressuring the defensive rebounder as he lands, and denying the outlet man, so the break starts late. | 4.1 |
| Junk defense (combination defense) | Any zone-and-man hybrid built to take one player out of a game. | 4.6 |
| Kick-out (drive and kick) | A pass from a driver to a perimeter shooter whose defender helped on the drive. | 3.10 |
| L-cut | A cut up the lane line from the block to the elbow and then flat out to the wing, so the two legs make an L. | 3.7 |
| Late clock | The last seconds of the shot clock, when the offense has to get a shot up and the defense can gamble. | 3.13 |
| Leak out (cherry pick, cherry picking) | A player leaving before the rebound is secured to get behind the defense. | 3.1 |
| Length of the game | How long a game is and how it is divided; the one rule every other clock hangs on. | rules |
| Lift | A corner player moving up to the wing as the ball is driven baseline, to give the driver a kick-out. | 3.7 |
| Load to the ball | Retreating defenders shading toward the side the ball is on, so the ball-handler sees bodies and the far side is left for last. | 4.1 |
| Lob (alley-oop) | A pass thrown above the rim for a player to catch and finish in the air. | 3.3 |
| Loop | A cutter running a triple stagger along the baseline from one wing to the other. | 3.6 |
| Low man | The weak-side defender nearest the baseline, whose job is to rotate to the rim on a drive or a roll. | 4.4 |
| Man-to-man | Each defender is responsible for one attacker wherever he goes. | 4.3 |
| Match up (find a body, find your man) | The last job getting back: each defender taking a player, not necessarily his own, so every attacker is guarded. | 4.1 |
| Match-up zone | A zone whose defenders take the player in their area man-to-man while he is there. | 4.6 |
| Mismatch | A matchup the offense can exploit, such as a big guarding a guard on the perimeter or a guard guarding a big in the post. | 3.11 |
| Motion offense | Offense run from rules rather than a script, where players read the defense and cut or screen accordingly. | 3.11 |
| Nail | The middle of the free-throw line; the help spot that threatens a drive from either side. | 4.4 |
| Next (next switch, up-to-touch) | A switch called by the big on a ball screen where the guard’s defender stays attached until the big has the handler. | 4.5 |
| No layups (make them shoot over you) | The transition rule that the paint is protected before anything else, so the shot conceded is a jumper, never a layup. | 4.1 |
| Numbers advantage (3-on-2, 2-on-1, odd-man rush) | More attackers than defenders in the play, stated as attackers-on-defenders. | 3.1 |
| Outlet pass (outlet) | The first pass after a defensive rebound, from the rebounder to a guard on the wing or at the free-throw line extended. | 3.1 |
| Pace | The number of possessions a team plays per game; faster teams get more of them. | 3.1 |
| Pack line (pack-line defense) | A man-to-man scheme in which the on-ball defender pressures and the other four stay inside an imaginary line a step or two inside the arc, giving up the perimeter shot to close the drive. | 4.4 |
| Peel switch | A beaten on-ball defender peels off to the nearest open attacker while a helper takes the driver. | 4.5 |
| Pick-and-roll (PnR, ball screen) | An on-ball screen after which the screener rolls to the rim, forcing two defenders to handle two threats. | 3.3 |
| Pick-up point | How far up the floor the defense meets the ball; at the free-throw line extended, at half court, or full court. | 4.1 |
| Pin-down (down screen) | A screen set facing the baseline so a player near the rim can cut up to the perimeter for a catch. | 3.5 |
| Pinch post | A big catching at the elbow facing the ball, from where he can hand off, shoot or pass to a cutter. | 3.7 |
| Pistol (21, Nash action) | An early-offense entry where the guard passes ahead to the wing and follows the pass into a handoff or a quick ball screen. | 3.2 |
| Point forward | A forward-sized player who runs the offense, which puts a bigger defender at the point of attack. | 3.10 |
| Point guard (1) | The primary ball-handler and initiator. | 3.10 |
| Points per possession (PPP, efficiency) | Points scored divided by possessions used; the standard measure of how good a shot, a play type or a lineup is. | 3.1 |
| Pop (pick-and-pop) | The screener stepping out to the perimeter for a shot after the screen rather than rolling. | 3.3 |
| Post-up | An offensive player establishing position near the block with his back to the basket to receive an entry pass. | 3.7 |
| Power forward (4) (stretch four) | The second big; today often a perimeter player who screens, pops and makes short-roll decisions. | 3.10 |
| Press (full-court press) | Defensive pressure applied in the backcourt to force turnovers or slow the offense before it reaches the front court. | 4.7 |
| Press break | The offense’s set alignment and rules for advancing the ball against a press. | 3.12 |
| Princeton offense | A read-based offense built on a high-post entry, back cuts against overplay, and screens away from the ball. | 3.9 |
| Protect the rim first (build the wall, paint first) | The first job getting back: the first defenders sprint to the paint, not to a man, and then close out from there. | 4.1 |
| Push (push the ball, push the pace) | Advancing the ball up the floor at speed, with the dribble or the pass, on every change of possession. | 3.1 |
| Ram (ram screen, screen-the-screener) | A pin-down for the big just before he sets the ball screen, so his defender arrives late to the pick-and-roll. | 3.4 |
| Read and react | A conceptual offense where every off-ball player has a rule for each thing the ball does. | 3.11 |
| Restricted area | The half-circle in front of the rim inside which a secondary defender cannot draw a charge. | 4.4 |
| Rim runner (rim run) | The big who sprints the middle of the floor straight to the rim ahead of the ball. | 3.1 |
| Rip screen | A back screen across the lane, usually for a player who has just set a screen himself. | 3.5 |
| Roll | The screener turning and running to the rim after the screen. | 3.3 |
| Running the lanes (wide lanes, run wide) | The wings sprinting up the sidelines, outside the ball, so the floor is wide when the ball arrives. | 3.1 |
| Scram switch (kick-out switch) | An off-ball switch that gets a small defender out of a post mismatch by sending a bigger defender in to take it. | 4.5 |
| Screen (pick) | A stationary player placing his body in a defender’s path to free a teammate. | 3.3 |
| Secondary break | The scripted continuation when the primary break does not produce a shot, flowing into early offense without stopping. | 3.1 |
| Set play | A scripted sequence run to get a particular shot for a particular player. | 3.8 |
| Shooting guard (2) | The secondary handler and primary perimeter scorer; today mostly an off-ball mover and spacer. | 3.10 |
| Short roll (short-rolled) | The screener rolling only to the free-throw line to catch and make a play against a defense that has trapped or switched. | 3.3 |
| Shot clock | The time a team has to attempt a shot that reaches the ring; the number that sets the pace of every possession. | rules |
| Skip pass | A pass across the floor that skips the nearest player, usually to punish a defense loaded to the ball. | 3.10 |
| Slip | The screener cutting to the rim before the screen is set, punishing a defense that jumped early to the screen. | 3.4 |
| SLOB (sideline out of bounds) | An inbound play from the sideline in the front court. | 3.12 |
| Slot | The perimeter spot above the arc roughly in line with the lane line, between the top and the wing. | 3.10 |
| Small forward (3) | The wing; expected to shoot, drive and defend several positions. | 3.10 |
| Snake dribble | After a ball screen, the handler cuts back across in front of the trailing defender, keeping him on his back and playing two-on-one with the dropping big. | 3.3 |
| Spacing | Keeping players far enough apart that one defender cannot guard two of them. | 3.10 |
| Spain pick-and-roll (stack pick-and-roll) | A pick-and-roll with a third player back-screening the roller’s defender and then popping to the arc. | 3.4 |
| Stack | An inbound alignment with four players in a line, who scatter on the slap of the ball. | 3.12 |
| Stagger (staggered screens) | Two off-ball screens in a row in the same direction for one cutter. | 3.5 |
| Stampede cut | Catching the ball already at full speed to blow past a slower defender closing out. | 3.7 |
| Step-up screen | A ball screen set with the screener’s back to the baseline, sending the handler toward the baseline rather than the middle. | 3.3 |
| Stop the ball (pick up the ball) | One defender meeting the ball-handler early to slow the dribble and turn the break into a half-court possession. | 4.1 |
| Strong side (ball side) | The half of the floor, split lengthwise, that the ball is on. | 3.10 |
| Stunt | A fake at the ball from the nail to slow a driver, then recovering. | 4.4 |
| Switch | The two defenders in a screen trade assignments. | 4.5 |
| Tag (tagged) | The low man stepping into the lane to bump the roller, then recovering to his shooter. | 4.4 |
| Tandem defense (I formation, two-on-one defense) | Two defenders against three attackers lined up one in front of the other: the front man takes the ball, the back man takes the first pass, then they rotate. | 4.1 |
| The hit | A late-clock gamble where a second defender sprints at the ball unprompted to force a rushed decision. | 4.4 |
| The paint (the key, the lane) | The rectangle from the baseline to the free-throw line, bounded by the lane lines; the highest-value shots come from here. | 3.10 |
| Three-point line | How far the arc is from the basket, and how far the corner line is from the sideline; the geometry every spacing decision in Chapter 3 rests on. | rules |
| Top of the key (top) | The perimeter spot straight out from the rim, above the arc. | 3.10 |
| Top-lock | A defender standing above a shooter to deny the pin-down and force him backdoor toward the rim protector. | 4.4 |
| Trailer | The last player up the floor, usually a big, who arrives at the top after the first wave. | 3.1 |
| Trailer flip | The trailing big arriving at the top to take a reversal pass and swing the ball to the other side. | 3.2 |
| Transition (transition offense, the break) | The possession between a change of possession and the defense being set; the offense attacks before the defense can build its shape. | 3.1 |
| Transition defense (getting back) | Everything the defense does between losing the ball and being set in the half court. | 4.1 |
| Transition take foul (take foul, Euro foul) | A deliberate foul on the ball early in a break to stop the play before the numbers advantage can be used. | 4.1 |
| Transition three | A three-point attempt taken in transition, before the defense has set, often by a trailer or a lane runner. | 3.1 |
| Triangle offense (triangle) | A continuity offense built on a triangle of three players on one side of the floor, post, wing and corner, with the other two on the weak side. | 3.9 |
| Triangle-and-two | Two defenders chase the opponent’s two best players man-to-man while the other three form a triangle zone, one at the free-throw line and two on the blocks. | 4.6 |
| Twist (re-screen) | A second ball screen set from the other side right after the first, so the handler changes direction on the defense. | 3.4 |
| UCLA cut (UCLA screen) | A pass from the top to the wing, then a cut to the ball-side block off a back screen set at the elbow. | 3.7 |
| Under (go under) | The on-ball defender goes beneath the screen, conceding the pull-up to keep the drive in front. | 4.3 |
| V-cut | A perimeter player stepping in toward the lane and coming straight back out to receive, so the two legs of the cut make a V. | 3.7 |
| Verticality | A rim protector contesting straight up with arms raised, which is legal contact even inside the restricted area. | 4.4 |
| Weak side | The half of the floor, split lengthwise, away from the ball; on defense this is where help comes from. | 4.4 |
| Wedge | A player receives an off-ball screen to the top and immediately turns to set a ball screen. | 3.6 |
| Wing | The perimeter spot roughly level with the free-throw line extended. | 3.10 |
| X-out | Two weak-side defenders swapping men on a kick-out, one down to the corner and one up to the wing, crossing paths. | 4.4 |
| Zipper | A player cutting from the block straight up the lane line off a down screen to catch at the top. | 3.8 |
| Zone defense | Each defender guards an area rather than a player. | 4.6 |
| Zone offense | Offense built to attack areas rather than defenders, using the gaps between zone positions, the short corner and the high post. | 3.12 |
| Zone press | A press whose defenders guard areas of the back court rather than men, so a trap is set wherever the ball enters an area two of them share. | 4.7 |
| Zoom (Chicago action) | A pin-down screen that flows straight into a dribble handoff, so the receiver arrives at the handoff already moving. | 3.2 |
To read the game in order, Start here explains how the site is organized, and Read a possession takes the sentence above apart phrase by phrase. The search in the top bar also searches the text of every lecture.