BEGINNER POWER PLAYS

*1A. Point - "Drag"

• The point player passes "around the horn," receives a pass back, then carries ("drags") the ball toward the strong-side shooter position. 

• Just before the point player arrives at the shooter position, the shooter that is already there should seal their check down and in toward the middle.
  

• The point player continues dragging behind the seal for a seam shot (Option #1), or at any time skip passes to the far-side crease player who moves up to the soft spot (Option #2).  Option #3 if the point player doesn't like first 2 options, is to pass to the weak-side shooter who can then likely pass it to the sealer who "rolls" into the middle once the ball is passed. 

• Variation

  • Variation:  If the first seal attempt was ineffective or a decoy, another option is for this player to re-seal from inside-out.  The point player can then step overtop of the seal for a shot or send a skip pass to the far-side crease player. 

*1B. Point - "Fake Drag"

• The point player passes around the horn, receives a pass back, then slowly backpedals ("drags") the ball toward the same-handed shooter position.
  

• As the point player starts "dragging" the same-handed shooter fakes to set an on-ball seal and instead sets a cross-pick for the opposite-side shooter (another variation is to "slip" to the middle).  As a slight variation, this cross-pick could also be set for the opposite side crease player.

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  The point player passes to the weak-side shooter a split-second before they come around the seal (or to the slip option in the middle). 

  After receiving the pass, ideally the ball carrier can step overtop of the seal and into the middle for a high quality shot (Option #1), otherwise skip pass the ball to the far-side crease player (Option #2), or pass back to the point player who fills into the shooter position (Option #3) and is sometimes open if the off-ball help defender overcommits.  

  Variation

  • Variation:  The off-ball shooter can also cut the middle underneath, instead of overtop of the seal (sometimes with a pass from the ball-side crease player instead of the shooter).

• *Note:  Both of these plays also work well against a Diamond defense.