Boston Celtics ATOs: Ram Series

A deeper look into the Boston Celtics playbook and their Ram Series - currently the NBA's best After Time Out team.

The sixth part of the focus on the Celtics After Time Out playbook is going to be their Ram Series. Just like football, basketball coaches like to put together a series of plays out of the same formation to disguise and surprise the defense.

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Part 1: Boston Celtics ATOs: Creative Guard Design

Part 2: Boston Celtics ATOs: Iverson Series

Part 3: Boston Celtics ATOs: Dive Series

Part 4: Boston Celtics ATOs: Delay Series

Part 5: Boston Celtics ATOs: Horns Series

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I use the term “Ram” for when a guard sets a screen down on a big normally in the middle of the lane before a secondary action. First seeing this from Shaka Smart at VCU (Billy Donovan ran this at Florida before as well), I took that Ram term for this basic action.

The majority of the sets that are triggered with Ram action are going to flow into a ballscreen, but there are some examples where the Ram screen is a setup to get the big the ball with less pressure.

Ram Spread

One of the most basic actions to create bad coverage when running Spread Pick & Roll is to have a guard screen down first with the Ram screen and then have the big sprint into a pick and roll.

If teams are playing more aggressively or to create a tougher angle for the big defending, Ram action works really well to give the offense a slightly better chance to execute.

Ram Spain