Half Court Hoops - Coach's Cut

Half Court Hoops - Coach's Cut

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Half Court Hoops - Coach's Cut
Half Court Hoops - Coach's Cut
Boston Celtics ATOs: Ram Series
2022 NBA Finals

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.

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Half Court Hoops
Jan 26, 2022
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Half Court Hoops - Coach's Cut
Half Court Hoops - Coach's Cut
Boston Celtics ATOs: Ram Series
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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.


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

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