Favorite Plays From Around The World: The Argentina Cross Screen Action

• By Coach Perkins

In 2009, I had the opportunity to sit down with Eric Mussleman to talk about Horns actions for my DVD, Horns Offense.  During our conversation, he mentioned that while he was at Golden State that he had watched the Argentinian National Team and took their action off free throws to run.  He explained that teams need a quick hitting action that allows for quick scoring opportunities as well as 3 point shots.

So I went back and watched the 2004 Olympic Games as well as some other games and found this action.

This action has been copied by teams around the world and is still in use.

Here is a clip from the 2019 FIBA World Championships of Argentina running the action.

Here are some additional clips of Argentina's national team running the action.

You can run the crossing action from sideline or baseline situations.  Here is a diagram from a professional team in Spain.

Argentina does an excellent job of using their Flow/Euro Ball Screen offense as a false motion to set up their favorite actions.  Here is a diagram of how they get into the crossing action.

If you are interested in learning more about the success of Argentina in global basketball, check out this course by Santiago Belza from Argentina.  We also recommend Complete Breakdown of Pick and Roll Basketball by Herman Mandole, a former coach in the Argentina national program now coaching with the national team of Japan.