Three Baseline Inbounds Plays To Win Your Basketball Team Games

• By Grant Young

Having a few effective basketball inbound plays is what can set one coach and their team apart from others, and can be the difference between winning and losing games. 

Because inbound plays are often used in critical moments of the game, such as the closing seconds of a tight contest or after a timeout, teams need to be practicing these all the time. Well-executed inbound plays can lead to easy scoring opportunities, which can swing the momentum of the game in your team's favor. 

It’s also important to have a variety of effective inbound plays that can keep the opposing team guessing and make it more challenging for them to defend against your team's inbound passes. Yet, you don’t want to have too many set plays, because that means less time spent perfecting the few you’re most likely to use in these tight situations. 

Despite their importance, many basketball coaches — even very good ones — get some vital things wrong about inbounds plays. Some coaches tend to rely on the same inbound plays over and over again, making it easier for the opposing team to anticipate and defend against them. Failing to tailor inbound plays to exploit mismatches or take advantage of the opponent's defensive tendencies can limit their effectiveness. 

Another mistake is not emphasizing proper execution and timing during practice. Inbound plays require precise movements and timing, and if players are not well-drilled in executing them, the plays are less likely to be successful during actual games. 

Since there are so many inbounds plays out there, it’s hard to know which ones will work best for your team in which situations. This is why we’ve pulled three elite inbounds plays from three top-tier coaches that you can institute into your offense. While we can’t guarantee your team will finish the play, these plays will give them (and you) a great chance for success. 

Kim Mulkey - 11

Kim Mulkey is the head coach of the LSU Tigers women’s basketball team. She is a six-time national champion and has been named National Coach of the Year nine times by various entities, and she was selected as the Big 12 Coach of the Year eight times. Mulkey is also a member of the National High School Hall of Fame, Louisiana High School Hall of Fame, Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame (2007), and Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

Coach Mulkey’s ‘11’ baseline inbounds play from her ‘Kim Mulkey - Quick Hitters & In Bound Plays’ course is when she has two post players setting a staggered screen, with one player in the paint and another on the ball-side block. 

What you want to have is a shooter that’s coming off of that screen that can catch and finish a midrange jump shot along the baseline, because they’re almost guaranteed to get an open look. Because of how clustered it is in the paint plus the two consecutive screens, it’s nearly impossible for that player’s defender to keep up with them enough to contest a shot.

For screeners, they must have their back facing where they want their teammate to get the shot so that they can set as wide (and as legal) of a screen as possible. 

If the baseline jumper doesn’t become available after those two screens, then the other guard at the top of the key will set a down screen for the inbounder, who will become open at the top of the key for a three-point shot. If that shot isn’t available, then continue into your normal offense. 

Kyle Brown - Need A 3

Kyle Brown is the assistant men’s basketball coach at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, a position he has held since the start of the 2016-17 academic school year.

Before he arrived at Saint Mary’s, Brown spent the last three years as the lead assistant at Cornell College. Brown has also spent time as an assistant coach and lead recruiter at St. Norbert College, where the Green Knights won three Midwest Conference regular-season and tournament titles.

If you have a post player who can shoot three-pointers, one of Coach Brown’s plays is an almost guaranteed way to get him an open shot. It involves starting the post player along the baseline or on the wing, who will then set a screen for one of your team’s top guards (ideally one who can shoot). That player will then pretend like they’re heading out to the wing for a shot before turning back around and getting a back screen for the initial post player, who will then go out to the wing and likely receive an open look. 

Because the defense’s focus will be on the shooting guard, they’ll likely lose track of the big man who will then flash up to the wing or top of the key for an open look.

Kerry Keating - ‘Gold’ Action

Kerry Keating spent nine seasons in charge of the Santa Clara men's basketball program, leading the Broncos to a pair of postseason appearances.

Keating, who compiled a 139-159 record at the school, led the Broncos to the 2013 College Basketball Invitational postseason tournament title. Keating came to Santa Clara after serving four seasons as an assistant coach at UCLA, helping the Bruins to Final Four appearances in 2006 and `07. 

Coach Keating’s ‘Gold’ action will start with the ball being inbounded to a small forward or shooting guard on the wing. The guard who inbounds the ball will then receive a set of staggered screens from the two post players (one on the block and one at the elbow), and get open in the opposite wing for a three-point shot. 

And if the shot isn’t open, the post player on the elbow can initiate a pick and roll.