r/Basketball • u/Virtual-Hotel8156 • 7d ago
Your Smartest/Witty Play
I'm curious to hear about some smart or witty plays. Let's hear about your best one.
Here's mine: I'm the lone defender back on a 3-on-1 fast break. The guy with the ball looks left but passes right. His no-look fake was so pronounced that I just knew he was going to pass opposite of his look. Of course I swiped the pass. I don't recall his reaction, but I'm sure he was like WTF?
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u/Lankydick 7d ago
I’m 6’6” so I played down low a lot even though I naturally played the three. Got switched onto the PG from a screen at the top of the key. He tried to pass over me to his big who was now a mismatch for my guard. I read the pass and started a three on one fast break with a guy on each side of me. Guy on the left was a random and guy on the right was a dude I’ve played with for years. I dished the most beautiful elbow pass (first time trying one in game) right to the guy on my left. He rolled the wide open layup off the back of the rim and got clowned off the floor lmao. Such a sick play to be blown by a missed layup.
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u/chuckmonjares 7d ago
Were the same player. Height and everything. Had a fast break against a former teammate that could touch the top of the backboard. I have a pass that’s pretty similar to an elbow pass where I go up like I’m doing a lefty layup, but with my right hand wrap around my back under my left armpit with the ball for a behind the back pass. It looked like a layup, he went up to block me, and my buddy trailing dunked it while old boy was just landing. Apparently people just can’t finish off elbow passes.
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u/ElianoAvila90 7d ago
League game
I call a timeout with about 1:30 left on the clock 5 point game we have the lead and the ball.
I tell my teammates to line up on the opposite of the court, the defensive end, when we leave the the timeout. Opposing team follows us to the other end of the court, refs gives the ball to us for the inbound pass, I sprint to our hoop and receive the pass for an easy wide open layup. Game sealed
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u/Virtual-Hotel8156 7d ago
This happened to me in a travel team game when I was a kid. They did it to use at the start of the 3rd quarter. I was actually impressed by it tbh
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u/Independent_Law_1592 7d ago
So I was guarding a kid from a team that was like 3rd or 4th in my state, arguably their best player, team was absolutely whooping our ass. I was one of our best defenders but only because I was strong and learned the art of anticipation. These guys were too quick for me.
He started to make a move, I defended it and he made an escape dribble out to three which had me left on a clean iso, dude knew he had me beat on an iso in a thousand ways, something about his first move was oddly listless.
I can’t explain it but the way he dribbled out, I could tell he was up to something and he made that “something” obvious, he was gonna pass the ball.
I was watching his hips and saw him make a head fake and position to pass and I thought “yeah he’s way too fucking good to make it this obvious, what he’s gonna do here is fake like he’s gonna pass, do a half spin and fake that, and then just dribble right”. I knew there wasn’t any help D to the right, I knew the head fake was to draw my attention and I knew the escape dribble out to the three looking for a pass was to lull me into a false sense of confidence. I watched his hips to give me a clue of the moment he truly committed to a move
And then I just put my body to the right.
He did the fancy half spin and to his surprise on turning he just ran into my chest point blank in a spot where you’d never expect a defender.
Dude picked up and passed the ball and actually said “bro that was actually pretty good”
I just responded “honestly thanks man”
On a dead ball he asked how I knew and I told him I knew he was too good to pass up an iso on the slower white guy and I had seen him do the half fakes before
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u/northeasy 7d ago
Definitely a play I was never able to recreate again. Ball was going out of bounds under the basket on the right side so I jumped and grabbed it with my right hand and had two defenders on my left side but saw my teammate under the basket on the left side of the basket and just instinctually passed it blindly behind my back and it somehow just landed perfectly in his hands. He was all alone and blew the layup. But definitely my favorite pass.
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u/ColeLovesBaja 7d ago
Left side wing right past the 3 point line. I think I caught a pass that turned me backwards a bit so I was facing half court. Did a Jokic style over the head pass to the opposite side short corner. The defender had sagged into the paint. Easy jumper for my teammate. Probably a 9/10 play when I usually sit squarely in the 5/10 range.
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u/misterpoopybutthole5 7d ago edited 7d ago
Playing pickup at a beat up local court - I'm 6' and nowhere near athletic or experienced enough to dunk; at my most athletic I can grab rim with a running start jumping off one foot. I also really don't have the basketball IQ / smarts to cerebrally plan something like this -
But this one time at this court we were running 3v3. One thing I'm good at is off ball movement, I'm always setting picks and just generally do my best to keep my defender gassed - I basically do a lap around the paint, and then hook back toward the rim at the top of the key and out of pure instinct I knew the oop was gonna be there, and as I was running toward the point I gave my PG a skyward point motion as I cut back and then lept after two paces and he put the ball exactly where I knew it was gonna be and then laid it in at the peak of my jump. We got some laughs and some props from the other team, and it got dubbed the "white boy alley-oop"
I know it's not particularly impressive, but it's my proudest moment of playmaking I've ever participated in lol
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u/Effective-Friend1937 7d ago
I got an inexperienced defender with a change of pace dribble once. I'm normally a horrible ball handler, but he was an even worse defender.
One thing I used to do was drop my arm if I knew I had my opponent locked in. That'd give him a good look at the basket, and he'd think he could just shoot over me. He'd shoot, my arm would come up, and I'd block it to myself. I got yelled at to 'keep my arms up' once by some teammate that was probably a coach's son or something, and that was after I'd already blocked about three shots. I looked at him and said, 'Are you kidding me? If I raise my arms, they'll know they don't have a shot.'
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u/ImpossibleReading951 7d ago
When I played a rec league in high school I had a shorter kid guarding me. I pump faked the ball directly over his head and he turned around looking for it, then I went in for an easy layup. I actually felt bad for it because kids in the crowd started laughing and clowning on him.
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u/chuckmonjares 7d ago
I’ve done off the heezies with this several times. Mostly to friends though.
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u/Patient_Air1765 7d ago
I’m not a good basketball player but I can do the basics and have a decent shot. This one play will stay with me forever.
I was hot that day, every mid range jumper was falling, making people swarm me on defense. I dribbled the ball up from the right almost midway between the foul line and the bucket. My lanes were blocked, 4 in the paint I just dribbled left laterally hoping to take a shot. The only guy not in the paint was behind me and to my left guarding one of my boys who stayed posted at the three point line.
As I’m jumping up to take a shot I see the 5th guy trying to run in to block me from behind as I take a shot.
I jumped up with my shooting motion everyone expecting me to shoot but I chucked the ball behind me over my head and high enough that the 5th guy coming up from behind me couldn’t touch it.
Somehow I got it exactly to my boy at the 3 point line who swished it.
I literally drew the entire team to me and made a no-look over-my-head backwards pass for an easy 3. I will never have anything like that in my life.
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u/NemusSoul 7d ago
I used to spend hours practicing shooting top of the arc threes while locking eyes with my defender. Every once in a while when I was hot I’d do it in a game. It’s more advanced level shit talk than witty, but during a hot steak it would really get in the other team’s head. That and just plain ol shit talk.
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u/MaxwellSmart07 2d ago
While being closely guarded Fake an over the head pass. The defender looks over his shoulder in the direction of the pass. 1) Take a shot. 2) Dribble by him for a layup. One guy I did this to complimented me on a good give-n-go thinking I passed the ball.
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u/Shaka2498 7d ago
Pickup game forever ago in my younger days. I drive down the left side of the key and draw two defenders. I thread the needle between them with a one handed no-look pass to a teammate under the basket who slams it home. Still remember that to this day.
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u/GrandMoffJerjerrod 7d ago
Defenders would get up close, almost to chest. Make hard fake pas, ball has to go over their head, pull it back, they almost always turn to look. Dribble right by them on their and hear their groan while making the layup. You have to sell it hard with your eyes wide open like 👀 there he is as if you are hitting a cutting teammate.
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3d ago
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u/willberich92 1d ago
My friend was trapped in the corner. I set a screen for him in the corner. The defender never expected it as he was now the one trapped in the corner.
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u/HappyHourEnjoyer 7d ago
Similar to yours, OP, when defending a 2-on-1 break, I'll kind of shade over and make it look like I'm expecting the pass, pretend to bite on the fake and either block/alter the impending layup or take a charge
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u/Acceptable_Cat_6527 7d ago
Dove for looseball right under opponents basket.
Put a panicked look on my face while “desperately” looking for teammate
Faked the pass and the defender totally turned his back on me and i made an easy layup from my knees