Raptors Playbook: BLOB “Chest”
Over at the Raptors Playbook YouTube channel (@RaptorsPlaybook on Twitter), I am breaking down the X’s & O’s of the Toronto Raptors. This week, we’ll focus on their “Chest” series – a play they frequently use in Baseline Out of Bounds scenarios. Watch the video embedded below alongside the summary written, and remember to follow and subscribe to never miss out on a video.
2 Screeners: 1st Cutter – Starting at 0:25
The first progression of the play has the wing player on the opposite side of the key relative to the inbounder receiving two screens to cut towards the ball. Very simple action that occasionally produces a scoring advantage on the catch. However, the Raptors are prepared to move to subsequent progressions in the event no such advantage is created.
Against teams that use the inbounder defender to assist on the catch while ignoring the passer, the Raptors are prepared to quickly pass the ball back to the inbounder as they quickly skulk behind the defense along the baseline for a layup.
2 Screeners: 2nd Cutter – Starting at 1:11
In the event that the first option of the “2 Screener” variant does not produce a scoring advantage on the catch, the Raptors will screen-the-screener to create a second potential scoring advantage.
If the “2 Screener” variant is used and no meaningful advantage is gained by the second screen, the Raptors will usually progress into a simple ball screen.
1 Screener – Starting at 2:36
Toronto will occasionally opt against using both players as screeners and sometimes will just screen away for the player in the middle of the paint to quickly cut towards the inbounder. There is usually some amount of trickery going on with this option — whether it be to convince the defense that the 2 screener variation is being used, or to invert the screeners themselves.
Note: The call for this play is “Chest” with a swiping action across the chest of the player in BLOB scenarios
