Back Door Quick Hitter Out of a 1-4 High Set
This is a simple back door quick hitter from a 1-4 high set, designed to punish a man-to-man defense that overplays the passing lanes. It’s a good call out of a timeout, and because both high-post spots are interchangeable, you can run it to either side.
Initial Set: 1-4 High
This spread alignment pulls all four off-ball defenders up high and clears the entire lane.
Flow
- Set the floor. Align in the 1-4 high with 1 up top, the elbows filled, and the wings stretched. The goal is to get the defense extended and denying.
- Read the denial. Against an aggressive man-to-man, the off-ball defenders overplay the passing lanes up the line. That deny is the trigger.
- Set up the cut. The strong-side elbow player (3 in the animation) steps toward the ball to sell the catch and get their defender to commit high.
- Cut backdoor. As the defender opens up to deny, 3 plants and cuts hard behind them toward the rim.
- Deliver the pass. 1 hits the cutter with a bounce pass for a layup. A pass fake or a quick dribble-at can be used to freeze the defender before the feed.
If the backdoor isn’t there, the cutter clears through and the offense flows into your base set or a second action.
Coaching Points
- The cut sells the play. The cutter has to step toward the ball first — no setup, no separation.
- Bounce pass to the rim. It’s the highest-percentage feed past an overplaying defender.
- Run it either side. Flip the initial positions so your best finisher or your sharpest cutter is the one going backdoor.
- Best vs denial. Save it for a defense that’s face-guarding or jumping the passing lanes — the more they deny, the better it works.
When to Use It
A clean timeout call or an early-clock counter when the defense is pressuring and denying. It needs no screens and only one pass, so there’s little that can go wrong.
Animation
View the animation of this Back Door Quick Hitter.
