Here is a Trick Out of Bounds Play that Works

Situation: Team A is behind by one point and has the ball out of bounds underneath their own basket on the offensive endline with 5 seconds left in the game.

The players line up in a box with 2 players at each elbow and two players on each block.

You put your best 3 point shooter at the block on the side of where the ball is being taken out. You put your best power foul shooter at the elbow opposite the side of the ball.

After the official hands A1 The player taking the ball out of bounds the ball A1 yells out 7.

As soon as he yells 7 the player at the opposite elbow A2 yells out, “hey I am supposed to take the ball out on 7. A2 walks towards the player with the ball. A3 the player on the block on the side of the player taking the ball out of bounds walks to the corner as he yells “yes, John is supposed to take it out on seven”.

A1 the player taking the ball yells out “Coach who is supposed to take it out on seven?” The coach yells “John is”.

Many times the defense will bite on this and allow A2, John to walk towards the ball, like he is going to take it out and then he stops and gets a pass from A1 from out-of-bounds for an unmolested layup.

If the defense does not Bite, usually A3 is open in the corner for a shot because the defense forgets about him as all the confusion and yelling that is going on, between A1, A2 A3 and the coach.

If A3 in the corner is not open then you run a set play from that position.

We called this the “Dummy Play”, because once a player has been handed the ball by the offical, no other player can take the ball out on the offensive endline. But in the heat of battle many times the defense forgets this.