Objective
Install a repeatable half-court alignment that creates rim pressure, pick-and-pop threes and corner kick-outs from a single starting picture.
Setup
Area
Half court
Players
5 offensive players (add 5 defenders to rehearse reads live)
Equipment
1 ball, 4 cones to mark elbow and corner spots during install
Duration
15–20 minutes per install session
How it works
- 1
Set the alignment
1 brings the ball to the top of the key, 4 and 5 stand a foot outside each elbow, and 2 and 3 space to the deep corners. Nobody below the free-throw line — the paint stays empty.
- 2
Option 1 — Horns Pick
5 sets a ball screen on 1's defender while 4 pops beyond the arc; 1 comes off shoulder-to-shoulder and turns the corner. Reads in order: the layup, the pocket pass to 5 rolling, then the swing to 4 popping with 2 lifting from the corner as the valve.
- 3
Option 2 — Horns Twist
1 refuses 5's first screen and immediately uses 4's screen going the other direction. The re-screen forces the two big defenders to communicate twice in three seconds; if they hedge the second screen, 4 slips straight to the rim before contact.
- 4
Option 3 — Horns Flare
1 enters to 5 at the elbow, then sprints off a flare screen from 4 toward the weak-side wing. 5 hits the skip or hands off; if x1 shoots the gap under the flare, 1 curls backdoor to the front of the rim instead.
- 5
Counter the switch
When defenses switch every Horns action, go to the split: 2 and 3 lift from the corners and screen for each other at the nail while 5 holds the ball at the elbow, creating a slip or a curl against confused matchups.
Coaching points
Bigs must set the elbow screens with a wide, legal base — the whole set collapses if the first screen is slipped early out of habit.
Corner shooters stay glued to the corners until the ball is driven; lifting too soon drags help defenders back into the lane.
Teach 1 to snake the dribble back to the middle when the on-ball defender goes under, keeping both elbows playable.
Rehearse the pocket pass at game speed — the roll arrives faster than in a wing pick-and-roll because the screen is so high.
Variations
Horns Down
Instead of screening the ball, both bigs dive and down-screen for the corner shooters, who curl to the elbows for catch-and-shoot jumpers — a clean counter when defenses load up on the point guard.
Horns Rub
1 enters to 4 and cuts hard off 5's shoulder through the middle to the rim, a give-and-go that punishes defenders who relax the instant the ball leaves their man's hands.
Build it in Coach Board
Build one Horns board in Coach Board with the five starting spots locked in, then duplicate it three times — Pick, Twist, Flare — and animate each option as its own sequence. Players scrub the elbow screen frame by frame, press play to watch the roll and the pop diverge, and you share all three links in the same team message.
Open Coach Board