The Plays Breakdown — Offence, Defence, Out of Bounds & Special Situations
Start here: this is the Lab's playbook, expanded to the maximum the documented record honestly supports — every diagram a play family NBA teams have actually run, the standard named sets and actions coaches call from the bench, from the pick and roll to the elevator doors, plus the documented clock situations (the 2-for-1, fouling up three, the intentional miss) that decide endings. Every play carries the full treatment: a step-by-step diagram, when it is used, its reads and counters, and its variations. An honest limit, stated up front: this is a catalog of the documented play families, not a claim to list literally every play ever run. Teams rename, disguise and tweak these actions nightly; what follows is the shared vocabulary they are all built from.
How to read the diagrams: offence is the numbered blue circles (1–5); defence is the brown-red X marks (X1–X5); the orange dot rides with whoever holds the ball. On out-of-bounds plays the gold diamond marked IN is the inbounder. Within a step, a dashed arrow is that step's pass. Famous examples are named only where they are well documented.
When it's used:
The sequence:
Reads & counters:
Variations:
Famous example: