“45 Cut”

Term: “45 Cut”

Definition: a cut at a 45-degree angle from the wing to the basket

Synonyms: burn cut

See Also: Step-Up, Euro ballscreen, thru cut, face cut, single/double gap

How It Works: In the diagram above, 2 makes a 45 cut to the basket.

Why It Works: A 45 cut is usually effective for one of two reasons: The cutter can be open for a pass at the rim, or the cut creates space on the perimeter (often to punish the “nail” defender and prevent him from stunting, or to create a gap).

Here, Victor Oladipo’s 45 cut on the weakside of a step-up screen gets him a layup:

On the other hand, Gabe Vincent’s 45 cut is a decoy that frees up Kelly Olynyk for a kick-out 3:

Some 45 cuts are spontaneous; the cutter sees an opening and makes a move. Other 45 cuts are built into the offense. For example, some teams have the player on the weakside wing automatically make a 45 cut every time their offense runs a pick-and-pop (this is sometimes known as “pop and burn” action):

In those situations, the 45 cut prevents his defender, the so-called nail defender, from stunting, or lunging, at the pick-and-pop big.

A 45 is also used with a ballscreen if there are two players on the strongside of a pick-and-roll: The cut creates a double gap. Here, Trae Young dribbles into a double ballscreen, turns around, and receives a single ballscreen in the opposite direction, dribbling toward the side with John Collins and De’Andre Hunter. Collins makes a 45 cut behind his defender and scores a layup:

A 45 can also be used to punish a defense any time it zones off one side of the court, such as the cut Kevin Huerter makes in this clip:

After low man (circled in blue below) leaves the weakside corner to protect against the drive, Norman Powell (circled in green) drops down to zone off that side of the court and split the difference between Tony Snell and Huerter (1 and 2). From there, Powell can close out on Snell or Huerter if either of them receives a kick-out pass:

But Huerter makes a 45 cut in front of Powell’s face, bringing Powell closer to the basket and farther from Snell:

Snell lifts from the corner to the wing, and Trae Young finds him for a kick-out 3 to win the game:

Whether or not Powell should have followed Huerter, the 45 cut opened up the perimeter for Snell and punished the defense for sending help.

In this next clip, the Atlanta Hawks run Chicago action. De’Andre Hunter’s 45 cut on the weakside frees up Trae Young on the perimeter, which begins a chain reaction that ends with a John Collins show-and-go dunk:

Unlike Kevin Huerter’s cut against the Raptors, Hunter’s 45 cut (in green below) is behind the back of the nail defender (pink), forcing the low man (light blue) to leave Trae Young and take Hunter. Trae lifts to the wing and passes to John Collins, whose defender has sagged back into the lane because of all the cutting, and Collins attacks the closeout and dunks.

A 45 cut is often used to initiate a so-called Euro ballscreen, an empty side pick-on-roll on the wing (“empty” means that if the Euro BS is on the left wing, there’s no teammate also in the left corner). Euro ballscreens often occur on the second side, or on the weakside of the floor after a ball reversal.

In this example of a Euro ballscreen, the Phoenix Suns run a pick-and-pop to get the ball to the big at the top of the key (cf. delay and slash action). From there, he dribbles at the left wing, triggering that player to make a 45 cut. Then the big executes a throw-and-chase (he throws a pass to the player who’s lifting up from the corner and then chases his pass to set a ballscreen):

The cutter can also set a screen. A common ATO from the Utah Jazz is to run a Euro ballscreen initiated with a 45 cut, but the cutter stops short and sets a backscreen for Rudy Gobert:

Or the cutter can set the first of a stagger screen, which the Utah Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans often do. Josh Hart makes a 45 cut and then sets a screen from J.J. Redick, who receives a second screen from Zion Williamson before popping out for 3:

In this example, the 45 cutter swings around to set a step-up screen on the far side:

Or the cutter can receive a screen, such as in veer/roll & replace action. In this next clip, Aaron Nesmith of Vanderbilt makes a 45 cut as part of a Euro ballscreen, and then receives a stagger, fading to the corner for a 3:

A 45 cut can also be used in a post-up situation to prevent the perimeter defender from digging, or lunging at the ball to apply pressure. Here, DeMar DeRozan gets a cross screen for a post up. Dejounte Murray, on the strong side wing, makes a 45 or thru cut so that his man can’t help on DeRozan, who scores on a baseline spin:

More Examples: