“Horns Out”
Term: Horns Out
Definition: a Horns set in which the player at one Elbow sets a cross screen for his teammate at the other Elbow to cut to the far wing
Synonyms:
- Horns Leak
- Horns Cross
- Horns Chest (N.B.: “Horns Chest” is also used for what is sometimes known as “Horns Flare”)
See Also:
- Slash: a pick-and-pop followed by a DHO on the weakside wing (Horns Out is often followed by a similar DHO)
- Stack Down: a similar end result, albeit with a tweaked initial alignment in which the players are “stacked” at the same Elbow or low post
- Face Cut: a curved cut from the corner to the hoop, often preceded by Horns Out Flip action
- Horns Out Flip: Horns Out, but the cutter flips the ball back to the ballhandler (and then often receives a flare screen from the big)
- Zipper: a down screen for a guard to cut to from the low block to the slot, where they receive a pass from the wing
Origin of the Name: N/A
How It Works: In the diagram above, 5 sets a screen for 2 to cut from the right Elbow to the left Wing, where he receives a pass from 1.
Why It Works: Like Miami or Zipper, Horns Out is a great way to get the ball into the hands of a non-PG ballhandler, such as Bradley Beal or Devin Booker.
In typical Horns, a big is at each Elbow. Horns Out often replaces one of them with a guard (which teams like the Miami Heat do for many other plays). That guard, Devin Booker in these clips below, can come off the cross screen and look to score:
If the defense anticipates the guard cutting to the weakside wing, he can fade to the strongside wing instead:
The big who set the cross screen often follows (“chases”) the guard for a pick-and-roll:
That guard can also get a double ballscreen (aka “Double Drag”):
Now let’s look at Horns Out when the initial cutter doesn’t look to score, including Horns Out Slash and Horns Out Keep.
Horns Out Slash (DHO to weakside wing):
Traditionally, “slash” refers to a pick-and-pop followed by a DHO on the weakside wing, such as this Horns Slash Blind Pig:
But Horns Out can replace the initial pick-and-pop and accomplish the same swing and ball reversal, such as this Horns Out Miami:
Horns Out Slash Step Spain:
Horns Out Keep (PnR or Split Cuts):
Horns Out Keep refers to the point guard not passing to the cutter, either by design or because the defender has denied the pass. Typically, he will either receive a “Snap” and/or Angle ballscreen from the big at the Elbow (the same person who set the cross screen)…
… or pass to that big for Split cut action:
Against the Denver Nuggets in the 2021 NBA Playoffs, the Phoenix Suns, which had been using Horns Out consistently that series, used Horns Out Keep Snap to punish Nikola Jokic’s drop coverage with Chris Paul’s pull-up midrange game:
Sometimes, the cutter and the screener are in a so-called Stack alignment (instead of Horns), such as this Stack Down Ghost Angle:
Horns Out Flip:
In the following example of Horns Out Flip, Chris Paul passes to Jae Crowder off the cross screen, who flips it back to Paul for a pick-and-roll:
Horns Out Flip often precedes a face cut/Danilovic cut, as in the clip below, and is explained in further detail on the Face Cut page:
See More:
Horns Out Ram Fist Flare:
Horns Out Fade Chase PnR:
Horns Out Flip Face:
