Hammer Action

One-line: A baseline-driving guard kicks to a weak-side corner shooter who just used a back-screen ("hammer screen").

How it works

1. Guard drives baseline (often from a ball-screen)
2. As guard attacks baseline, the weak-side big sets a back-screen on the weak-side corner shooter's defender
3. Weak-side shooter slides UP to the wing — open corner 3 (or wing 3)
4. Driver kicks across baseline to the open shooter

Why it works

Help defenders collapse on baseline drives. The weak-side defender is the help — back-screening him strands him in the lane.

Variations

• Hammer to corner (classic) — shooter stays in corner
• Hammer to wing (lift) — shooter pops up to the wing
• Double hammer — both weak-side players involved

Defense counters

• Don't help on the baseline drive if you scout hammer (give up the contested layup, deny the kick)
• Switch the back-screen so the guard's man takes the shooter
• Tag down on the screener to prevent the back-screen from being clean

When to call it

• ATO vs help-heavy teams
• Out of SLOBs with a baseline angle

Famous practitioner

• Gregg Popovich (Spurs) — hammered teams to death with this for two decades

See also

• concepts/ball-screen-reads.md
• actions/spain-pnr.md

Sources & further reading

Verified citations (this file's content can be checked against)

• Hammer Time: A Breakdown of San Antonio's Killer Offensive Set — Grantland — the canonical write-up of the Spurs' Hammer action: baseline drive, weak-side back-screen, baseline kick to the corner. Directly supports the file's core mechanic and the Popovich attribution.
• Spurs — "Triangle STS Hammer" — FastModel Sports — diagrammed Spurs ATO from a 2017 Spurs–Rockets playoff game showing screen-the-screener disguised as iso, ending in a Hammer baseline drift.
• Gregg Popovich Spurs TD Hammer Action Set Play — Men's Basketball Hoop Scoop — second independent coach-blog breakdown that names Popovich/Spurs and walks the action.

Recommended further reading for staff

• FastModel Sports playbank — search "Hammer" for dozens of SLOB/ATO Hammer variations from college and NBA staffs.
• BBALLBREAKDOWN YouTube archive (Coach Nick) — multiple film breakdowns of Spurs Hammer actions from the 2013–14 Spurs era.

Verification notes (Claude)

• The Spurs/Popovich attribution is well-documented and credible — Grantland (Zach Lowe / Kirk Goldsberry-era staff) explicitly traced the action to San Antonio.
• The file's defensive counters (don't help on the drive, switch the back-screen, tag the screener) are standard scout-team responses; I could not find one canonical source listing all three but each is widely echoed.
• "Double hammer" is a real variation but rare; do not assume opponents will scout it specifically.