What is the coffin corner in basketball
The coffin corner is a term that is sometimes used to describe a corner area of the court that an offensive player in possession of the ball would have difficulty escaping from, specifically if that same offensive player gets trapped in that corner by two defenders.
What is general information about the coffin corner
Generally speaking, the coffin corner is relative to the current backcourt or frontcourt location of an offensive player in possession of the basketball.
That is to say, if an offensive player has possession of the ball in their backcourt, then the primary coffin corners would be the corner areas near the baseline and sidelines.
Also, secondary coffin corners in the backcourt could be the corner areas near the half court line and the sidelines.
Moreover, in a similar fashion, if an offensive player has possession of the basketball in their frontcourt, then the primary coffin corners would be the corner areas near the half court line and the the sidelines.
Additionally, secondary coffin corners in the frontcourt could be the corner areas near the baseline and the sidelines.
Essentially, the coffin corner areas are very similar in terms of their broad descriptions but the main difference depends on the corner location of the offensive player in possession of the ball.
It should also be noted that traps set near primary coffin corners are generally more effective because an offensive player usually has very limited options of breaking free from those particular traps.
Basically, once an offensive player in possession of the ball gets trapped in a primary coffin corner, that offensive player cannot dribble away from the trap, particularly to release defensive pressure because the baseline and/or sideline would act as a third quasi-defender.
Furthermore, if the offensive player were to dribble the basketball on or over the baseline/sideline, then that would result in an out of bounds violation.
What’s more is that once an offensive player gets trapped in the primary coffin corner, there is usually not enough space to dribble with any noticeable effect and because of that, the offensive player would usually be compelled to end their dribble by picking up the basketball.
From there, after the offensive player ends their dribble, the most practical options remaining at that point are to pass the ball to a teammate or call a timeout.
Unfortunately for the offensive player, it would usually be very challenging to pass the ball, especially over the outstretched arms of the trapping defenders.
Also, in certain instances, the offensive player would even be compelled to throw a jump pass to a teammate.
Nevertheless, if an offensive teammate is not open to receive that jump pass, then this could result in a turnover by way of a defensive interception or traveling violation, particularly when the offensive player lands on the floor after jumping into the air without releasing the ball.
As for the other option, calling a timeout after being trapped, particularly near a coffin corner, is usually the safest choice but the problem is that each team only has a limited amount of timeouts to use.
Therefore, burning a timeout, mainly because of trap defense, is usually not beneficial for the offensive team in the long run.
As an example, the offensive team might need to use a timeout during crunch time when the scores of both teams are close and simultaneously, there is very little time remaining on the game clock.
However, if a member of the offensive team already burned at least one timeout (if not more) after being trapped in coffin corners, then that could be an issue in terms of managing and executing special situations such as last second plays to win the game.
On the other hand, traps that are set near secondary coffin corners may not be as effective as primary coffin corners.
Although it is generally difficult for an offensive player to escape out of a coffin corner trap in most cases, it is slightly more feasible to break free out of the secondary coffin corner, particularly by way of passing the basketball to a teammate or dribbling out of the trap, such as with the escape dribble.
In either case though, it is usually beneficial for the defensive team any time that an offensive player gets trapped near any corner of the basketball court.
What is a basic diagram example of coffin corner areas
This is a basic diagram example of the coffin corner areas with trap defense on the basketball court. Offensive players denoted as players 1 through 8 have possession of a basketball for demonstrative purposes.
Also, each offensive player with a ball is currently being trapped in the various coffin corners by different defenders, simply denoted as the letter X for simplicity purposes.
In addition to that, notice that the primary and secondary coffin corners are relative to an offensive player’s location depending on if that same offensive player is in their backcourt or their frontcourt.
For example, if players 1 or 2 are in their backcourt or if players 5 and 6 are in their frontcourt, then those respective players would be currently trapped in primary coffin corners.
Conversely, if players 3 and 4 are in their backcourt or if players 7 and 8 are in their frontcourt, then those respective players would be currently trapped in secondary coffin corners.