Brush Action

Brush action is a hand-off built around legal contact at the moment of exchange. The cutter runs directly at the teammate holding the ball; the hand-off happens in the instant of contact; the cutter continues toward the basket while the chaser must navigate around the original ball-carrier.

It’s not a screen — there’s no setup, no anchor. But it functions like one because the receiver gets a momentary separation while the defender adjusts. The action is most effective when run at speed, with the cutter already moving when the ball is handed off.

European leagues use brush action heavily, particularly in continuity offenses that chain multiple hand-offs. NBA teams have imported the concept in the 2020s as a counter to switch-everything defenses — brush action creates separation without requiring a defender to fight through a screen, which neutralizes switching as a coverage.