The point guard has the ball at the top. The other four line up across the floor at the free-throw line extended — two at the elbows, two out on the wings. Nothing below the free-throw line, so the entire lane is empty.
Why coaches use it
An empty lane means every cut to the rim is a race between two people with nobody in the way. That is the point of the alignment, and it is why 1-4 high is the standard answer to a defense that denies every wing pass. If they play up the passing lane, the cut behind them is a layup. If they back off to stop the cut, the catch is free.
It also puts two players at the elbows facing the rim. A catch at the elbow in a 1-4 high sees the whole floor, which makes every read simple enough to teach a fourteen-year-old.
The cost is that you have no one on the offensive glass to start with, and against a zone the alignment does very little. Most teams use 1-4 high as an entry shape rather than as a place to live.
What comes out of it
- Backdoor. Enter to an elbow and the denied wing cuts behind his man for a layup off a simple bounce pass.
- UCLA cut. The guard passes to the wing and cuts off the elbow back screen to the block, which empties the strong side for whatever comes next.
- Iverson cut. A scorer runs wing to wing across both elbows and catches on the move, usually straight into a ball screen.
- Elbow ball screen. The ball-side elbow steps up into a high screen and rolls or pops.
- Post-up. An elbow player ducks in while his defender is turned toward the ball.