The inside-hand finish is a layup with the hand nearer the middle of the floor: your left hand on the right side of the basket, your right hand on the left side. You take off from your outside foot and lay the ball off the glass under the arm of a defender who is chasing or reaching from your inside. It is a read, not a default: when the defender is between you and the basket, the regular outside-hand layup is the better choice.
Set up
Learn the terms first. Inside means the side nearer the middle of the floor; outside means the side nearer the sideline or baseline. On the right side of the rim your inside hand and foot are your left; on the left side they are your right.
Inside = middle.
Attack from one side of the rim, not straight on, so you have an angle to the backboard.
Angle to the glass.
Read the defender. Use the inside hand when a shot blocker is chasing you or reaching from your inside. If the defender is already between you and the basket, use the regular layup instead: inside foot, outside hand.
Read, then pick the hand.
Finish
Gather the ball, then take two steps: a long step with your inside foot, then a short step with your outside foot. On the right side that is left long, right short.
Long, short.
Plant the short (outside) step low and athletic, then jump off that outside foot.
Low plant, jump up.
Extend your inside hand up and forward and lay the ball off the backboard, reaching under the defender's arm.
Under the arm, off the glass.
Keep the ball high on the glass. Many short-range misses come up short.
High and soft.
Land on both feet with your knees bent and over your toes, then get back on balance.
Soft landing.
Feel it
The step pattern feels like long then short, with the short step loading you to jump. The ball leaves from the hand nearer the middle, laid off the glass, and you are reaching under the defender's arm rather than through it. If the takeoff foot and the finishing hand are on opposite sides, you did the regular layup, not this one.
Fix-its
- You finish with the hand nearest the baseline That is the outside hand. On the right side the inside hand is your left; say "middle hand" to yourself as you gather.
- You use the inside hand when the defender is already in front of the rim Switch to the regular layup: jump off the inside foot and finish with the outside hand, body between the defender and the ball.
- Your steps get mixed up and you jump off the inside foot Walk the pattern without a ball: inside foot long, outside foot short, jump. Then add the ball and one dribble.
- Extra steps after the gather Gather, then two steps, then the ball is gone. Rules on the gather and step count differ between leagues, so check your own league's rulebook.
- Stiff landing Land on both feet with your knees bent and over your toes.
Drill
- Footwork, no dribble: from the baseline, two steps (inside foot long, outside foot short) and a jump with an inside-hand finish motion, zigzagging up the floor, both directions.
- Cone drill: one cone just above the block. Inside foot long, outside foot short, jump and finish off the glass with the inside hand. 10 makes with each hand, both sides of the basket.
- Game-speed: dribble around a cone, attack the basket at an angle and finish inside-hand off the glass until you make 10 with correct footwork. Repeat on the other side.
- Read drill: a partner chases from your inside on some reps and steps in front of the rim on others. Inside-hand finish when chased, regular layup when they are in front.
Sources
- Coach's Clipboard (James A. Gels) — Lay-ups and Inside-Hand Lay-up
- Coach's Clipboard — Newsletter #274: Inside-Hand Lay-up (2023)
- Ryan Goodson, Basketball Essentials (Human Kinetics), via Coaches Insider — Outside Foot Layup Drill (2018)
- NBA — Official Rules, Rule No. 10: Violations and Penalties (Section XIII, Traveling)
Last checked 2026-10-26.