Breaking a Full Court Defense in Basketball
If you coach young players, especially in lower grades with developing players you'll know how difficult it can be to break full court defense. The other team scores, you inbound the ball, and pow - before you know it you've turned the ball over and the other team has scored, again. It can be frustrating for players and coaches alike 🤯. This article will give you some tips and tricks to help your players break a full court defense.
Tip #1: Lets start with the absolute basics!
- 👀Identify your best ball handlers able to dribble confidently without their eyes down staring at the ball.
- 🏀Determine your best inbound passer - someone with a strong, accurate pass, that won't get flustered if an immediate pass doesn't present itself.
- 🌈No loopy rainbow passes! All passes should be chest or bounce passes, loopy passes over defenders are easily picked off.
You want to ensure everybody knows their job, the inbound passer always inbounds the ball. The ball handlers must make themselves available to receive the ball.
So, this is Tip #1, plain and simple! It gives some initial structure to your team and even these basics steps will help your team face a press with more confidence.. read on...
Tip #2: Dribble Middle
Dribble to the middle of the court, not the sideline. Why does this help?
Sideline acts as another defender!
Inexperienced players often favour their dominant hand and will naturally dribble to one side when faced with a defender. This funnels them towards the sideline and into trouble ⛈️. The sideline acts as another defender, reducing space for the ball handler. The player will then try to squeeze through the gap hopefully 🤞 drawing a foul or sneaking past, but often will:- 🚧Step out of court
- 🚧Lose control of the ball
- 🚧Make a bad pass under pressure
The middle of the court is a far better position!
- ✅Most importantly it now requires two defenders to trap the dribbler. And if there are two defenders on the dribbler, that means one player is left open! Whereas the player that has dribbled to the sideline is trapped by just one defender meaning all other players could be covered.
- ✅The ball handler has two directions they can either pass or dribble, easy 😜
Tip #3: PIVOT, baby, one more time.
This addresses an absolute fundamental of basketball, it's also known as PLAYING OFF TWO FEET.. meaning you've stopped your dribble with two feet planted on the ground.
In a full court defence situation discourage as much as possible passing off the dribble (from one foot). This habit leads to bad decisions, sloppy passes, and turnovers.
Playing off two feet 👣 allows a player to pivot, and a player that pivots aggresively is a player that can see the court, can see their options and make good decisions. Playing off two feet allows the player to be balanced, strong and play through contact.
Breaking a press successfully is NOT about fancy dribbling skills but fundamentals like pivoting, jump stops, keeping a calm head and making good decisions.
Tip #4: Basics over .. Now everyone else get out of the way!
Youv'e identified your two ball handlers and your inbounder, now the other players have to clear out. They need to get out of the way, and fast. Spreading the court does a few things:
- ⛓️It removes defenders from the back court, making it harder for them to double team the ball handler.
- 🌌It creates space for the ball handler to operate in and space for players to run in to receive a pass.
- 🏃🏾♀️It is always better to have players running into space rather than standing still waiting for the ball. It is obviously harder to defend a moving target!
- ✅Ideally, players should be running towards the ball handler to receive a pass. There is much less chance of a pass being intercepted if the receiver is running towards the ball.
Tip #5: Chill out coach (and parents)!
Strangey, everybody starts yelling 'HURRY UP, HURRY UP' as soon as the ball is inbounded and maybe a bit stuck! Yes, the team does need to get the ball over half court in 10 seconds, but it is far more important to get the ball over half court successfully. How many times do you see the referee call a 10 second violation? Almost never. But how many times do you see a team turn the ball over because they rushed a bad pass or dribble?
So, chill out, let the players make good decisions, and if they need to take an extra second or two to get the ball over half court, so be it. I'd prefer to turn the ball over resulting in a referee call + sideline pass rather than a turnover anyday!
Other ideas
Somne very obvious tips excluded from the above which come easier when players get older, stronger and better. From my experience under 14's find these difficult to achieve, but they are worth mentioning:
- ⏱️It's always better to pass the ball to an open player early, by far the best way to break the bress is to not even let the pressuer be applied. Quick passes to the open man will quickly demoralise any press. This, however, is difficult for young developing players to achieve because 1) they can't pass very far and 2) they need keep an eye on the ball somewhat when dribbling.
- 🔙Backwards dribble.. is your ball handler dribbling into trouble, remind them to dribble backwards to get out of trouble. What I mean by this is a reverse dribble, so the player continues to face towards the front court but takes a couple of dribbles backwards to create space. This is a great way to break a press, but it does require some skill and confidence. This is taught to all AAU/competitive junior players world wide.
In Summary
1. Identify your two best ball handlers and your best inbound passer. Make it clear to the team their roles
2. The ball handlers must dribble to the middle of the court, not the sideline.
3. The ball handlers must play off two feet with poise and balance allowing them to pivot and see the court.
4. The other players must get out of the way, spreading the court and running into space to receive a pass. No flat feet!
5. Chill out! Who cares about a couple of 10 second violations, it's far more important to not turn the ball over during play.
6. Practice these tips in training, make them part of your team culture.