Basketball Defenses

Selecting Your Half-Court Defense(s)

Young players must learn how to play man-to-man defense.

Certainly you can win games at the youth level playing zone defense because zones pack the paint and
force kids to take low-percentage outside shots. Young kids, without adequate range, are not ordinarily
good outside shooters. So you win your youth league and feel great about it.

IF THAT IS YOUR OBJECTIVE FOR YOUR PLAYERS, OK THEN, BUT

YOU HAVE TO ASK YOURSELF IF YOU HAVE REALLY MADE YOUR
KIDS BETTER BASKETBALL PLAYERS.

But if you want them to be able to play at the next level, forget wins and losses in the early years and
teach them what they need to learn. Every good player must learn how to play good pressure man-to-
man defense, and learn the principles of team man-to-man defense. Once they have learned this, any
coach can teach them to play a zone in one practice. Additionally, if your youth league requires man-to-
man defense (no zones), you will also help your players offensively... learning how to handle ball-
pressure, 1-on-1 moves against the defender, cutting and moving, etc.

It is advises that you to use man-to-man defense as much as possible. If you like playing zones, wait
at least until they have played a few years of man-to-man. Stay away from "junk defenses" at this
age... box-and-1, triangle-and-2, etc.

First, teach kids the basic man-to--man fundamentals and man-

man-to to--man
man-to
principles...
Important elements in playing good defense:
Defensive Stance and Focus
Your weight should be on the balls of your feet (not your heels), and your feet should be about shoulder
width apart. Keep your knees bent and your back straight. Keep your head up, eyes forward, arms out
with your palms up and elbows bent a little. Watch the offensive player’s belly-button, especially if
he/she is quick and hard to stay with. The offensive player can fake you with a head fake, eye fake, arm or
shoulder fake, or a jab-step, but the belly-button will always go only in the direction that he/she is going.

Defensive Slides
When guarding your opponent, slide your feet sideways, using quick, short steps, and don't get your feet
crossed. Don't hop. If you get beat in the open floor, don't just yell for help... turn and sprint after your
opponent. Once you get in front of your man again, get back into your defensive stance.

Close-out on the ball

Defenders must learn to "close-out" on the player with the ball. Once the offensive player receives the
pass, the defender should rush toward the ball-handler in a low stance. The last several steps should be
quick, choppy steps to stop your momentum (so the defender doesn't dribble around you). Your baseline
line foot should be back in order to force the ball-handler toward the baseline. As you approach the ball-
handler, snap your shoulders and head back to help slow yourself down.

On the Ball Defense

Over-guard toward the offensive player's strong side. If your man is right-handed, over-guard that side
and make him/her go left. If your opponent is on the right wing, drop your left foot back a little toward
the baseline and overplay a little toward the offensive player’s right side, as this will give you time to
react to a move to his/her right. Try to force offensive player to the baseline. Once at the baseline, set the
trap, and do not allow any further penetration along the baseline.

Keep the palm of your lead hand facing up. Try to get at the ball from below, not by slapping
down it, which results in a foul. Your other hand should be in the passing lane. Slide with your
opponent, and try to get him/her to stop the dribble, and then close in and apply pressure.

Don't "reach-in". This causes you to lose your balance and defensive stance, and you become easy for
the offensive player to get around. Reaching in also results in fouls and free throws for the opponent.
Don't get into the bad habit of reaching-in and taking a swipe at the ball as the offensive player dribbles
around you. Instead move your feet, hustle, stay with your man, and prevent him/her from getting to the
basket by maintaining good on-ball defensive stance. If you get beat, sprint after the offensive player
and beat him/her to a spot where you can once again resume your defensive stance.
Basketball Defense - Basic Man-to-Man Defense
MAKE SURE YOUR DEFENSE COMPLIES WITH THE RULES REQUIRED FOR YOUR
TEAM’S AGE GROUP. NOT ALL OF THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES WILL APPLY TO
ALL GROUPS.

Man-to-man defense has each defender assigned to defend a certain offensive player... his or her "man".
Sounds simple enough, but great man-to-man defense is much more than that. Defenders two-passes away
from the ball drop off their man into "help side" defense. So away from the ball, the man-to-man defense
looks and acts a lot like a zone defense, while you have a defender pressuring the ball at all times. Man-
to-man defense has the advantage of maintaining pressure on the ball at all times.

This defense may be susceptible to guard dribble-penetration, but this can be avoided by your
on-ball defenders learning to become good defenders, your adjacent wing defenders having good
help side defense and you must have a plan for dealing with screens.

All young players MUST learn how to play man-to-man defense if they are to become good
defenders at a higher level. Every player has to learn how to play good on-ball defense, how to
move the feet, etc. Even high school teams that prefer zone defenses will be stronger defensively
if every player can play pressure, on-ball defense.

Good offense wins games... great defense wins championships. When your offense is struggling,
good defense can keep you in the game until your shots start falling. How are you going to catch
up the second half if you are down 12 at the half? ... by playing great defense. Simply scoring
more baskets won't do it if you allow the other team to score also.

Everyone on the team has to play good defense, because one weak link will cause the entire
defense to fail. Playing good defense involves hustle, inspiration and perspiration (sweat!). You
gotta want to play good defense. Defensive skills are fairly easy to learn, unlike some offensive
skills, and everyone can learn to become a good defender.

Man-to-Man Defense - Denial

Clog the passing lane and prevent the player you are guarding from getting the
ball, that is, "deny" him/her the ball. When guarding an offensive player who is
one pass away from the ball, you should be in denial. Denying your man the
ball, keeps him/her from scoring. Play the passing lane and stay between the
player you're guarding and the ball. Place your foot and hand nearest the ball
slightly forward, and turn the palm of your hand toward the ball, so that you can
reject any incoming passes. Be in a position to see both your player and the
ball. If the ball-handler stops the dribble, you have a "dead ball situation" and
everyone should in close on their man, in "full-denial".In "full-denial", the
defensive players should be "on the line". To explain this concept, imagine a line
extending from the ball to the person you are guarding. In full-denial, you should
position yourself so that you are on this line, body toward your man, but with
head and eyes turned toward the ball, and your ball-side hand up in the passing
lane.
If your man is a long distance, or two passes away from the ball-handler, you can play a little "up the
line", that is a little ways from the imaginary line towards the hoop.

The distance, or spacing, up the line depends upon the speed and quickness of the defender and the
distance his/her man is from the ball. On a long pass, the defender should still be able to move toward the
line and intercept the pass. If instead the defender initially played "on the line", his/her man could make a
back-cut and get open. Playing a little "up the line" prevents the back-cut, and still allows for the
interception.

Man-to-Man Defense - Help and Recover.

Diagrams E and F below teach how to give help and recover on the perimeter. Rather than play a "full-
denial", defenders one pass away play a little up the line and step or two toward the ball in order to help
stop dribble penetration. Here O1 tries to dribble-penetrate. The X2 defender gives help and O1 is
prevented from penetrating, and has to dish back out to O2 (Diagram F). The X2 defender then has to
rotate quickly out to on-ball defense on O2, and the X1 and X4 defenders are now in deny, a little up the
line and a step or two toward the ball, while the X3 defender moves into help-side (Diagram F).

Man-to-Man Defense – Help side Defense

When your opponent is two or more passes from the ball, you should be in "help-side" position. This will
allow you to be in position to help your teammates against the ball penetrating the paint. This involves
dropping off your man some (but without losing sight of him/her), and sagging toward the ball-side. In
the diagrams below, see the imaginary red "help-side line" which goes through the middle of the lane.
Many coaches teach that if the ball is above the free-throw line, the help-side defender should have one
foot in the lane (Diagram A). If the ball is below the free-throw line, one foot should be touching or
staggering the help-side line. Stay between the ball and your man. Be ready to help defend against another
player driving or cutting to the hoop, and "help" your teammate who may have gotten beat. Once the ball
comes back to within one pass from your player, you get back into deny position. If the ball is skip-passed
to your player, you quickly close-out and play "on-ball". See diagrams below.
Man-to-Man Defense - Defending the Low Post
There are three positions the defender can assume when defending the low post player.

Playing behind the offensive post player.

Here the defender plays directly behind the offensive player. This may be advantageous if your post
defender is much taller than the offensive player, and has a good chance of altering or blocking the post
player's shot. But do not let the offensive player back you down under the basket. Use your legs (use a
strong stance with knees bent) and your lower body strength to keep the offensive player out... but do not
put your hands on the post player's back as you may get called for a pushing foul.

Full-fronting the low post player.

Here the defender moves directly in front of the offensive post player, between him/her and the ball, and
denies the pass. The wing defender should put pressure on the ball in order to make the pass to the low
post, or the lob pass, more difficult. Fronting may backfire if the offensive player is taller and can easily
seal for inside position and get the high lob pass. Another disadvantage is the defender is out of position
for the rebound, and the post player may be able to score just by sealing for inside position and receiving
the inside pass, or by getting the rebound and put-back.

Three-quarter (or one-half) front the low post player.

This is probably the best method. Instead of directly fronting the low post player, the defender "straddles"
him/her with one foot in front and one in back, standing sideways to the offensive player with one hand in
the passing lane. If the ball is below the free-throw line extended (in the corner-wing area), the defender
should play on the baseline side of the post player, making contact with the post player's inside (baseline)
shoulder, and with the left arm and hand out in the passing lane. If the ball is passed out on top (above the
free-throw line extended), the defender should slide chest to chest with the post player and move to the
post player's high-side (or lane-side) shoulder, again with a hand up at all times in the passing lane.
Man-to-Man Defense - Trapping (setting the double-team)
When the rules allow it.

In trapping, one defender should first stop the dribbler, often along the sideline or baseline, or in one of
the "trapping zones". Trapping zones are those areas where the offensive player definitely does not want
to get caught losing his dribble. It's like getting caught in a corner.

Once the ball is stopped, the second defender sprints over and double-teams the ball carrier. They obscure
the ball-handler's view, and get into the passing lane. Their knees are adjacent to each other to prevent the
ball-handler from "splitting" the trap. The position of their hands should be at the same height as the ball.
If the offensive player holds the ball high, to "throw over the top", the hands should be high. If the ball is
low, the hands should be low to prevent the bounce pass. Do not reach in! "Reaching-in" changes a good
situation into a bad one (now the player goes to the free throw line). Instead, the trapping players should
deny the player from getting the pass off and get the 5-second call, or force her to make a bad pass, which
is intercepted by one of your teammates.
Basketball Defense - Zone Defense
Zone defense is different from man-to-man defense in that, instead of guarding a particular player, each
zone defender is responsible for guarding an area of the floor, or "zone", and any offensive player that
comes into that area. Zone defenders move their position on the floor in relationship to where the ball
moves.
Zone defense is often effective in stopping dribble penetration and one-on-one moves. Kids must develop
their man-to-man defensive skills first. A good youth basketball league will limit the use of zones to the
older age groups. On the other hand, some high school and college coaches treat zone defense almost as if
using it were blasphemous, or an admission of inferiority! At the upper levels, TRY to assess your team's
strengths and weaknesses as well as your opponent's, and the game situation, and use whatever tool you
need to try to win while maintaining good teaching.

Basic pointers for all zone defenses

1. Try to keep the ball outside. Double-team the ball in the paint.
2. Be vocal, talk to each other.
3. Move, adjust your position relative to the movement of the ball.
4. Get your hands up and out, to shrink the passing lanes.
5. When the offense dribble penetrates, quickly close the gap.
6. Get to know your opponent and adjust. Over-protect against the best shooters, or the "hot"
shooter, and sag off the guy who never shoots.
7. Trap the corners.
8. Especially if you are ahead, don't gamble or get too zealous about trapping the wing and point
guard positions. Keep pressure on the ball, but also protect the paint and force the outside, low-
percentage shot.

Disadvantages of zone defense

1. If your team is behind, you won't get enough pressure on the ball, and the offense can eat up a lot of
time by holding the ball for a good shot. You must go man-to-man in this situation.

2. If the opponent is having a good shooting night, your zone is beaten, and you must consider
going to the man-to-man to get pressure on the ball out on the perimeter.

3. There are not always clear-cut rebounding box-out assignments and sometimes the offensive
player will slip inside for the offensive rebound and lay-up. See Zone Rebounding for help with
this.

4. If you play zone most of the time, and rarely play man-to-man, your players may become
complacent on defense and may lose their man-to-man skills. Try to practice man-to-man 80-
90% of the time, and zone the remaining 10-20%.
Advantages of zone defense
1. Not all teams have quick, good man-to-man defenders. Or the offense may have a couple of
outstanding players too quick to defend individually. Playing a zone can help against mis-matches such as
these. You may have a tall, strong, but not particularly quick team. A zone can look intimidating with all
your big guys stacked up inside with their hands up.

2. In using a zone, you can protect the paint area and force the opponent to shoot from outside.
An example would be using the 2-1-2 or 2-3 zone which places a lot of defense in the paint and
invites the offense to shoot from outside. This is a good way to see if the other team can shoot
from outside. Not all teams can shoot the outside shot consistently. Even good shooting teams
have off nights, especially under tournament pressure.

3. Your team may be in foul trouble, especially your big man. You can help protect him with a
zone.

4. You can slow the game and control the tempo somewhat with a zone.

5. Although players must hustle regardless of the type of defense that is being played, sometimes
when your team is fatigued, playing zone for a few minutes may help them catch their breath.

6. By changing defenses from man-to-man to various zones, you can keep the offense off-
balance and confused.

7. If you use the full-court or half-court press, after the press is broken, it is easy to slip back into
a half-court zone defense
Basketball Defense - 2-3 Zone Defense
The 2-3 zone defense is the most common zone defense that is seen. It has the advantage of
protecting the inside, the "paint", and keeps your "bigs" inside. It's weakness is that it can be
beaten by good outside shooting, with open areas on the wings, point and high post. Read "Zone
Defense" for detailed tips on playing zone defense, and Zone Rebounding for tips on rebounding
out of the zone.

Oftentimes, people think of the 2-3 zone as a defense that less-athletic teams can use to force the
offense to shoot from outside, while keeping the paint protected and your key rebounders inside.
It is true that less athletic teams may have more success with this defense as it tends to shut down
dribble-penetration and the inside post game. It usually requires the offense to be more patient in
getting a good shot, and thus it gives you a way to help control tempo. On the other hand, if you
have good, quick athletes, the 2-3 zone can also be a more aggressive, trapping style of defense,
creating turnovers and steals... but you must have quick athletic players to employ this type of
defense. You can aggressively trap the corners, wings, and occasionally the point guard. Below
are situations, with and without trapping. Study the diagrams below to understand the how the
zone shifts, or moves.

A critical point
When the ball moves into the corner and the X4 defender moves out to cover the ball, it is
imperative that the X5 defender slides over immediately into the low block vacated by X4. If X5
does not get there in time, the offense may get an easy pass into the low block, and a lay-up.
Ball on the wing.
See Diagram B. The outside (top) defender on the ball-side will cover the wing. The exception
is on the skip pass from wing to the opposite wing, where the low outside defender will initially
run out and defend until the top defender can get there... then the low defender will drop back
down low. This is also the case on a very quick ball-reversal (diagram F).
Ball in the corner or short-corner.
See Diagram D. The outside low defender on the ball-side will cover the corner and short-
corner. It's imperative that the middle X5 defender quickly drop to the ball-side block area to
prevent a inside pass there. Here, X2 denies the pass back to the wing (their best shooter) while
X1 covers the ball-side elbow (high post). Depending on the offense's strengths; try having X2
sag inside the paint and help prevent O4 from dribble-penetrating (arrow).

See Diagram C. The corner is a trapping opportunity if you have the quickness to do it. In
addition to the outside low defender (X4) coming out, the top ball-side defender (X2) will sprint
down and trap the corner. X1 will deny the pass back to the wing and X3 covers the elbow (high
post). The long skip pass to the opposite wing is covered by quick reversal with X3 sprinting
over and X1 dropping to the high post (diagram G).

Trapping the Wing - "Fist-2" or "Fist-3"

If you have quick athletes, you can try this defensive stunt. See the
diagram to the left. X1 will pick the O1 up high and try to force O1
to dribble to the side of the defensive call... "Fist-2" to the right,
"Fist-3" to the left. Start the opposite low defender X3 in the middle
almost under the basket, so he/she can quickly rotate to the right
block. X4 can start "cheating up" toward the wing. X2 lets the pass
go to O2. Then X2 and X4 quickly close-out on O2 and double-team.
X1 denies the pass back to O1, X5 denies the high post pass, and X3
denies the pass to the block.

It's "one trap and out". If the offense breaks the trap or passes out
successfully, just drop back into our usual 2-3 zone.
Pass into the high post.
See Diagram E. Have your X5 defender come up to defend this (like a 2-1-2 zone now). But watch out for
the underneath cutter in the paint. Your X3 and X4 defenders may have to cheat into the paint when X5
moves high.
Defending the point.
Defending the point is always problematic. If you know that their O2 guard is their best shooter, then
have X1 defend the point at first and allow X2 to sag toward their good shooter. And just the opposite
applies if O3 is their best shooter. At first you may decide to defend the point loosely, but if their O1
starts hitting some shots, you've got to get pressure there. Never let their point split the X1 and X2
defenders and dribble/penetrate the middle. X1 and X2 really have to move quickly and work hard, and
work together in order to cover the point and both wings, and give help in the high-post.
Trapping the Point
Diagram H below shows an aggressive "surprise" trap on the point guard. X1 and X2 run out and trap O1
as soon as O1 brings the ball across half-court. X3 and X4 run out and deny (or intercept) the pass to the
wing. This is a gamble, and you may get an interception or a turnover, especially if the offensive set is a
3-out, 2-in (no high post). But this is not something you would do all the time, as it is obvious from the
diagram that you could get burned by a quick pass from O1 to the high-post (free-throw line). You
might make this a defensive call, like "Red" or "Hot".

Covering the Skip Pass

Covering the skip pass from wing to wing, has been discussed above (Diagram F). A skip pass from wing
to opposite corner would be covered by the ball-side low outside defender.
Covering the skip pass from the corner to the opposite wing depends upon whether or not you
have double-teamed the corner as in Diagram C. In the usual single-coverage (Diagram D), a
skip pass from the corner to the opposite wing is covered by the opposite low outside defender
(X3) who has back-side responsibility. Sometimes, a quick athletic X3 can anticipate the skip
pass, jump out and intercept it and go for a lay-up. For example, in diagram F, as the ball is
passed from the right corner to the left wing, X3 covers the receiver until X1 can rotate over, and
then X3 will drop back down low. If the skip goes from the corner to the point, X1 should cover
this (Diagram F).
If you have double-teamed the corner (Diagram C), a long effective skip pass is less likely, but in this
case would be covered as follows (see Diagram G):
1. Pass from right corner to left corner or wing... cover this with X3 defender.
2. Pass from right corner to point... cover the receiver with X1.

Players sometimes think playing a 2-3 zone defense is easier than man defense,
but in fact, to play good zone defense, you may have to work much harder to be
effective.
Basketball Zone Defense - Rebounding Out of the
Zone
Rebounding out of a man-to-man defense is fairly straight forward, usually with clear-cut box-out
assignments. But what about rebounding out of a zone defense? Defensive rebounding can be either a
weakness or a strength of the zone defense. On the positive side, you can put your "bigs" inside, keep
them there and rebound missed shots. On the other hand, often there are not clear-cut box-out assignments
when playing zone defense, especially when the zone is over-shifted or overloaded. Offensive players will
try to penetrate the gaps in the zone, not only when trying to score, but also when rebounding. Zone
defenses that don't box-out well will give up second and third shots.

Rebounding Objectives
• Fundamentals. The basic boxing-out and rebounding fundamentals are the same, whether playing
zone or man-to-man defense. See Rebounding.

• The defender on the ball boxes-out the shooter.

• Weak-side rebounding is extremely important, especially on long shots from the wing or corner.
You are trying to force the offense to take outside shots, so be ready to rebound those shots!
Someone did a study that showed that approximately 70% of missed shots from the corner go to
the opposite side. You always want a weak-side rebounder there.

• Rebounding triangle. Ideally, whenever a shot is taken, the defense should try to establish an
inside rebounding triangle with a rebounder on each side of the basket and one in front (see
diagram A below). Rebounders should not get too low under the basket, or else the only rebound
they will get is the shot that goes through the net! If you are too far under, the offense can nudge
you further under the basket and can rebound over your back without actually making enough
contact to get the "over the back" foul.

• It is best to have one perimeter rebounder at about the level of the free-throw line... to get the long
rebound.

• You must have rules for your zone defensive and rebounding rotations. In most cases, the
defensive and rebounding rotations (and box-out assignments) will be similar.

• Defensive rebounders should not only get to a spot, but also "find" the nearest offensive player
and box-out.
Zone Rebounding Techniques
You can make your own zone rebounding rotations, and these should be similar to the way you decide to
rotate and cover certain areas of the court defensively... the point, high-post, wings and corners. Below
are some example rotations. You may choose to do it differently.

1-2-2 (or 3-2) Zone Rebounding

Diagram B shows how the 1-2-2 zone could rotate to rebound when the shot goes up from the wing. The
shooter is boxed-out, your "bigs" X4 and X5 are already on the blocks, and the opposite wing drops inside
to become the middle of the triangle.

Diagram C shows the shot from the corner. Here, our ball-side post defender closes out on the shooter.
The opposite post defender rotates to the ball-side block. The opposite wing defender drops to the weak-
side block. The point defender X1 drops to become the middle of the rebounding triangle. Have X3 on
the outside to deny or defend the next pass out to the wing.

2-3 Zone Rebounding

Diagram D shows how the 2-3 zone rotates when the shot goes up from the top. It's fairly straight
forward with the "triangle" already in place, and the opposite top defender slides in to the free-throw line
for the longer rebound.

Diagram E shows the shot from the wing. The shooter is boxed out and again, the triangle should already
be in pretty good position. The opposite wing defender again slides into the free-throw line area.

Diagram F shows the shot from the corner. Our ball-side post defender closes out on the shooter. The
middle low defender rotates to the ball-side block. The opposite post defender is already in position for
the weak-side rebound. The opposite wing defender drops inside to become the middle of the triangle. X1
stays on the outside to deny or defend the next pass out to the wing.

Drills
You can devise your own drills by modifying the "War Drill", (See Team Drills) putting your defenders
into the zone, and then shooting the shot from specific locations, the top, the wings, the corners, high-
post, etc. Make sure defenders are rotating, "creating the triangle", and boxing out effectively. You can
also just do your standard half-court zone defense 5-on-5 drills that you probably do every day, and have
one of your parents watch the rebounding and boxing-out assignments, stopping and pointing out errors.