In "3" defense Player Positioning Part 2, you can see there are a couple of ways to cover the corner pass. If your team is less athletic but has some length, you may want to play passing lanes and not trap. If you have quickness and athleticism, you may want to trap more. Both coverages are shown in the diagram as well as slides after pass out of the corner. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
Keeper (X3) - We try to put a player that has great length and has a nose for the basketball. Often times this may be your tallest guard or a more athletic post player. The keeper's main responsibility is to make ball reversal difficult and to "keep" the ball on one side of the floor as much as possible. The keeper should also lead your team in rebounds due to the fact they have great positioning to read the flight shots from the corners and wings. Pushers (X4 and X2) - By far the most important position in this defense due to the demands we place on them. We usually put our best rebounding guard/post on the left side of the floor (X4) due to the high volume of shots taken from right side of the floor. We want our best athlete (our Michael Jordan) to be the right side pusher (X2) in our initial set up. We like having an undersized guard on the right side so they can pressure the initial entry pass, possible trap the dribbler at half court, and steal skip passes from the left baseline corner. Clogger (X5) - The clogger is usually your tallest post player or a physical guard if you have a small team. The clogger must do several things well to be successful. First and most important is to keep the ball off the high post. Second, they must always have high hands to aid in distorting diagonal passes to the block area. Finally, they must attack dribble penetration at 3pt line and keep ball out of the paint. Warrior (X1) - The warrior is usually our point guard but any guard can play this position. The warrior must always be in line vertically with the basketball. They must not allow anyone to screen them or pin them in at any time. They must cover corner to corner so someone with speed, quickness and great instincts works well in this position. Before looking at coverages and slides in the 1-3-1, we must first talk about the most important concept when playing this defense or any zone defense. Our players positioning is always in relationship to where the basketball is regardless of offensive alignment. In part 1 of our player positioning, you can see the basic slides and coverages when the offense passes guard to guard. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
In this play, the player bumps out to the wing. On the catch, with his defending trailing, he looks to drive baseline. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
2 cuts to the wing off of a staggered screen. On the catch, the other players clear out and let 2 work in isolation. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
This set uses a combination high ball screen and flat ball screen action to open up a drive to the rim. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
After the high ball screen is set, 5 rolls to the short corner. 1 passes to 2 who passes to 5 for the iso in the short corner. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
Italy used this play at the end of the game to get a drive to the rim off of a flex down screen. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
Coach Tony Bennett called this play to use flex action out of a baseline out-of-bounds situation. The ball is thrown in to 5 flashing up the lane line. The point guard then sets a flex screen for 4 in the corner. If 4 isn't open on the post up, 5 sets a down screen for 1 who cuts up towards the slot for a shot. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
#1 comes off a ball screen from either #4 or #5 Ater #1 comes off a ball screen, #4 and #5 set a double staggered screen away from the direction in which #1 used the screen (in this case, #1 came off #4's screen going to the righ side of the floor, so #4 and #5 set a staggered screen for #3 who is in the opposite corner) See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
Miami swings the ball and has the big sprint out to set a side ball screen on the left wing. While this is happening, 4 sets a flare screen for 3 at the top of the key. 2 can pass to 5 on the roll or to 3 flaring for a shot. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
Texas ran this play to get a ball screen in the alley (or slot). The guards run off of a series of three staggered screens until the point guard gets the ball in the slot for a flat ball screen. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
The Chicago Bulls ran this play to start the second half of the NBA Summer League Championship game. Denzel Valentine was scoreless in the first half so they ran this play to get the ball in his hands and get him going. A logo pick & roll is a ball screen action that starts where the NBA logo is usually situated on the floor, a little off of the post area. In this play the screen from the 2 for the 5 made it difficult for the Timberwolves to provide help on the ball screen. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
The Washington Wizards ran this play down 4 with 15.7 seconds left to give them a quick opportunity to get back in the game. After the zipper action get the inbounds pass in, they were able to use the elevator screen to free up their shooter to knock down a 3. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
The Washington Wizards ran this down 3 with 6.6 seconds left in the NBA Summer League quarterfinals. It gives them two options for a 3 point shot with a curl off of a double screen for a guard and a flare screen for a big. See More
Favorite Send to FastDraw
Down 3 with 3.6 seconds left in the NBA Summer League championship game, the Chicago Bulls ran this sideline out of bounds play to get Denzel Valentine a clean look at a 3. This play uses the skip pass action that Brad Stevens has used at both Butler and the Boston Celtics in end game situations. The Bulls ran their own variation of the play that started with a decoy cross screen for Valentine instead of the zipper screen that Stevens uses. This action caused the defense to relax, thinking Valentine was covered after defending the initial cross screen successfully. The rescreen for Valentine then freed him up for the game tying shot. See More
Favorite Send to FastDrawSend to your FastDraw library or email to a friend.
Email to a friend.
