Defence
Havoc diamond press
| 1 Shaka Smart
Diamond is a 1-2-1-1 press.
X4 is the madman all over the ball, influencing the ball to the coffin corner, taking away any weakside diagonal pass.
X3 takes first pass to the ballside, X1 takes second pass to the ballside, X2 takes first pass to the weakside, but can really cheat.
If the press break sends a guy deep, X5 has to get back, but can then move up as they move up, which they always do against this press.
Maybe if X5 makes a layup or dunk he can take the ball, and X4 takes his spot.
They like X1 to be the strongside interceptor because usually he's got a good mind and plays like a free safety in football.
See Defences - Havoc double-fist press, 1-2-1-1 basics. |
| 2 An inbounds pass to the coffin corner is an automatic trap (teams threw there 54% of the time against diamond).
X3 and X4 are the trappers, X1 is interceptor sideline, X2 is interceptor high, X5 is the goaltender.
X3 and X4 force an obvious pass, e.g. 1 faces up the sideline, then X1 and X2 don't allow a pass to 2 or 3, if 1 pivots back baseline, X2 can really cheat a pass to 4. X3 and X4 build a wall in the trap, put 10 fingers through the roof, and are elastic, when 1 creates space, take up that space.
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| 3 If 1 throws out of the trap to 4, they don't want X2 to run up on him, 4 will go by him or pass to 3 for a three-on-two. Instead, X2 stunts at 4 and goes with 3, giving madman X4 time to recover out of the trap and guard 4.
X3 recovers out of the trap back, X1 always gets ballside (here the ball is in the middle).
They don't want to allow a pass out of the first trap to 4, but if they do they will get a second trap.
Diamond Up - a special call if a team throws the ball many times in a row back to 4, under no circumstances does X2 allow that pass, X1 really has to split 2 and 3.
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| 4 As 4 brings the ball up, X2 goes to trap, X1 is interceptor side, X3 is interceptor high, splitting 1 and 2, he can't stand next to 2 holding his hand.
See Defences - 1-2-1-1 Canada, Kentucky.
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| 5 If the inbounds pass goes to the weakside corner they're still trapping but it's a further run. X4 has to be elastic and banana his close out to trap so that 3 doesn't have an angle to split.
Billy Tubbs - always trap the inbounds pass, even to the long corner.
Bruce Pearl - don't trap an inbounds pass to the weakside, it's too far for X4 to run.
See Defences - Billy Tubbs fullcourt zone, 1-2-1-1 Tennessee.
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| 6 A lot of teams will flood the zone, if 2 flashes up, X3 has him, X1 has to tell X3, and moves up.
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| 7 A lot of teams will run the baseline, the strongside and weakside change, you don't want them to throw it back to the other side.
X2 has the first guy up the ballside.
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| 8 If 5 flashes middle, X5 can't come all the way, he can't get beat deep, X1 splits 2 and 5.
If a high inbounds pass does go to 5, he's not going to dribble up the ball so the last thing they want to do is converge on him, re-set the diamond, madman X4 takes the ball.
See Defence - 1-2-1-1 Maryland., also YouTube video - How a high-school strategy beat an NBA team.
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| 9 If 5 passes to 3 they may go trap.
If the attackers break the press, fix it.
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| 10 Against a 4-across press break, X3 splits 2 and 1, shading toward the sideline so he can arrive on a catch, X1 is probably behind 1 at the elbow, close enough that he might be able to run through or get a hand on a pass. X2 is just inside 5 at the other elbow, X5 works his way up, offset to the weakside. The madman makes sure there is no inbounds pass to 3 on the weakside wing (no one is guarding him).
Another thing they will do if the other team starts flooding the zone is go double-fist, they're matched up man-to-man and the attackers are all bunched up.
See Defences - 1-2-1-1 Tennessee, Kentucky.
Side Diamond - on a side out of bounds, put the madman on the ball, trap the inbounds pass any time it's anywhere close to him, the other guys are in a diamond.
See Defence - 1-2-1-1 Maryland. |
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