| 1 Mike Procopio
a) Pass and cut
X1 forces ballhandler 1 to his weak hand, X2 and X3 are on the elbows. 1 passes to 2, takes one step away and cuts, X1 drops to the elbow, bumps the cutter and rides him down, X2 closes out on 2 and forces baseline, X3 moves to the nail to help if 2 drives, 3 replaces 1.
Overall defensive philosophy
- keep the ball out of the paint (defensively, nothing good ever happens in the paint) - stop and contain drives and still be in position to challenge shots - shrink the floor - defenders always want to be on an elbow, block, or the nail - ball pressure - give energy, communicate (e.g. "by yourself", "I got your help"), move hands and take away space - force weak hand up top, force baseline on the wings - force them to pass, force contested shots, bump cutters - stunt and recover on dribble penetration - no second shots, box out.
Lawrence Frank - the Celtics run 3 on 3 shrink every day in practice. They want to force one contested mid-range shot, they protect the paint first. X1 has a weak-hand no-paint stance (contain, don't invite a straight-line drive, no blow-by), X3 and X2 are in shrink, at the elbows. On the pass from 1 to 2, X2 closes out (no middle, no paint, influence to the corners outside the pro lane), X1 sprints to the elbow and has X2's back (as soon as a pass is made from top to wing or wing to top, it's a sprint to the elbow - sprint to the ball, you can never be wrong). 1 basket cuts, X3 has X1's back, comes into the middle of the paint, tags the cut, and talks to his teammate. X1 releases his help, X3 recovers out. Hoop Tactics - 1 passes to 2 and makes a basket cut, weakside 3 flashes to the middle then pops out to the point (2 should pass if 1 or 3 is open), on ball reversal the point can pass to either wing. Progressions on a pass from the point, a) screen away, b) basket cut or screen away. |