In a previous post, I described a 3-on-2 and 2-on-1 fast break drill that I use at the beginning of practice. After a dynamic warm up, the fastbreak drill is used to push players into a full paced sprint while simultaneously getting the minds focused on the fundamentals of basketball: rebounding, passing, defense, full speed dribbling, and quality decision making. In that description of the drill, I wrote about key fundamentals the offense should follow to execute a fast break. In this post, I want to follow up with the defensive side.
I am including the flash animation of the drill for reference, but will not describe the drill. For a drill description and discussion on the offensive aspects, please see the previous post: Basketball Drill: Fast Break.
Key Fundamentals:
The goal of a fast break offense is to utilize quick passes and speed to create a numbers mismatch at the offensive end of the court. Good transition offense teams typically have very quick guards and small forwards with good open court presence and passing capability. The good news is that a slower, less agile team can stop the fast break by applying pressure defense at the start of the break and forcing the offense to make multiple passes. A good fastbreak creates a player number mismatch for only a second (or about 4 or 5 steps). The defense's goal is to slow down the start of the break, force the ball to a sideline, and make the offense pass the ball laterally instead of directly toward the basket to allow more defenders to take a couple more steps to get in position to play defense.
There are a couple of physical facts that coaches need to realize: 1) a player can run faster without a basketball than while dribbling a ball, 2) a team can pass the ball down the court faster than a player can dribble the ball down the court, 3) the more passes an offense has to make, the more opportunities for the offense to make a bad pass and throw the ball away, and 4) the difference between a offensively successful fast break and a defensive stop is three to five steps by the defense.
Here are a few defensive suggestions:
Pressure the rebounder: Very few teams are able to consistently run a fast break when the rebounder has to take one dribble before making the outlet pass to the wing. By having the closest defender, usually the player that was box-out, pressure the rebounder's sideline side to defend against the quick pass will either make the rebounder pivot in the other direction or take one or two dribbles to open up the passing lane. This extra second will give the perimeter defenders a chance to take a couple of steps back toward the defensive end.
Anticipate the pass to the middle: The quickest transition offenses are ran through the middle of the court. From the outlet, the second pass is a quick leading pass to the opposite wing cutting into the middle of the court running at a full sprint. In this example, it is the pass from O3 to O1 that you want to slow down. The defensive player (D2) guarding the wing wants to stop the pass back to the middle and force the offensive player to dribble up the sideline instead of making the pass to the middle. Forcing the offense to dribble slows down the transition; even if the defender cannot stop ball handler from going around him the offensive player has to take one or two extra lateral steps.
Encourage the break point man to one of the sidelines: If the defender is running a half step or one step in front of the break point man, have them run at an angle toward the sideline/baseline corner. In this case, typically the ball handling point man will do a hesitate cross over dribble to get back to the middle, which slows him down and gives the defense one extra step, or runs with the defender toward the sideline and then pulls the ball back out to set up the offense. A key point here is that the defender actually needs to be slightly ahead of the dribbler. If the defender is parallel with the offensive player, they will get called for an impediment foul for trying to "ride" the offensive player.
Make the ball handler pass from the 3-point line: Every pass the offense makes is an opportunity for an error or an interception. The first defender back should meet the ball handler around the 3-point line to force either a pass or a lateral dribble. Many coaches emphasize getting back to stop the break, which the players translate into setting up their defensive position under the basket. This position puts the offensive team in control as they send two cutters toward the hoop. By setting the first defensive position at the 3-point line, the offense has to make a decision that cost time and gives the other defenders another step or two to return to the defensive end.
If you are going to foul, foul the hands low: My philosophy is that every player gets five fouls per game and they can and should be used intelligently. They are five tokens assigned to each player at the start. All referees are going to make mistakes, they are human and so I take one token away and give it to the referee. This leaves four foul tokens for the player to use wisely during the game.
In a close game, fouling on a break away lay up is a good use of a player's token. This is a foul to stop a lay up; it is not a foul to harm an opponent (there is no excuse for purposely harming another player). Unfortunately, most coaches do not teach their players how to foul on a breakaway lay up. A legitimate foul on a lay up is when the defender puts their arm in front of the offensive player's stomach and as the offensive player brings their hands up from their waist to shoot makes contact with the defender's hand and the ball gets knocked away. The two defender don'ts are: 1) do not grab the offensive player's arm, just have the defender put her arm in the direct path the ball will take from the offensive players waist to the shot so that contact is made around the stomach level and the ball is knocked out of bounds; 2) do not touch the offensive player's body with the defender's body or hand. Too many times I see defenders trying to block the break away lay up and bodies collide in mid air followed by the ball going through the basket and the players hitting the padding behind the basket hard and it awkward positions. Teach your players to contact the arms and ball at the stomach level and not attempt to block the shot. In both cases it will be called a foul, but the more common scenario leads to bodies awkwardly colliding with hard immovable objects.
If the ball is behind you, run as fast as you can to the middle of the key: A general defensive rule is that if the ball is closer to the opponents basket than you are, turn and run back to play defense. Similar to full court pressure defense, this rule applies to fast break defense. No jogging or trotting. It is a full out sprint. Another defensive rule is to beat the offensive player to the location on the floor that they are going to, not where they currently are. In the case of a fast break, the offense is going for a lay up, so the defense needs to turn and sprint to the key and congest the middle against passes and secondary cutters.
Assign a player as the designated fast break defender: A good rule that many teams use, although I personally do not, is to assign one player (usually a guard) to be the designated fast break defender. This defender stays around the top of the key on offense and does not try to rebound the basketball on a missed shot. Their primary offensive function is to swing the ball to the other side or shoot outside jump shots. Since they play near the top of the key, they are assigned as the initial defender against a fast break and their responsibility is to be the first line of defense around the 3-point line. In the example included with this post, D2 is playing the role of the designated fast break defender.
If you are defending the ball handler, never never switch to defend another player until you are screened or the ball is passed: Far too often, I will see a defender guarding someone else player to stop a fast break. When the assigned defender arrives, the assigned defender tells the other player that they are there and that they are ready to defend the ball carrier now. The switch occurs and the offensive player uses the defensive player transition as an opening to drive to the basket or shoot. To stop this from happening, I tell my players that if they are guarding the ball handler to never leave until they are either screened and a switch is called or until the ball handler passes the ball to another player.
Summary
Successfully stopping a good fast break transition offense is difficult but following these guidelines can slow down or stop a fast break most of the time. Remember that the difference between the offense successfully fast breaking and the defense stopping it is only a couple of steps by the defensive team. The goal of these recommendations is to slow down the opponent transition to offense just enough to give the transitioning defense those extra couple of steps.
The next time a team is successfully fastbreaking against you, try these suggestions, and leave me a comment on how it turned out.
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