Defense
The defense’s job in one sentence: never let two defenders be needed on one player, and when they are, get the third defender there before the pass does. Every phase below is a different version of that race.
| Lecture | What it teaches |
|---|---|
| 4.1 Transition Defense | Rim, ball, match up; the tandem; floor balance and jamming the rebounder; the take foul before and after 2022-23. |
| 4.2 Defending Early Offense | The coverages of 4.3 applied before the defense is set: getting level on the drag, switching the double drag, chasing the delay handoff, and matching up on the run. |
| 4.3 Pick-and-Roll Coverages | Man-to-man as the frame; over and under; drop, ice, at the level, hedge and blitz, each as a card with what it concedes and what beats it. |
| 4.4 Help and Rotations | The three defenders who are not in the screen: the help side and its two spots, the low man’s tag, the X-out, the stunt and the dig, the closeout, the top-lock, verticality, and the hit. |
| 4.5 Switching Schemes | The switch as a coverage and as a scheme; next, the switch the big calls; the scram switch that fixes a post mismatch before the ball arrives; the peel switch that fixes a beaten defender. |
| 4.6 Zones and Junk Defenses | Guarding areas instead of players: the 2-3, the 3-2, the 1-2-2 and the 1-3-1, what each shape is thin at; the match-up zone; and the junk defenses built to erase one or two scorers, the box-and-one and the triangle-and-two. |
| 4.7 Presses | The press: pressure in the back court, what it is built to force, the trap on the sideline, the safety behind it, and why it is rare at the top of the game; the named presses the glossaries carry. |
| 4.8 Special Situations, Defense | Defending the baseline and sideline inbounds: pressure the passer and the five-second count, switch everything, zone the inbound; and guarding the after-timeout play. |
| 4.9 Late Clock, Defense | The foul as a tactic: the foul game that trades free throws for possessions, fouling up three, and hack-a, with what the rule book did to the last of these. |
Terms by family: transition defense · pick-and-roll coverages · help and rotations · zones and junk.