Pick-and-roll coverages

How two defenders handle a ball screen. This decides a team’s defensive identity.

All families · 9 terms · 9 full, 0 partial, 0 short

At the level

The big meets the handler at the level of the screen, between drop and hedge.

A pick-and-roll from the right slot. The screener stands just below and left of the screen bar, beside the handler's defender, with the bar between them, touching neither. The screener's defender stands a few feet to the left of the screener, level with the screen and a little on its basket side, below the handler's route, labeled at the level. The handler dribbles left over the top of the screen, and his dribble points straight at that defender and stops a couple of feet short of him, so the handler runs into him as he comes off the screen. The screener rolls down the lane toward the rim, behind the big. The handler's defender stays on his own side of the screen, with no arrow. Three shooters are spaced in the two corners and on the left wing, each with a defender.

Why it is run. Meeting the handler at the screen takes away both the pull-up the drop concedes and the corner the hedge risks, and asks the big to be quick for one beat rather than far from the rim for several.

What beats it. The short roll, which gives the screener the pocket pass while the big is still turning; the slip, which goes before the big has arrived at the level.

defense · Half court · full · Taught in lecture 4.3 · See also Drop coverage, Hedge

Blitz

Also: trap, double team

Both defenders trap the handler at the screen, leaving three defenders against four.

A pick-and-roll from the right slot. The screen bar sits between the handler and the screener, and the handler dribbles left over the top of it. Where his dribble ends, just above the arc, two defenders meet him: the handler's defender, who chased over, on one side and the screener's defender, who jumped out, on the other, labeled two on the ball. The screener short-rolls toward the free-throw line and stops just above it, where he is open, labeled short roll. Behind the trap, the three remaining defenders are spread across four attackers, the roller and the shooters in both corners and on the left wing, and the left-wing defender slides toward the lane; the label three guard four sits under the basket.

Why it is run. Two defenders on the handler take the ball out of the one player’s hands the defense fears most, and hand it to a screener at the free-throw line who, the defense is betting, cannot make the next decision.

What beats it. The short roll, built for exactly this; the pop to a screener who shoots; a handler who splits the trap.

defense · Half court · full · Taught in lecture 4.3 · See also Short roll, 4-on-3, Hedge

Drop coverage

Also: drop

Against a ball screen the big stays back near the paint while the guard fights over the screen.

A pick-and-roll from the right slot. The screener stands beside the handler's defender, with the screen bar between them, touching neither. The handler dribbles over the top of the screen, marked over the top, turns the corner and dribbles down into the free-throw circle, where the pull-up jumper is marked. The handler's defender takes a short arrow up past the top of the screen bar, chasing over it, and stops below the handler's dribble. The screener rolls and stops at the top of the paint, level with the screener's defender, who starts there and back-pedals toward the rim along an arrow labeled drop, so the roller and the handler are both in front of him. Three shooters are spaced in the two corners and on the left wing, each with a defender.

Why it is run. Keeping the big back between the ball and the rim takes away the layup and the lob, which are the two best shots a ball screen produces, and asks the big to do only what he does best: guard the rim without moving his feet in space.

What beats it. A handler who makes the mid-range pull-up or the pull-up three the drop leaves; the snake, which walks the drop into the paint; the lob when the big commits early.

defense · Half court · full · Taught in lecture 4.3 · See also Pick-and-roll, Snake dribble, Ice

Hedge

Also: show, hard hedge

The big jumps out above the screen to stop the handler, then recovers to the roller.

A pick-and-roll from the right slot. The screener stands beside the handler's defender, with the screen bar between them, touching neither. The screener's defender has jumped out above the arc into the handler's path, labeled show, and the handler's short dribble stops at the arc, in front of him. The handler's defender takes a short arrow up past the top of the screen bar, fighting over it to get back in front of the handler. The screener rolls down the lane toward the rim, and the screener's defender runs a long arrow, labeled recover, back down the lane beside the roll. The low man, the defender of the shooter in the left corner, steps into the lane along an arrow labeled tag, toward the end of the roll. The other two attackers stand on the left wing and in the right corner, each with a defender.

Why it is run. Jumping the big out above the screen stops the handler from turning the corner at all, which against a scorer who must not get downhill is worth the roller it leaves open for a beat.

What beats it. The slip before the show; the short roll into a 4-on-3 while the big is out; the pop when he commits; the Spain back screen on his way home.

defense · Half court · full · Taught in lecture 4.3 · See also Drop coverage, Blitz

Ice

Also: blue, down, push, iced

On a side ball screen the on-ball defender forces the handler toward the sideline and away from the screen, with the big dropped toward the baseline.

A side pick-and-roll on the right wing. The screener stands above the handler, on the high side, where the screen would send him toward the middle. The handler's defender has already jumped to the high side, between the handler and the screener, labeled high side, and the screen bar sits between the screener and that defender, touching neither. The handler's dribble goes straight down the sideline toward the baseline, away from the screen, labeled force down. The screener's defender waits below the screen, on the lane side of the drive, level with where the dribble ends, labeled below the screen. No arrow uses the screen. The other three attackers are at the top, on the left wing and in the left corner, each with a defender sagging toward the lane, and the right corner is empty.

Why it is run. Refusing the screen and sending the handler down the sideline turns a two-man action into a one-man drive into a wall, with the whole weak side behind the ball and hard to reach.

What beats it. The step-up screen, set so the way the guard is forcing is the way the screen goes; the pop by the unused screener; a shooter in the ice-side corner, who turns the drive into a kick-out.

defense · Half court · full · Taught in lecture 4.3 · See also Drop coverage, Step-up screen

Man-to-man

Each defender is responsible for one attacker wherever he goes.

Five attackers spaced around the arc: 3 at the top, 1 with the ball on the right wing, 2 in the right corner, 4 on the left wing and 5 in the left corner. x1 is in front of the ball. x2 is a step off 2 toward the ball. x3 is in the gap just below and right of the top, a step toward the lane. The two weak-side defenders have left their men: x4 stands at the nail, the middle of the free-throw line, labeled nail, and x5 stands in the lane beside the rim, labeled low man. The right half of the floor is labeled strong side and the left half help side.

Why it is run. One defender per attacker is the arrangement that guards every shooter and every driver at once, and the ball screen is the one action that makes two of those assignments collide; every coverage is a rule for that collision.

What beats it. Any action that keeps two attackers on one defender longer than the coverage’s rule covers: a late-guarded pick-and-roll, or the mismatch hunted after a switch.

defense · Half court · full · Taught in lecture 4.3 · See also Zone defense, Switch

Next

Also: next switch, up-to-touch

A switch called by the big on a ball screen where the guard’s defender stays attached until the big has the handler.

A pick-and-roll at the right slot. The handler has the ball and dribbles left over the top of the screener, who stands just above the top of the free-throw circle. The screen bar is on the screener's right side, between the screener and the handler's defender, touching neither. The handler's defender stands close below the handler on the screen side, labeled attached, not trailing. The screener's defender stands on the other side of the screener at the same height, labeled level, waiting. The other three attackers are on the left wing and in both corners, each with a defender. (First of 2 frames; the lecture shows the rest.)

Why it is run. A switch has one weak moment, the trade, and keeping the guard attached until the big has touched the handler removes it; there is no step in which the ball is guarded by nobody.

What beats it. The slip, which gives the big nothing to be level with; the ghost screen, which draws the call and vanishes.

defense · Half court · full · Taught in lecture 4.5 · See also Switch

Switch

The two defenders in a screen trade assignments.

A pick-and-roll from the right slot. The screener stands beside the handler's defender, with the screen bar between them, touching neither. The handler dribbles left over the top of the screen. The screener's defender starts on the free-throw line and steps straight up along an arrow that ends just below where the dribble ends; the label big takes the ball sits just left of the end of that arrow, inside the arc. The handler's defender does not chase the ball: his arrow runs down beside the screener's roll toward the rim, labeled guard takes the roll. Three shooters are spaced in the two corners and on the left wing, each with a defender.

Why it is run. Trading men at the screen means nobody is ever beaten, so nothing has to rotate; the screen produces a mismatch and nothing else, and the defense is betting the mismatch is the smaller problem.

What beats it. The mismatch hunted before it is fixed: the early seal by the big, the isolation of the guard against the big, and the slip before the switch is called.

defense · Half court · full · Taught in lecture 4.5 · See also Scram switch, Mismatch, Peel switch

Under

Also: go under

The on-ball defender goes beneath the screen, conceding the pull-up to keep the drive in front.

A pick-and-roll from the right slot. The screener stands beside the handler's defender, with the screen bar between them, touching neither. The handler dribbles over the top of the screen to a spot just behind the arc, marked pull-up conceded. The handler's defender goes the other way: an arrow takes him beneath the screen, between the screener and the basket, to a corner labeled under, and a second arrow takes him back up on the far side to a spot just below where the handler's dribble ends, so he meets the handler in front of the drive. The screener's defender stays back in the paint. Three shooters are spaced in the two corners and on the left wing, each with a defender.

Why it is run. Going beneath the screen keeps the drive in front of the guard without any help, at the price of the pull-up, and against a handler who will not make that shot the price is nothing.

What beats it. The shot, from any handler who has one; and the re-screen, since a defender under the screen can be screened again on his way back.

defense · Half court · full · Taught in lecture 4.3 · See also Drop coverage