Defense wins basketball games so establishing good solid defensive techniques is important. Stopping an opposing team will require your entire team to work together with a solid defensive strategy. Before an individual player can be part of a strategy they need to develop these basic defensive techniques.
1) Establish the defensive position– What is a defensive position? It is how you position your body when playing defense. There are many different ways to play defense but the basic defensive stance is pretty universal and probably one of the first things any good coach will teach. A good defensive stance can be very effective against an elite offensive basketball player.
As a defender you will be reacting to whatever your offensive player uses to breeze past you in their effort to score or pass the ball for an assist. We all know action is quicker than reaction. So your defensive stance must allow you the flexibility to move and keep up with the player you are guarding. Now that we know the defensive stance is important, here are four tips to improve your defensive stance.
- Feet should be shoulder width apart –This will help the defender have an even base and better balance. If your feet are too wide it will be harder for your entire body to move swiftly as a unit.
- Knees bent slightly-Our legs are naturally bent. Even when we are walking or standing up straight. Straight legs don’t mix on defense and will make it harder for you to move quickly.
- Stay low to the ground– We want to be close to the ground so we can react quick to whatever the offensive player gives us. Just as keeping our knees slightly bent helps us move quicker, being low to the ground makes more mobile when playing defense. Now obviously if the offensive player gets away from us we will need to raise our profile to sprint and catch up.
- Your head and eyes straight ahead– You should focus on the offensive player’s torso or chest area. This gives you the ability to use your peripheral vision to see other parts of the body which may telegraph an action. This also helps to see what is going on around you and be prepared for an incoming screen or dribble hand off.
- Get your hands up!- Be sure to have one hand in the passing lane and the other hand up to contest a shot. Your hands can be a double edged sword in defense. What do I mean by that? Your hands can get you in foul trouble but they can also be key to deflections, steals, blocks which are all important in defense. This is why they need to be high and active during defense. Having active hands on defense could discourage the offensive player from passing or shooting–and that is what we are trying to do on defense!
- Move your feet– Always be ready to move your feet so you can react to an opposing player’s actions. Moving your feet on defense is so important. If you’re not moving then you aren’t keeping up. Additionally , you can use your feet to blade your body and force the opposing player to the sideline or baseline. This could be part of a team strategy to force the offense to play basketball on only one side of the court. This is an important strategy in man-to-man defense.
2) Closeouts- Closeouts are so important! Have you ever seen that defensive player that knocks down another player or gets a terrible foul after sprinting to cover someone that just received a pass and is going for a shot? This is why every player needs to have a great closeout. Here is how you closeout.
- Sprint with one hand up and the other in the passing lane. Be determined to get there as fast as you can. But don’t get a crazy foul because you didn’t anticipate how much space you needed to stop. A simple sprint towards a shooter will levy enough pressure to force a bad shot that your teammates can rebound. This is a much better option than the shooter getting free throws from a bad foul.
- Use short choppy steps to stop. Practice sprinting and then stopping yourself with short choppy steps. This will help you as you are approaching the player to avoid a collision.
- Maintain enough space to react if they decide to penetrate with a dribble. In other words don’t stop too close as you are closing out on the offensive player. If you do it will not give you much time to react.
3) Be a pest- Play defense with active hands to deflect passes and discourage shots and passes. Be careful NOT to reach. The best advice for defenders is to keep your hands up and out. You can put your hands in their line of vision to make it harder to see the court, their teammates and the basket.
4) Slide until you cant– Sliding helps you stay in front of the player you are guarding but lets face it most offensive players can pull a fancy move and break contact with a defender that is sliding. If this happens to you, don’t be afraid to sprint to catch up. Then cut them off without fouling. To do this you simply get in front of them. Use only your feet to avoid fouling. This will typically force them change direction.
5) Force a dead ball– Great defensive players are committed to limit the options of the player they are guarding. One way to do that is to make them pick up the dribble. This will put them in a position to either shoot a contested shot or pass under pressure. This is called a dead ball because the player can no longer dribble the ball. Strong defensive teams can really capitalize on a dead ball situation. One example of this is for the other defensive players to play denial defense making it harder for the player holding the ball to pass it.
6) Stay in shape– Basketball is an endurance sport if you are really trying on defense. It is important to improve your cardio so you can be a threat on defense. There are a bunch of programs on the internet to help you get or stay in shape. You can also ask your coach for a workout program and implement it. The most important part is to just set it up and then show up and do it. Make sure you are consistent and you will see the progress on the courts!