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Saturday, May 13, 2023

Basketball: Forcing Long Closeouts

Bring offense with bad intent. 

Develop your catalog of "Hard to Defend" actions:

  • Elite dribble penetration 
  • Urgent cutting (give-and-go, back cuts)
  • Pick-and-roll
  • Complex screening (Iverson, Spain PnR, Corner rip, Flex)
  • Multiple actions forcing long closeouts

Develop an array of weapons with multiple actions. I recently shared some back cuts. Force long closeouts. Don't feel compelled to run everything but use proven actions that work for you. 

Long closeouts happen for multiple reasons. 

  • Unanticipated help
  • Planned "draw 2"
  • Defensive errors
  • Extra passes ("one more")
  • Miscellaneous (e.g. short roll passing)
Great spacing (e.g. filled corners) is necessary but not sufficient.

Examples: 


Spread clear PnR options (drive, corner cut, corner pass) to pressure both PnR defense and the corner help defender. 


Short roll passing with great spacing (above) presents a nightmare for defenses. The pass could go to corner or wing depending on defense. 


Defensive error. Embiid backs Tatum down and Brown doubles and leaves the corner open. Many teams teach players not to help off the open corner. 


Drill. "One more" pass and follow drill that we and many other teams practiced. 


Long closeouts put defenders on an island with opportunities to shoot, drive, or penetrate and pass. 


David Blatt hammer action. The Spurs (below) run a facsimile.
 

Summary. 
  • Force long closeouts. 
  • Spread PnR variation
  • Short roll passing
  • Defensive errors (help off the three)
  • "One more" passes
  • Hammer actions
Lagniappe. Horns complex PnR from FastModel