Triple-teams are Never a Good Idea

We all have strategies on how to defend the post, many involve double-teaming the post. But if you all-out triple-team the post, be prepared to suffer the consequences. You'll see what happens here when the Atlanta Hawks triple-team Grant Hill and leave Steve Nash wide open. Watch the video and then you can read my thoughts below.



Some quick thoughts from watching the video,

- first of all, this is Grant Hill, not Amare Stoudamire, or even Boris Diaw. I'm not sure why Al Horford comes down to triple-team from the top of the key. Maybe he's still learning the system.

- if you are playing against any team, you must know who the shooters are. Everytime our players get on the floor on substitutions or whatever, I always make sure to identify the shooters and let the players checking them to know that they cannot leave their man to help. In this case, Tyrone Lue was pinned underneath Grant Hill, so obviously a switch should've occured.

- film is invaluable. This would be a good situation for us as coaches to sit down with the players to see how this situation happened, where the breakdown occurred, and how to improve for next time.

Looking for more great ideas on defending the post amongst other things, check out Jeff Lebo's DVD on Post-Defense. I have plenty of notes on low post defense so check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum to see what I have.