Mavs Double the Post and Rotate

I apologize to you college basketball fans, but since this is exam week I will be featuring mostly NBA teams this week.

I think that unless the team you are facing is completely devoid of height and size, it is necessary to double the post. Once the ball gets into the post, the offense is at it's greatest chance to score, so for me, it would seem the most sensible thing to do is to take away that opportunity and force the ball to be kicked back out. The key of course is to double, rotate, and rotate again to recover. Here, the Mavs double-down on Eddie Curry down low, and show good rotation after the double. Watch the video and read my thoughts below,



Double down:

Devon Harris, X1 is the one that doubles here. The ball is entered into the post from the wing and Devon Harris comes from the top of the key to cut off the middle post move.

Here, the Mavs trap on the catch. I think if you are at the lower levels (JV and lower) you probably want to double once the pass is in the air, as your players are probably slower. Once the double happens, you'll notice that Jason Terry is the guy that has to split the 2 far receivers in help position. Dirk is 1 pass away, but he isn't in Deny as that is the pass we want Eddie Curry to make. X3 is in deny.

Kick Back out, Rotate:

Some traps are set to force a turnover, here, the purpose for the Mavs is to force a kick out. That happens to O4, Dirk closes out on O4.

Jason Terry closes out on the first pass, in this case O1 up top. Devon Harris breaks from the double and closes out to the second pass away.

You'll notice from the clip that the pass goes back into the post where Eddie Curry gets a pretty good look with Dirk doing a half double. That is exactly what we don't want to happen. Obviously, coach Avery Johnson will be talking to his team about that afterwards.

For more great ideas on the post-defense amongst other defensive topics, check out Jeff Lebo's DVD on defending the post. Coach Lebo is the head coach of Auburn University of the SEC. Be sure so check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum to discuss your favorite basketball topics.