Triangle and 2 Combo Defense Scenarios Analyzed

Came across these notes the other day looking for some good defensive scheme information. Most of y'all have a good combo defense in your back pocket to go to, be it a Box and 1, Triangle and 2, etc... I'm mostly a M2M halfcourt guy, but I think having a good change-up defense is good to have when you need to change things up. Sometimes, a change of scheme is necessary when your players are feeling frustrated, you can force your team to keep running what you are running, or try something new.

These are some notes on a Triangle and 2 defense including rules and scenarios to consider, they are from Tom Billeter of Augustana. The Triangle and 2 is a great defense to use against a perimeter oriented team that has a dominant point-guard and shooting guard. The idea is to go chest-to-chest with the 2 best perimeter players and zone the lane with 3 players in a triangle.

Legend

Red Defenders: 2 forward types and 1 guard/forward
Yellow X1: Defender guarding the best offensive player
Yellow X2: Defender guarding the second best offensive player
O1: Best offensive player
O3: Second best offensive player
Blue Offense: Rest of the 3 offensive players

Ball Denial

Most likely O1 will be the point guard. So, the idea is for X1 to force the ball out of O1's hands, then deny the pass back. X2 denies pass to O3 on the wing,


Post Entry

On post entry, if the post puts the ball on the floor, the X2 half digs,


Skip Passes

On the skip pass, only use short closeouts. Don’t closeout the full distance. So X1 still denies O1 and X2 slides to help position,


Cutters

If anyone other than O1 or O3 cut, nobody trails, the triangle defenders just have to be aware of them. If they send O3 as a baseline runner, X2, goes with the cutter. X4 will pass dribble to X2 playing gap defense. X1 stays with O1,


Short Corner Entry

If they run the post underneath into the short corner, trap the post entry with the ball side post of the triangle and X2. X3 shifts over to cut off the middle. Make the pass back to the ball side wing the only option,


Stagger Screens

It will be critical for X1 to be good at tag and trail as the offense will attempt to run O1 through double, triple screens,


Other Notes

- If you do not have a great 1v1 perimeter defender, then put worse help defender (X1) on the other team’s best offensive player (O1). This defender is always making contact with the best, denying passes, and never playing help defense. Try to get in the offensive player’s head.
- Second man defender (X2) plays regular man defense and gives help.
- Post players always play behind the post.
- No dribble penetration or passes to the paint.
- Do not deny the other 3 players.
- Switch ball screens

If you're interested in the junk stuff, you might want to look at Homer Drew's DVD on the Box and 1 defense. Coach Drew is the head coach of the Valparaiso University