Duke Jams the Rebound Late in the Game

I'm not generally a huge fan of jamming the rebound after a missed offensive shot attempt, but I think in certain situations it can be extremely useful. In their ACC matchup the other night between Duke and Georgia Tech, I watched Duke use it to try to come back from behind late in the game.

The situation was Duke down 64-60 with 1 minute left in the game. Duke had the ball on offense trying to come withing 2 or 1. They drive into the middle, take a decent shot, but miss. They send 4 to the boards, but GT grabs the defensive rebound. 3 Duke players remain on the offensive side of the floor and attempt to pressure the ball. They are able to trap the ball in an aggressive double-team and force a turnover which they turn into a quick score. Take a look at the video:



After they make the shot attempt, 4 players stay in the front court attempting to grab the rebound,

After GT successfully grabs the defensive rebound, Duke keeps 3 players in the front court and they attempt to pressure and do successfully trap the ball,


As I mentioned, I usually don't like jamming the rebound in any normal situation, but I think that if you're behind, with 2 or less minutes left in the game, jamming the rebounder hard, can result in a couple of forced turnovers. As with any aggressive trapping defense, the offense can turn your pressure into a numbers advantage the other way. But when you are down, you don't really have a choice. Plus, you can get a quick foul if all else fails and you are unable to force the turnover, I've always believed in fouling as quickly as possible as opposed to allowing unnecessary seconds drift off the game clock.

If you are a big Duke fan like me, definitely check out Mike Krzyzewski's DVD on Defensive Agility & Conditioning Drills. Coach K and his Blue Devils are 5th in the last AP Top 25 poll.