As coaches, we talk a lot about finishing games. Naturally, the end of the game is where we want to be our sharpest. One area that sort of gets overlooked though is starting games strong. I always feel like if we start a game strong, we build confidence, get into a rhythm and keep the pressure on the opposing team to adjust to what we are doing. It's especially important to get off to a good start when playing on the road, where there are so many factors against you.

I watch a lot of basketball games and I like a lot of things about the San Antonio Spurs. One of those things I like about the Spurs is how they start games. They move the ball and get everyone touches early on. It almost looks like Gregg Popovich has scripted the first 6 minutes or so of the game. Though the Spurs would lose this game eventually, the value of a good start to a game cannot be underestimated, especially at the high school level where you play only 40 minutes. Here are the first 4 out of 5 possessions by the Spurs tonight,



First one to score is Finley off of a pick and slip. Second is Bowen on the baseline reversal. Third is Parker off of a ball screen. Finally, Duncan hits the jumper off of a dump off by Parker. An 8-2 run to start the game in the first 4 minutes, not bad at all. Also, notice how everyone touches the ball. This is a great way to get those early nervous jitters out of the way, allow everyone to touch the ball and get into the game early on.

Stagger to Pick and Slip:

This is the first play from the clip. It's just a set play designed to get Michael Finley an open mid-range jumper.

Starts off in a sort of 1-4 high formation. O3 is Finley. Duncan pops out to receive the first pass. Bowen clears out. Parker then sets up at the wing and gets the pass back from Duncan.

Oberto and Duncan set stagger screens for Finley.

Finley comes off the stagger screens and looks to set a ball-screen for Parker. Both X3 and X1 move with Parker because Parker is a threat to drive. This allows Finley to slip the screen to the mid-range spot and Parker finds him for the open jumper.

Summary:

I like getting off to good starts. I hate having to come back from behind. When you play with the lead, it allows you to do so many things. As a coach at the lower levels, the lead gives you the flexibility to play many different players and try different combinations. It's much more difficult when you're behind, and you HAVE to play a certain lineup to catch up.

If you're a fan of the Spurs like me, you'll want to watch Gregg Popovich's DVD on his favorite plays and drills. Again, the Spurs philosophy on valuing each possession is one that is sometimes lost in the ever-popular transition game, but when you talk about big games, playoff games, championship games, you must have an efficient half-court offense that maximizes shot opportunities. Don't forget to check out the X's and O's of Basketball Forum to talk about this and your favorite basketball topics.

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It's extremely important to know your opponent going into every game. After all, that is why you have assistants do all that scouting and breakdown of game film, isn't it? I watched the first half of the Tennessee game against Vanderbilt and the Vols really put on a clinic on closing out on shooters, and playing great M2M defense in the halfcourt.

The Vols used their full-court press as usual. But what really made the difference in the game was the Vols ability to shutdown the deadly shooters on Vanderbilt. Going into the game, Vanderbilt was the best team in the country shooting the 3-pointer at 43.9% and averaged 9.3 per game. When the game was over, the Commodores ended up shooting just 3-for-21 on 3-pointers. Was it just a coincidence or did the Vols really man up. Take a look for yourself at a couple of sequences of the stifling half-court M2M defense by the Vols,



If you play teams that are great 3-point shooters, you have to play tough M2M defense and close out well. Zones don't usually work well because a good shooting team will reverse the ball and go over top of you all day. Pressing may work but if they break your press, watch out for those wide open fast-break 3-pointers.

Contesting Shots Drill:

I've used this drill before to emphasize good form in contesting shots from help side to closeout. It's important that your players have good reaction skills to jump while the ball is in the air then closeout properly, contest the shot with high-hands, then box out the shooter. You can adjust where the shooters are to emphasize the mid-range all the way out to 3-pointer.

Lineup 3 shooters and 1 defender as in the diagram. The coach is behind the defender with the ball. The defender is facing the shooters as he would in a help-side defensive position.

1. The coach passes to any one of the shooters.
2. X1 must reach the pass, pressure the shot, and box out the shooter.
3. Repeat. Make the defender go until 3 stops with 3 rebounds.

This is also a good drill to practice shooting of course.

Get Bruce Pearl's DVD on the Encyclopedia of Pressure Defense, if you want to learn the Tennessee pressure defensive philosophy. And don't forget to check out the X's and O's of Basketball Forum to talk about this and your favorite basketball topics.

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Bruce Pearl of Tennessee was on Rome is Burning yesterday and talked amongst other things the season so far as well as coaching in general. He touches on the 'win right now' mentality as well as program building. A pretty good insight into a very interesting person. Coach Pearl is the kind of coach that you would want to win for, because you feel his energy, his passion for the game and his enthusiasm motivates his players.



Thoughts about the interview,

- Be yourself. Coach Pearl talks about coming out of the shadow of his mentor and how important it is to trust your own instincts as a coach. Don't try to emulate someone else, you are who you are.
- Be the face of something, Coach Pearl wants to be the face of Tennessee basketball. It's about creating a legacy, what do you want your career to represent in your own eyes.
- Pat Summitt, best coach in college basketball. She's always wanting to get better, searching for knowledge. Pat Summitt would be the best in whatever it profession she was in. Coach Pearl talks about learning so much from being around her.
- Coach Pearl truly cares about what his players think. He is emotionally invested with his players. He expects so much from them and they understand that.
- Coach Pearl lifts with his players and says it helps motivate them when working out at 6am in the morning.

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Having a big man that can score effectively down low is major asset. May sound like I'm stating the obvious but I see a lot of teams that have a dominant low post player and don't effectively use that player.

One of the most important aspects of low post player is gaining inside position. As a coach, you need to find ways to get the ball to your player on the move. Unless you have a guy like Shaq can get the ball and just back you down and dunk over top, more likely than not you'll have to use a screen and seal, or a screen and slip to get your big man the ball in a position to score.

I caught the end of the game between Ole Miss and Florida today. It was clear to me that Ole Miss was determined to use it's size down low and Dwayne Curtis was the big man to do it. He would finish with 20 points and 12 rebounds. I took a couple of clips late in the game to show just how Curtis was able to get good position and score down low,



On defense, we try to never allow the middle-post entry pass. As we feel that the middle-post entry pass breaks us down. It allows a post player to get the ball in a position to pivot either way and score. From the wing, at least you can force middle into the help.

Use the Middle Post-entry:

This is not even really a play. As I believe the Rebels are just playing basketball here.

The play is setup by a flex downscreen. O5 starts from the elbow while O3 starts at the low block. O5 goes down to set a flex screen with O3 coming out to receive the pass.

The pass goes to O3 up top and O5, Curtis gets the ball right in the middle of lane about 4 feet from the basket. It's just a pivot, square and off the glass from there. Curtis is fouled to boot and converts the and1.

Summary:

Big men that can move well and score with both their back to the basket and in front of the basket are so rare. That is why when you get a player like that, you have to maximize their potential. Middle-post entry, screen and slip, hi-low, these are all great strategies to be employed with a good big man. I also like post-ups on early offense, much like what UNC does with Tyler Hansbrough.

For more video info, take a look at the Better Basketball's Better Post Play DVD. You may also want to look at Jason Shay's DVD on 18 All-purpose post moves. Coach Shay is an assistant at Tennessee. To discuss this and many more of your favorite basketball topics, head over to the X's and O's of Basketball Forum to talk with other coaches from around the world.

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Since I've had several zone offense posts the past few days, I'll try to keep this one short. I taped the first half of the Old Dominion game against James Madison and this was a nice clip with OD breaking down the JMU zone. Like yesterday with MSU, OD uses the high-post, but what I like here is the use of the pump fake. Watch the video and read my thoughts below,



O5 is a guy called Gerald Lee and he was a beast for OD tonight. He gets the ball in that sweet spot in the zone, the high post. This draws X5 to defend him, and he does a great pump fake to get X5 in the air, then steps by and drops the little tear-drop. Beautiful stuff,

Teach your players to use the pump fake, use the pass-fake when beating zones as the zone always jumps to the ball in the air.

For a great breakdown of zone offense, take a look at Coach Mike Krzyzewski's Zone Offense DVD, he does a great job explaining zone offense fundamentals in a way that can be applied to any team. Be sure to drop by the X's and O's Basketball Forum to discuss your favorite zone offense topics.

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Jan 16, update: Evidently I used the wrong video originally, one of those silly copy/paste errors. It is fixed now.

I have really been perplexed by the Houston Rockets this season. Going into today's game, they had been on a little winning bonanza but closer examination showed they were against mostly inferior to mediocre teams (New York, Minnesota, Washington, Orlando). For most of 3 quarters, the Rockets seemed to be in control, Yao was in a groove, and shots were going down. Slowly though, the Sixers were chipping away at a 15+ point lead. By midway through the 4th, the score was tied.

One of those little things that make a big difference is how your team finishes halves and quarters. I always like to think that how we finish a half or quarter is going to set the tone for how we finish the game. If we're behind, we want to finish the quarter strong knowing that we can build off positive play after positive play. The Sixers finished the 3rd quarter on a 7-2 run and it would lead to big things in the 4th and deciding quarter. This is the last play of the 3rd quarter by the Sixers,



Reversal Baseline Drive:

Actually, there really isn't anything special about this play. To be honest, I think that the Rockets defended it poorly. It's just a ball reversal to the weak-side corner who baseline drives it for the score.

They start out in a standard 1-4 low set. O3 and O4 come up. O1 does a dribble handoff to O3. This forces a switch, then O4 screens for O3.

O3 comes off the screen. There is great indecision between X2 and X4, O3 passes to O2 in the corner. O4 attempts to close out but doesn't seal the baseline.

Summary:

I've heard some coaches say that momentum is overrated. I couldn't disagree more. I think momentum is one of the most important aspects of game coaching. I really do feel that when consecutive positive plays happen, it has an impact on the success of the next immediate play. The same is true of negative plays. The Sixers got the momentum heading into the 4th quarter with plays like above and they continued to roll into the 4th. On the flip side, the Rockets played tentative the rest of the way, and they played themselves out of the win.

For a great new video from a truly great basketball mind, take a look at Hubie Brown's DVD on Playbook for Success. Don't forget to check out the X's and O's of Basketball Forum to discuss this and other basketball topics.

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I've watched a couple of Ohio St. games so far this season and the both times I've watched them, they've played a zone defense almost the entire game, much different than when they had Greg Oden and Mike Conley last year. So you knew going in to tonight's game that Michigan St. was going to have to be very efficient in their zone attack and for the most part they were.

Jay Bilas of ESPN broke down a zone overload play that MSU uses on occasion. Late in tonight's game, they used the high-post to beat OSU's zone for a key point late in the game. After moving the ball around several times, MSU attacks the gap, screens the top, then finds the open spot in the middle of the zone. Watch the video and read my thoughts below,



High-Post against the Zone:

After several ball reversals, MSU finally breaks down the zone by penetrating the gaps, diving down low, and finally finding the gap in the middle at the high post.

It's important to attack the top gap between the top 2 defenders. This will force the defense to collapse. The screen is set so that Drew Neitzel gets the open pass on the wing.

Neitzel gets the ball, O4 dives down to the basket after the screen, O5 slips to the open high-post spot. Notice that X2 has shifted to cover O1 at top and X5 is staying low to defend O4 and protect the basket. This leaves O5 open for that 10 foot jump shot.

Summary:

For me personally, I prefer using the high post almost exclusively to attack the zone. I put my stud player there and have him cut, screen and fill that high-post spot. After a few ball reversals, he should be able to get the ball in the high-post in a position to either shoot the open shot or attack the rim. I also like to run a player along the baseline looking for the quick pass underneath. Unless I have some great shooters, I don't usually try to shoot over the zone, I think it's too inconsistent relying on the perimeter shot.

If you're interested in the high-post or overload or any of Michigan State's zone offense, you'll want to check out Tom Izzo's DVD on the 1-3-1 Zone Offense. As always, head over to the X's and O's Basketball forum to talk with other coaches about your favorite basketball topics.

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