Man-to-Man Defense – Force Sideline

Man-to-Man Defense – Force Sideline
Objective:
This defense is designed to force your opponent into 3 potentially
bad situations.
1. Being trapped with the ball somewhere along the baseline.
2. Forcing a skip pass through traffic to the other side of the
court.
3. Forced to settle with a pull up jump shot, one of the lowest
percentage shots in the game.
Principles:
No dribble penetration middle. Offense must be forced to the
sideline/baseline.
Strong side wings do not help on baseline drive.
Baseline help comes from the post.
Post help comes from the weak side wing.
Setup:
The standard rules for Man-to-Man Defense apply within this
system.
The weak side defenders play on the help line.
Players who are one pass away from the ball deny their man.
Every shot is contested with a close-out.
Execution:
Defending the Ball
What makes this system different is that it is based on the principle that nobody
can penetrate towards the middle of the court. Defenders will force their
opponents to the sideline and to the baseline so strongly that the opponents
will literally be required to drive to the baseline. The defender will be playing the
offensive player at such an angle that if the offensive player tries to drive
towards the middle, the defender will draw a charge. You can see in figure 1 as
the offensive player with the ball gets closer to the baseline, the angle of
defense becomes even greater.
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Every defender should continue to force the ball handler towards the baseline
during every defensive possession. The offense must not even be allowed to
dribble towards the middle of the court near half. The only way the ball should
switch sides of the court should be through a pass or a missed shot.
On closeouts, the same principle applies. There should be no opportunities to
attack the middle of the court. Do not close out square to your opponent
because if they attack your lead foot, they may be able to beat you with a shot
fake. Close out at a sharp angle with your feet pointing towards the sideline and
your back to the middle of the court, once again preventing middle penetration.
Defending the Post
If an offensive player is influenced by his defender to drive sideline or towards
the baseline, the defender on the wing must be able to rely on their teammates
for help. This help will come from the low post defender. Regardless of where
the offensive post player is playing, the defender should be in a position to help
on a baseline drive.
The following figure lays out the various positions an offensive post player may
be and how the defending post should position in order to help the baseline
drive.
1. Strong Side High and Low Post
When the offensive post is on the same side of the court as the ball,
the defender should be playing their post principles to deter the
offense from directly entering the ball. The defender guarding the ball
will be forcing their opponent with the ball to drive towards the
baseline; when this happens the post defender (who will now be
between their man and the baseline) will open up to help this drive.
As the post enters to help, the trailing defender returns to his/her
man in hopes of a trap or to allow the post defender to return to
his/her man. In figure 2, we have set up two scenarios where the
strong side post help will come from. In scenario 1, the offensive post
in positioned at the high post. In scenario 2, the offensive post is
positioned in the lost post.
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2. Weak Side High and Low Post
If the offensive post is positioned on the weak side (opposite the ball)
the post defender is playing heavy on the help line. The closer the ball
comes to the baseline the more the post defender will be able to leak
away from the offensive post on the weak side block. When the
baseline drive happens, the post (Defender 5) should be able to help
by taking just one or two steps towards the attacking player (see
figures 3a and 3b).
Again as the post enters to help, the trailing defender returns to
his/her man in hopes of a trap or to allow the post defender to return
to his/her man.
Reminder: When the post comes to help on the baseline drive, they are not
entering the area just to stand there. As a defender they must come to help and
play defense while the wing defender catches up. Posts often try to simply
occupy space and stand straight up to avoid a foul. If done correctly, the
defensive post should be in the area well before a layup is happening. If the
offensive player stops to shoot, then challenge the pull up jumper, but again do
not draw a foul by trying to block the shot. Very few shot block attempts are
successful as they usually result in fouls.
Defending the Strong Side
The third major principle with this defense is that once an offensive player
begins to dribble towards the baseline and if there is an offensive player in the
strong side corner we must remain in a denial position. Sticking with our
principles, this defender is still one pass away so we do not help off this
opponent and allow a pass for an open shot. This concept may be new to some
players because the tendency would be to drop in and help from the corner. The
focus must be to remain on the offensive player. This should be reintegrated
early on when teaching this defense. Figures 4a and 4b demonstrate the strong
side wing (Defender 2) remaining in a denial position while the dribble
penetration occurs. This time we have the weak side high post coming to help.
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Defending the Weak Side
The weak side wing defender has a specific role within this system. When the
weak side Defender 3 drops down to the help line, they must also be aware of
where the post player is and set himself or herself in a denial position on top of
this offensive Player 5 (shown in figure 5a). This weak side Defender 3 will
rotate to guard the offensive post Player 5 when Defender 5 helps on the wing
dribble penetration. As this rotation happens the weak side Defender 3 must get
to the inside of the post Player 5 (see figure 5b). This will allow him/her to be in
position to deny a pass to the post or box out the post on a shot attempt.
If there is a skip pass, Defender 3 must hustle to get back to their man on the
wing (closing him/her out towards the baseline). If the defender is in trouble,
potentially being pinned by the offensive post, he/she must communicate this
to the defensive player defending the top of the court (Defender 4) to rotate to
the wing and cover his/her man. At this point, Defender 3, who called for the
help will rotate to the top and cover the new open man (see figures 6a and 6b).
Communication is critical here because if nobody communicates then an
opponent will likely be left for an open shot on the wing.
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Defending the Top
Just as the wing defender drops to cover the offensive low post player, the
defender from the top (Defender 4) will drop to cover any offensive post player
in the high post area (see figures 7a and 7b).
This top defender must also be very conscious of who is behind them. This may
prove difficult at times because he/she will likely have their back to the basket
and most of the play, however they must do their best to communicate with
his/her teammates to understand where the rest of the team is. This is
especially true when it comes to the weak side offensive players. Often times
they may interchange positions or screen away for one another. The two weak
side defenders must communicate about helping each other or switching
matchups as this movement happens. Switching the matchups will usually
depend on the skill levels of both the offensive and defensive players.
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My Man Went Middle, Now What?
In the event that middle penetration does occur, there are key points to consider
and focus on. The same rules apply in terms of help and recovery; however, the
situation must be looked at slightly different.
If we think about the rules we have in place for a baseline drive, we have the
strong side wing staying in a deny position (recall figures 4a and 4b), we have
the post defender coming to help the drive (recall figures 3a and 3b), and the
weak side wing dropping to help on the low post (recall figures 5a and 5b).
Now consider the rotations when middle penetration occurs in figure 8a. If
Defender 5 steps in to help, and the weak side wing (Defender 3), steps in to
take the post, because the offensive player has been able to get to the middle of
the court, the skip pass from before becomes a short pass out to the wing with
very little chance for the wing defender to recover from the post in time to
execute an effective closeout.
What should happen is similar to the principles discussed before, however we
must look at the strong and weak sides interchanging positions. In figure 8b, if
we think about the middle penetration, the ball is no longer on one side of the
court. As the player dribbles towards the middle, the strong side now becomes
the weak side and vice versa. Now, the new strong side (Defender 3) must
continue to deny their opponent while the new weak side (Defender 2) is able to
roll down to cover the post player if this post player drops to the opposite block
(figure 8c).
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Teaching:
When teaching/coaching this defense to teams, proper form and
positioning should be taught from day one to discourage players
starting any incorrect habits. Rather than teaching the entire
defense within one or two practices, try to break up the defensive
rotations and create mini drills that emphasize one or two key
components. As players develop a level of comfort with these
rotations, more can be added later.
Forcing the players towards the sideline/baseline is key to the
success of this system. One-on-One drills can be done early on to
teach and encourage players to force sideline. For example, award
one point to the offensive player who is able to penetrate to the
middle or one point to the defender who prevents middle
penetration. Two points can be awarded if the defender takes a
charge while protecting against middle penetration.
All closeouts should be done at an angle, which prevents the
middle drive. Because most coaches teach attacking the lead foot
of the defender, simply closing out to the middle of the offensive
player’s body is not enough as this may result in an attack of the
lead foot and a hard recovery for the defender. To avoid this,
closeouts must be done towards the inside hip of the offensive
player with his feet pointed towards the sideline. This will give the
defender a much better angle in which to successfully force their
opponent toward the sideline (see figure 9).
Communication is one of the major components of this entire
defense. Players must constantly be talking with one another. A
common mistake in teaching this point to players is to simply
make them yell “Ball! Help! or Deny!” While this is not wrong and
should be encouraged, coaches should remember to encourage
actual communication as well. Players should constantly be helping
each other with floor positioning, reassuring their help is in place,
and making sure they understand who their matchup is.
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This type of communication will enhance not only the court
awareness of the team, but also the trust in each other. While this
is an advanced form of team defense for some to grasp, teams
that master it will see greater team development and much better
individual development.
Adaptations: As this defense alone is an adaptation from the traditional Manto-Man Defense it can be changed or tweaked by coaches as they
see fit. When it comes to adaptations, each coach should use what
works best within their own team. Coaches may want to implement
this defensive style in full or in part based on the needs of your
own team. You may also want to expand on it, creating new rules
that benefit the playing style of their team.
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