Basketball Defense - Defending the 10 Most Popular Offensive Actions in Basketball

Former national high school coach of the year Frank Allocco had a long history of success taking two California high schools to state championships and winning nearly 87 percent of his games. He went on to coach at the University of San Francisco where he continued his man-to-man pressure defense. In this basketball defense video, Coach Allocco will show you the strategies that helped his teams hold opponents to an average of just 38 points a game. You’ll see everything from footwork to communication giving you everything you need to defend the 10 most common screen actions in basketball.

Basketball Defense Breakdown Drills

Teaching how to defend the screen is difficult, but it is a must if you are going to be successful on defense. Coach Allocco uses a series of 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 breakdown drills to show you how to neutralize the most common offensive actions.

• Ball Screens: Players learn to communicate to hedge ball screens and fight over the top
• Pass and Cut: Learn to eliminate easy layups by jumping to the ball and beating screens
• Flare Screens: Coach Allocco shows you two variations of this drill that will challenge your defenders to fight through flare screens to cover shooters
• Wheel Cuts: This drill can be built up to teach players to defend screen-the-screener actions that use wheel cuts, down screens, and back screens
• Dribble Drive: Teach players to fight through dribble handoffs and contain dribble penetration with great on-ball defense and help
• UCLA Cut: Prepare players to fight through consecutive screening actions by fighting through UCLA cuts, down screens, and back screens
• Flex Action: Use 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 to teach players to defend the combined action of flex screens and down screens
• America’s Play: Prevent post players from getting good position by teaching players how to defend cross screens and down screens
• Single Double Screens: This 4-on-4 drill teaches players to deal with what is known as “Floppy” at the NBA level by helping them get “up the shoot” versus single screens and how to use the same concept against staggered double screens
• High-Low Action: Learn to use proper positioning and toughness to deter flashes to the high post and take away duck-ins from teams that have good post players

Basketball Defense Communication

For Coach Allocco, winning was more than just having a great strategy. One of the keys to his defense was constant communication so that players were in sync on every possession. Players also must feel an obligation to their teammates to carry out their role and now allow breakdowns. Throughout the drills, Coach Allocco emphasizes this communication to ensure the defense is ready to defend anything an offense can throw at it. Rent this basketball defense DVD today.