How To Defend Out Of Bounds
Situations and Plays

It is something that few teams practice, feeling it does not deserve much attention. It is one of those little details that go unnoticed yet it can decide not only the outcome of a game, but the direction of a season. Defending the ball out-of-bounds is one of those little things that could separate good teams from bad teams.

I have had discussions with coaches who say, "When the ball is out-of-bounds under the basket, we'll just go to a 2-3 zone." Those are guys who I would love to schedule. I don't know many out-of-bounds plays that cannot take advantage of a 2-3 zone defense.

A major thrust of our out-of-bounds plays is the fact that we want to score on every play. We do not practice offense not to score and out-of-bounds plays are a part of our offense. If we can score one basket per half off of an out-of-bounds play, we feel that we have a great advantage over our opponent. Just think what position your team would be in if you had an extra 4, 5 or 6 points (depending on the shots you get) from 1 basket per half. That does not take into account the possibility of foul shots as well.

Conversely, if your intention is to score out of an out-of-bounds play, why would you not make it a priority to prevent your opponent from scoring on them?

Look at the big picture. Teams with poor won-loss records usually also have negative point differential ratios. When you look at those statistics, you realize that a huge majority of teams with bad records have point differentials that are less than 2 possessions. If your team has a differential of up to -6 ppg, that equals 2 possessions. So as you are evaluating how to make up those 6 points by improving your foul shooting, altering offenses, etc., see how many times you have allowed your opponent to score on an out-of-bounds play. Make that adjustment, you might see some games turn around.

When we defend out-of-bounds, like everything else, we have a few simple rules.

First, defend the basket for the inbounds pass.

We position the ball defender such that our opponent cannot make a direct pass to the basket from out of bounds.

Here, X1 is guarding the ball out of bounds. He steps back at an angle to prevent the ball being passed directly under the basket.
Defensive position while guarding the inbounder.
Second, switch all up screens.

Many successful out-of-bounds plays have a screen-the-screener action. At least one of those screens comes from the baseline up. We switch all the screens that originate from the baseline. This helps us defend multiple screens and defend the basket. It also helps us accomplish one of our basic defensive principles where we like to keep our post defenders in the post and our perimeter defenders on the perimeter.
Here, O5 up screens for O2. X5 and X2 switch.
New positioning for X5 and X2.
Now, O4 screens for O5 (screening the screener).

X4 and X2 Switch.
Third, when the play attempts to pin your wing defenders for a shot in the corner, defend the corner with the defender off the ball.

I think that when the ball is anywhere else on the perimeter, we can let out basic defensive principles take over but when the opponent tries to pin the wing defender for a corner shot, it is a very difficult situation to defend. I like to switch out with the ball defender. He is rarely screened and it is easy to get to the ball without exposing the basket.
Here, O4 screens to pin X5 to prevent him from moving to the corner/ O2 cuts to the corner for an open shot
X1 is unscreened so he switches out to the corner to play the shooter.

The middle is protected by X4 and X5.

Each out-of-bounds play takes its own adjustments, however, I have had great success in preventing score on inbound plays by starting with these rules as a basis.


Recommended eBooks:

60 Baseline Out of Bounds (BLOB) Scoring Plays
In this eBook you will get 60 inbound "scoring plays." The purpose of each play is to SCORE! We have compiled the best plays and advice we could find to help you score more points and get the advantage in BLOB situations.

The baseline out of bounds play is a play that happens a lot in a game. By being really good at both executing and defending BLOB plays, it can literally result in a 16 point swing for your team! (more info)


To view coaching products from Don Kelbick, go to Don Kelbick Products.

For more information on Don Kelbick, go to www.DonKelbickBasketball.com.


What do you think? Let us know by leaving your comments, suggestions, and questions...



Comments

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Rick says:
2/9/2011 at 3:30:19 AM

I have gone hoarse over years from yelling "Protect the Basket" to my youth teams over the years (new draft every year, rarely the same player twice).

This is one of my pet peeves!



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Jay Kreutzberger says:
2/9/2011 at 7:56:50 AM

I coach a high school varsity team in NY and we automatically play a 2-3 zone against BLOB plays. We practice it regularly in our Situations segment of practice.

The concern when playing a BLOB play is that the screener can roll back ("shape up" to the ball) after the screen on switches. So, if you do play man, you have to teach your players that when they get screened, they have to fight (or roll) to get inside position.

In addition, the ball defender in your tutorial may not be getting screened, but he still has to get around his teammate and the screener to get to the corner.

At the high school level, teams are always looking to get the corner 3-pt shot and we have always had better success defending the corner jumper with a forward in the bottom of our 2-3 zone.

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Eli says:
2/9/2011 at 9:10:40 AM

You say you don''t believe in playing a 2-3 zone on BLOB''s but in actuality you are playing a 2-3 zone when you look at your diagram and the way you have your D set up in the example ...its basically a 2-3 zone setup

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Mike says:
12/8/2015 at 3:30:24 AM

It looks that way because the offense is set up in a box formation.

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Ron says:
2/9/2011 at 9:34:17 AM

I have a question, and it relates to youth teams (middle school and lower). We have somewhat limited practice time (2 hrs per week) and fundamentals have to be priority, so I was looking for a baseline out-of-bounds (OOB) defensive philosophy that was quick to teach and somewhat effective.

What we do is have the ball defender under the basket just as you described. His job is to defend the basket and yell "ball!" when the ball is thrown in. If it is near a defender he yells the defenders name.

I tell the other players to play "butt to the ball" and stay between their man and the basket and watch the eyes of who they are guarding. I also tell them to try and watch the ball as well (peripherally). This has led to quite a few turnovers and 5 second calls in our favor. It also forces the inbounder to throw more lob passes which are easier to steal, as the defenders are often between the ball and man.

My question is, "is this good for long term development?" I don't try to coach just to win games and I want to make sure this strategy isn't detrimental for the boys.

I ask because I haven't seen other teams doing this, although I have seen a couple college teams doing something similar.

Thanks,
Ron

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Joejoe says:
2/14/2016 at 5:52:32 AM

Butt to the ball and watching the offensive players eyes is not good for long term development

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Mike Zavada says:
2/9/2011 at 9:37:26 AM

Coach,

I saw a clinic this fall with Chattanooga''s Coach John Shulman. He had a whole 30 minute segment on defending the ob under. He treats like a pressure trap situation trying to force turnovers. Also, if you force a turnover the chances of an easy basket are increased since there most likely will be little defense back (especially for teams that go with the popular 1-4 spread ob against the zone to flatten it).

Also, Bruce Pearls really aggressive teams at UWM and early at Tennessee were great also at forcing turnovers on the ob under.

Which brings up the question, why do really successful coaches that got successful being really aggressive defensively like Pearl and Billy Donovan get so conservative with their defenses after success. Seems like it makes them less successful.

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Mike says:
2/9/2011 at 11:56:50 AM

Putting X1 where you have him in order to defend against the screen-the-screener plays is perfect. The first rule on inbound plays is "No layups." But you can't ask X1 to protect the middle and still be responsible to race out and protect on the wing shot by O2 -- especially if there is no one contesting that inbound pass and X1 has to fight through X5 and O4. There simply is no time for X1 to get there. You have to let X2 follow O2 in order to contest that inbound pass and shot. If you have X2 stay on the elbow, you're simply playing 2-3 zone -- and not very effectively.

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Alex says:
2/19/2011 at 6:26:15 AM

Thank you

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Trevor says:
2/22/2011 at 9:24:43 AM

Yeah, it makes no sense for x2 not to follow O2, no one is screening X2 so why would you have X1 run the whole baseline to contest a shot he will have already taken

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Ariel says:
3/12/2011 at 8:32:20 AM

Obviously, the move of X1 to the corner is to deny any foul-line entry/offensive move or front-rim play by O5, off a lob pass by O1 or off a quick (but risky) bounce pass by O2 from the corner. X2 is an intimidating presence at the elbow - for a quick offensive transition and denial of any offensive move by O3 and O5. X1 I believe must be quicker than X2 to be able to succeed in giving O2 the scare and needed defensive distraction.

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Luke says:
6/22/2013 at 1:58:53 PM

Great information and diagrams.

Any resources or articles on defending sideline out of bounds?

Thanks,

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