7 Tips For Stopping An Elite Guard

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Home > Coaching > Basketball Defensive Strategy > 7 Tips For Stopping An Elite Guard

Swish! Another jump shot hits nothing but net. A couple of plays later the same player drives the ball down the lane at will and nails a tough shot in the lane. A couple of plays later, the same thing happens except the same player now throws the perfect pass at the perfect time to a wide open player underneath the basket for a dunk. And each and every time this happens, it seems like a dagger is being driven into your team's heart. We've all probably played against this type of guard throughout our career at least once.

Well, I know it drives me crazy when it seems like if all I could do is contain this elite player, it would give me a chance to win. Because of this, I've given you seven tips that have helped me in the past. And I hope these tips will help you for the next time you face that elite guard.

Play Underneath - If he's a great dribble penetrator, but his outside shot is fairly weak, you may want to sag off of him and play underneath screens.
Pressure - If he's a great shooter, but ball-handling is not his expertise, you will want to pressure him and stay very close, so that he can't receive any easy passes or get any room to get off a shot.
Sag Off Until 1st Pass - If you run into an elite player who can do everything, he will be much more difficult to stop. One thing you can do is sag off until the first pass. When the elite player has the ball, you make that first pass really easy for him and as soon as that first pass is thrown, you deny the pass back to him all the time.
Deny the Player - You can also deny the player the ball from the start. The player guarding the inbounder completely denies the star player while the defensive player assigned to the star player is on the opposite side. If he were to catch the ball, you could have the player denying the pass sprint back to the person he was initially guarding. You could also use the player guarding the inbounder to instantly form a double team to try to force the star player to get rid of the ball.
Double Team - If this player is still destroying you, you could flash a double-team at him whenever he touches the ball. Different tactics include double team from the person closest to the ball, from the weakest offensive player, and from the offensive player's back are few that you could try.
Take Charges - If you are also playing great help defense, you can take a couple of charges. This will make the player think twice before penetrating, and he'll start settling for the tough, outside shots.
Study Tendencies - As you go up in the levels of basketball, it's important to study the player's tendencies. You should know what shots they make at a high percentage and what shots they miss at a high percentage. If the player is very good at driving right and scoring the ball, shade them to their left. If the player always hits the corner jump shot, make sure to stay close to them when they're near the corner. If they catch the ball with space, close out hard and force them to put it on the ground.

When Shane Battier guards Kobe Bryant, he knows he can't stop him, but he tries to force him to take low-percentage shots. By studying game-film and statistics, Battier knows that if he can force Kobe to take certain type of shots, it increases his team's chances of winning.

Overall, the biggest thing is to make sure that the defender is focused, staying in front of him, and keeping his feet. For the most part, if you've got a marginally quick defensive player, he can stay in front of the elite player, cause him to take tough shots, and contain his penetration.

What are your thoughts on this? Please add your comments below.

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Coach P says:
1/22/2017 at 10:45:01 PM

In a double elimination tournament we got beat by an elite guard on a last second 3 pointer after struggling to even get back in the game late because of her great play during the game.
We met them later in the championship game after winning our way out of the losers bracket. If she didn''t have the ball we denied her by having our players sit on her and block the passing lane. On the rare chance she got it we swarmed her to make her get rid of it.
Worked like a charm as she got too aggressive out of frustration and picked up offensive fouls so had to sit early. When she got back in we kept it up and the other players couldn''t muster enough offense without her handling the ball. We avenged the loss by winning the championship game.

Zachariah says:
8/6/2011 at 8:02:41 PM

Pretty good tips, i'll put them to use when i can.

jorge says:
8/5/2011 at 5:42:10 PM

use a similar tactic on a team with 2 elite guards. put in my best defender not starting and my best defender on the other. we played tips to the hips defense on both, they did not like it and therefore they were not concentrating on running offense so both tried to do it all, one at a time and both ended up getting offensive fouls then turn around on defense and played dirty so both got fouled out.
get players out of what they are used to doing and in their head, always works

Rod says:
7/30/2011 at 11:19:57 AM

Joe's technique works, but i also found that you can play shadow the same way. Put your speedster on the elite guard. slowing him down all the way.

if elite passes away, your guy now shadow's the elite everywhere.

i knew this was working for one team when i made one opposing coaches swear in front of his kids. (not good for the kids, but let me know my coaching was working)

The theory here is that the other team will probably have been given instructions to "get the ball to the playmaker", so the elite will be getting the ball back again. . . .but not anymore if he's always guarded.

Joe Haefner says:
7/30/2011 at 9:22:33 AM

Thanks for the input, coaches.

Coach Ted and Oz, I've approached opposing elite guards in a similar fashion and had success.

At the higher levels of basketball, coaches have used tactics where they put one of their weaker defenders in regards to team defense on the elite player. The coach tells the defender to put his nose in the offensive player's chest and never leave him. Don't worry about where the ball is at.

The theory is that if this weaker defender can do this, it allows his best defensive players to be in position to help. Also, if the defense is going to be playing 4v4, they'll need their best defenders, because there is more area to guard.

However, you have to make sure that your weak defender is athletic enough to stay in front of the offensive player.

Coach Ted says:
7/30/2011 at 4:13:34 AM

Great strategies. I coach youth basketball 10u, 11u & 12u. I think OZ hit it right on the head. Get your best defensive player to shut the elite guard down or at least limit their touches. The defensive player does have to watch his fouls but it usually creates enough of a distraction to make a difference.
I know from my sons experience. He plays as an elite guard and when a great defender is on him, it slows him down. Our counter attack to a great defensive player is good ball movement and work the defender into foul trouble.

Oz says:
7/29/2011 at 11:54:03 PM

Thanks!! These are great help. Studying tendencies is our approach and making our attack plan SIMPLE for all of our players is key.
We identify the elite player as a "RED". One thing we do at our level (high school varsity girls) is assign our best 1 v 1 defender who is not necessarily one of our best offensive players
to guard the elite player. She DOES NOT get off and help when on the weak side or when they attack the basket with the elite player just one pass away from the penetration. Make some one else beat us off the dribble. In other words, limit the number of touches by the elite player. Maybe even frustrate the "star".

Sean says:
7/28/2011 at 7:22:34 PM

Good tips. I was scorched by an elite guard recently. I used a few of these and was burnt, a couple of these others tips would have been handy for our team... I will be sharing with the squad...

jayson says:
7/28/2011 at 10:04:56 AM

These tips are exactly what i've been working with my group 6th graders on this summer. i'm not great at basketball strategy, but i do understand these principles. we have our last summer practice tonite, so i plan to take a copy of these tips for their review. thanks for the info... it helps for them to hear it from others

Marc says:
7/28/2011 at 5:18:53 AM

I think these are quite good tips, but I prefer to take a full court pressure if the guard is really skilled, denying the player from the in bounce pass to avoid that he takes the ball upcourt and organises the teammates. Making a combination of yor tips, it will be possible to force the opponents coach to sit down his elite guard and take into the game the 2nd guard of a team. I think it's the best option, take him out of the game, (maybe fouling him out too). Thanks for those tips and your great work in general :D

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