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PostPosted: 06 Dec 2014, 14:50 

Posts: 4
Just coached my first 5th-6th grade basketball game. It was exciting, but a little frustrating. Not with the boys--I am very proud of them.

You see, we had a fairly basic read and react offense in place, but it begins with a pick and roll at the high post, which we could never get to because the other team met our guards at half court.

We overcame this "half-court press" by setting higher picks, but then our offensive scheme just fell apart. Does anyone out there have any plays designed to break the half-court press?

I have Bob Bidelow's Youth Basketball videos and his 72-Drill and 32-Play books, but I can't find anything to help with this particular problem.

Thanks in Advance!

Don C


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PostPosted: 06 Dec 2014, 19:13 

Posts: 157
Coach, were they trapping you at half-court or just picking you up at the Half-court line?


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PostPosted: 06 Dec 2014, 22:59 

Posts: 4
Just picking us up at the half-court line.


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PostPosted: 07 Dec 2014, 00:00 

Posts: 157
I always tell my point guards that when they are trying to get that far up on you and are that far away, then you DRIVE by them. Make an aggressive attack towards the basket. If he beats his man, he will either score (which is good :P) or the help will rotate to pick him up, in which case he can throw the entry pass.

The tougher part comes if the on-ball defender is good. You can try to shift to a two guard front and throw a pass across. Additionally, this takes a defender off the help-line and opens things up. Also, you can have the point guard dribble at your wing (depending on your set-up) and perform a dribble hand-off. This will invert the position of you point guard and wing, but it will be an alternative entry option if the defense at half-court is too good for your pg to beat off the dribble.

Just my thoughts.

Brian Sass


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PostPosted: 07 Dec 2014, 19:09 

Posts: 157
I would also add to what I have before that there are "moves-on-the-move" that can be worked on and executed with proper technique to get by a defender. Concentration should be given to the actual dribbles (crossover, shake, behind the back/ with either hand), but I found that an overlooked part of these moves is the footwork. Getting the lead foot across the defender is the key to beating them off the dribble. The moves themselves, while meant to cause hesitation by the defender, are more geared towards ball protection. Rarely does a good defender get completely "faked out" by a move. But a good guard should be able to get an edge (shoulder to shoulder) on his defender to beat him and get the entry pass initialized if he is being picked up at half-court.

Just felt the need to add that. Not sure why.

Brian Sass


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PostPosted: 08 Dec 2014, 07:56 

Posts: 11
Is it a half court zone press? For example, a 1-2-2 half court press with traps?

Here are some press breaker ideas against a zone press:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/offense/press-breaker.html

But if it's just man to man and they are trapping around half court, just have your PF keep the ball in the middle. If you have decent ball handlers, you should be able to beat a middle trap easily. That is a really bad place to trap and you should be able to get lay ups of they do that.


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PostPosted: 08 Dec 2014, 10:23 

Posts: 214
briansass wrote:
I would also add to what I have before that there are "moves-on-the-move" that can be worked on and executed with proper technique to get by a defender. Concentration should be given to the actual dribbles (crossover, shake, behind the back/ with either hand), but I found that an overlooked part of these moves is the footwork. Getting the lead foot across the defender is the key to beating them off the dribble. The moves themselves, while meant to cause hesitation by the defender, are more geared towards ball protection. Rarely does a good defender get completely "faked out" by a move. But a good guard should be able to get an edge (shoulder to shoulder) on his defender to beat him and get the entry pass initialized if he is being picked up at half-court.

Just felt the need to add that. Not sure why.

Brian Sass


You just hit it right on the head. If you can get kids to buy into the footwork of the attack, you're going to have a fun year. I'm working with our 5th grade girls on the idea of the lead foot. Some of them have it down, some it's a struggle. They want to fall back on old habits and take more of a sidestep in an attempt to dribble around the defender as opposed to through the defender.

My daughter is tall and skinny and has pretty good ballhandling ability. She amazes me the way she is able to create a drive out of nothing simply through footwork. Yesterday she drove baseline and I thought she was going out of bounds but she had "skinnied" her way past the defender with a nice step through on her drive. Her LOOOOONG legs probably don't hurt when it comes to driving to the hoop.


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PostPosted: 10 Dec 2014, 12:00 

Posts: 4
Thanks, guys. I do have one PG who can beat the press, especially with the help of a screen by our PF, but when our one and only ball handler is out, we're in trouble.

The footwork is something I hadn't thought about, and I will definitely work on it. The screen only works so long, so if we don't always need it, the better.

I've also come up with a play that posts my center on the defensive side of the half court line (a full-court press isn't allowed until the last 5 minutes of the game). He's passed the ball, and our two guards break for the basket from the left and from the right. The center either throws the ball over the half court press--really, more of a blockage--and we make them pay with a lay up, or if all of the defenders retreat, the center dribbles across the 10-second line until he is met by our PG to set up our regular offense.

What do you think? It works in practice...

Thanks again.

Don C


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PostPosted: 10 Dec 2014, 19:01 

Posts: 157
My thoughts....

It will probably work. That's not an issue.

But I think working on footwork is the bigger thing to work on. Moves-on-the-move. Getting the edge on an aggressive man to man defender and beat him.

These are skills that a player needs to perform competently if they are going to be successful when they get to high school. The plays will change. The skills necessary to turn plays into points will still be there.

Having one guard able to beat that pressure is good. Trying to make up for the shortcomings of your tertiary ball-handlers is understandable. But I would advise against merely solving the problem with a new play or scheme, but instead make sure the fundamental improvement is there to beat that pressure on their own.

Just my thoughts.

Brian Sass


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PostPosted: 11 Dec 2014, 11:10 

Posts: 4
Good point. I will work on them getting that foot and shoulder ahead of the defender. Thanks again. Don C


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