What is a good defense for stoping an outstanding guard that scores half of a team points?

What age group is this? I feel uncomfortable saying this IF this player is a young kid. IF you will give us a little more information and hes not young then I will give you some other ideas.

My first thoughts are to take him out of his comfort zone, make him do something he doesn't want to do. Fan him to a one side of the floor... that way you will have your help side defense ready and it takes half the court away from him.

Our frame of reference was to take him to the side line free throw line extended.. we really didn't care which way he went as long as we got him off the center line and to a side line. This way he is playing one against at the least three.

My philosophy was to "pick my own poison" -- meaning I was going to decide which player was going to have to beat us.

This is a high school player and thank you for your response. I was thinking of run two players at him and try to make him pass it to another and then denie him the ball back.

OK, that age player I don't mind going after... I will give you a few options.

The one you mentioned is something that I had done before... that can make his life tougher. Here are a few others.

1- When they are on defense set multiple screens on him... that will make him work a lot harder and should help hinder his offensive output. I love this one!

2- Run and Jump him to make him work harder.

3- We would zone press the other team - most coaches tell their players to PASS thru zone presses... once he gives up the ball - go m2m and DENY him the ball back. That works a lot easier than one might think.

4- Double team him every time he touches the ball until he gives it up and then go back to straight m2m (like you suggested)

5- Force him to a sideline and then baseline which should take away a few of his options - and if he drives baseline double team him.

Thoughts?

Great advice from a great coach!! Especially at the high school level. Always a learning experience for me Coach Sar, when I read your posts!!!

Now..if he really does score half of the team's points:

Do what a college team did against Stephen Curry last year. Throw a junk defense at him. They did a "tandem and three".

You've heard of:
box and one (used vs. one good player)
triangle and two (used against two good players)

Tandem and three is basically three defenders form a triangle zone around the paint area and two aggressive and quick players both guard one man. This would be used against a player who is simply sensational (Stephen Curry).

Another thing would be to try to get this player in foul trouble. If he drives alot step in the lane to draw the charge.
Even if you have to act or "flop", try to get that ref to blow the whistle. On the double-team, if this good player tries to split or step through the double team try to make contact and draw a charge.
Whoever this good player is guarding try to have that player drive on him, upfake, lean in and draw foul.

Good Luck Locking Him Up!!!

Coach A

Thanks for the kind words Coach A!! I enjoy your posts also... there are some good coaches in this group.

I had a lot of experiences and with the talent level waning at our school there were times I had to do some crazy stuff defensively.
I was out for dinner the other night with an X player and we discussed all the Ds we ran during his senior year.... When you have less talent you need to come up with a good game plan.....

I might add this also coach.... CONTROL THE TEMPO... don't let this kid get off on a big run - you don't have to score a 100 points... all you have to do is get one more than they do. :-)

I like your idea as well.

Tandem and three is basically three defenders form a triangle zone around the paint area and two aggressive and quick players both guard one man. This would be used against a player who is simply sensational (Stephen Curry).

Another thing would be to try to get this player in foul trouble. If he drives alot step in the lane to draw the charge.
Even if you have to act or "flop", try to get that ref to blow the whistle. On the double-team, if this good player tries to split or step through the double team try to make contact and draw a charge.
Whoever this good player is guarding try to have that player drive on him, upfake, lean in and draw foul.

The more you make this kid think... the more he has to think rather than react to the game. Change things up a lot so he has to think.

Good luck

Great stuff, coaches!

If the good player handles the ball, I've also seen teams take the player guarding the inbounder and deny the good player. Then, they take the normal defensive player and place him behind the offensive player. That way, it takes away the lob or deep pass and they can just pick him up if he somehow gets the ball. Or as Coach Sars mentioned, run and jump him if he gets the ball on the inbounds.

The tandem and 3 is an interesting concept. I wonder how effective it is. If I recall correctly, Davidson won that game by 30+ points, and the analysts were giving the opposing coach a lot of grief, because they thought he just used it as a ploy to say "I held Stephen Curry to under 10 points." It definitely might be worth a try if the team has nobody besides the star player.

Some coaches also say, let the good player get his, and we're going to make sure to shut down everybody else.

Thanks for all the good suggestions you have given me. How does the tandem and three rotation goes.