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OFFENSIVE BASKETBALL PLAYS - DEFENSIVE BASKETBALL PLAYS 

Practices Define the Attitude Of Your Team.

Why do we run basketball plays?  To score?  To get players open for high percentage shots?  Most basketball coaches/players think of offense when it comes to basketball plays.  But defensive basketball plays can be devastating.  A full court press is the most obvious defensive play.  Basketball coaches use different defenses for different teams during different times of a game depending on match ups.  Defensive plays are designed to take advantage of defensive strengths and offensive weaknesses; intelligent defensive basketball plays force the ball into the hands of the weakest offensive players by overplaying stronger players; intelligent defensive basketball plays force the ball to different areas on the court; intelligent defensive basketball plays can force bad shots and insure an 80% success rate of pulling down the rebound and initiating fast breaks.  Well designed defenses initiate an offense and actually dictate the first offensive option. 

Like offense, defensive basketball plays must be planned two, three, and four steps ahead - like a chess match.  Designing defensive basketball plays is more difficult than designing offensive basketball plays but much more rewarding and exciting.  Successful defensive basketball plays really fire a team up and devastate the opposition.  Defensive basketball plays exploit weak links in the offense and create mismatches (mismatches can be created on both ends of the court).  Mismatches force mistakes.  Forced mistakes cause turn overs.  Forced mistakes get players open for high percentage shots.
 
The simplest way to get players open under the basket or on a clear path to the basket is with a give and go basketball play.  A perfect transition play from a forced turn over.  John Stockton and Carl Malone of the Utah Jazz scored thousands of points running this precise give and go play in the NBA.  Everybody on the court knew they were going to run the play yet the defense was unable to prevent them from scoring on this give and go the most basic of basketball plays.  Dare them to stop you.  I watch many younger basketball players from 8 to 18 play basketball and seldom do I see a give and go run.  Frankly it doesn't make any sense.  Little league coaches, grade school coaches, high school coaches, AAU and college coaches spend too much time complicating this game of basketball.  Elaborate plays seldom work and shouldn't even be run if the players can't run a simple give and go or understand the simple pick and roll.  That's like learning to shoot free throws before learning to shoot lay ups. 

When your team is very comfortable integrating the pick and roll with the give and go you will have accomplished the following: Your team will be shooting lay-ups on most of your offensive half-court plays.  During the flow of the game your team's offense will be on auto-pilot while you watch them improvise their way through the opposition's defense.  Since you're not relying solely on jump shooters and elaborate plays to provide offense you will find you can substitute at will without losing effectiveness, thereby keeping fresh legs on the court at all times.

Experiment with your practice basketball drills.  Design multiple basketball drills teaching the same things differently, always keeping game conditions in mind.  The more game situations you can replicate in practice the more smoothly your basketball plays will run in a game.  Practices define the attitude of a team. 
This attitude becomes ingrained in the hearts and minds of your players and becomes the definition of the team's games.  Players and teams play what and how they practice.  Practices become learned behaviors exhibited on the basketball court.