I think Ben Franklin was right when he coached his first basketball team that “a point saved is a point won.” When it comes to scoring, a point you save from being scored by your opponent is just as valuable as a point you score. These ideas, strategies, tips and techniques are to prevent your players from giving away baskets that they should be making or to prevent your opponent from scoring avoidable points. Most of these ideas can be executed at any level of basketball, and they are all useful for the championship. equipment

I haven’t seen any statistics, but I would say that about 75% of all basketball games are decided by less than 10 points. I consider it a solid loss when a team loses by double digits. Working from that premise leads me to believe that turning 4 plays over the course of a game (3 2-point possessions and 1 3-point possession) could change the outcome of most games.

As a coach, I believed that it was imperative for me to develop a system of play that did not waste possessions and that it was also essential for me to teach the game in a way that our players understood and believed in the 4 possession difference.

The tricky part was that no one knew before the game or during the game which of those four possessions would be the swing possessions for that game. It wasn’t hard for any of our coaches or players to conclude that we couldn’t waste any possessions by deviating from our game system or game plan. Also, we felt that the more we could do to plan ahead and prepare for what happened in the game as “little things” and then ended up being one of those 4 swing possessions, the better off we’d be.

Below is a list of some of those types of plays and how we believe they should be handled.

#1 Always keep the ball towards your team’s basket. And if you can’t just land out of bounds so you can set up your defense. At best, one of your players could beat the other team and score an easy basket, but at worst, you’ll have a chance to set up your defense if the other team recovers the ball or goes out of bounds. under your basket. Both of these scenarios are much better than giving your opponent a good start in a scrambled situation and trying to defend that. The save it in your basket is also applied in the 10 second line. If one of your players is trying to prevent a ball from going over and back and can’t shoot it into the paint at the end of their baskets, all they are doing is fueling the opponents fast break by saving it 10 feet from the half court line. #2 The cardinal rule for this situation is NEVER EVER save the ball under the opponent’s basket.

The best way to get additional possessions, regardless of the pace at which you play, is #3 takes the last photo of each quarter. At best you could end up with 4 extra possessions if you play quarters and 2 extra possessions if you play halves. Obviously, the score will determine your strategy at the end of the game, but that is a topic for another article. We all see games where the coach is up at the end of the quarter or half holding up a finger. For me, that should never be necessary. You should have practiced and practiced when you will start holding for the last shot (30 seconds, 25, whatever makes the most sense for your team each year) and what the last shot play will be. The only exception would be free throws if you are fouled, or an open uncontested layup or power shot. That could be something that changes each game, a different play at the end of each quarter, or I’ve seen very successful programs that ran the same play at the end of each quarter (with various options of course). You also need to decide what you will do if the other team decides to take the last shot before you get the ball. Will you play it right, catch to speed them up on a quick shot or force a turnover, or wait patiently and concede the last shot? The final decision you have to make is when to start your play (12 seconds left, 10 seconds left, etc…) and when you want the shot to come. I liked 5 seconds in the first three quarters because that gives you time for an offensive rebound, but if the defense rebounds, they’re not going to call timeout for a shot and if they do, it’s a full-court shot. . For the final shot of a game, I liked to shoot at 3 seconds, plenty of time for a setback, and if the defense bounces, there’s not enough time to make a good shot, even with a timeout.

When you take the last shot of the quarter, work your players over and over again in practice. # 4 not to look at the clock and to #5 Don’t try to beat the clock with the shot. I know, I know, it sounds crazy at first, but what’s the point of looking at the clock other than slowing them down and distracting their attention? beat the clock? My next question is: have you ever seen an official count a shot that didn’t go in? So if none of those rush shots go in, it never makes a difference to the game. However, I have seen shots that went in, but were actually after the horn counted in the frenzy at the end of the period. I’d rather have the player score and get discarded so late than hit an alligator blade shot that never goes in. It’s also human nature to think you have less time in pressure situations than you really do. So by having your players slow down and score, they’re actually going at the speed they really need to be anyway.

Check out next week’s article for five more ideas.