Home Defence Team Canada Women

Defensively, we want to work as hard as we possibly can, WE do not want to give up an inch of space, if we do, that means two inches that we have to regain!

WE want to dominate our assignments and make them so tired and frustrated, that their body language is telling us that they have given up!!

We as Coaches, want to make sure YOU understand that while there are far more offensive statistics than there are defensive statistics, DEFENCE is the KEY to winning games, and it starts by not allowing any points in the KEY!!!

Defence is the unsung AND often the lack of congratulation, underappreciated hard work done by people who don’t make the stats package. Think about it, the person who STOPS the chair and forces their assignment into throwing a bad pass that is ultimately intercepted by a HAWKER. The chair stopper does not get the credited STEAL in the stats!! WHAT?? No; it was the person who caught the ball. And while that is great as well because they were playing fundamental positioning on our Press, the main reason we got that steal was because of the stopped chair! WE as a TEAM have to change that narrative and celebrate all of our commitment to that process. Take it a step further, and it may very well be that one or two other people on the floor had their assignments locked down taking away the thought of the ball handler passing to them which forced her into making the bad pass! So now we have others involved in the play and they didn’t get stat sheet credit either! But they will hopefully get Coach and teammate credit when we realize that this is a TEAM sport where we LITERALLY have to have each others backs!

I know I am long winded, but hopefully you get my point, cause if you do, it will turn into POINTS at the other end.

So do we love defence? A steal, a drawn foul by sacrificing yourself to take that charge, a call of HELP early when you know you are going to get beat, a call of SHOT or BOX OUT in the last few seconds of close game so we get that rebound that if we did not hear that call, may not have even looked for the ball, the call of PASS so that we can deflect that pass with the tiniest deflection of our out stretched hand that takes AWAY an easy scoring opportunity away from our opponent and either bounces out of bounds or into our teammates hands. Hustling back to break up an easy 2 on 1 energizes the team, those are the type of commitments it takes to WIN! If you want to be a monk, maybe team sports are not for you. But if we want to WIN, WE have to COMMUNICATE!

Communication is NOT negotiable; it is a must.

I AM HERE TO WIN, WHO IS WITH US?

Like our pressing document, this is a working, living document; if you feel you have insight or improvements, by all means, communicate that to us, we ALL need to get better.

Our home defence of a 2-1-2 is what we will be in unless otherwise advised.

I feel the Tea Cup, against fast and strong teams, is broken down in a matter of seconds and leaves our ENTIRE KEY exposed to lay-ups! We have to tighten this up and limit the lay-ups. Therefore, we want to set up that 1-2 back end of triangle portion of the 2-1-2 as fast as possible.

The zone or home defence is like the third and last chunk of our press but it is usually longer, a 15 second chunk in the front court.

Our zone is designed to not give up easy shots within 8-10 feet of the hoop, take away the inside game and to protect against offensive rebounds. A Zone defence is the time where threat identification is extremely important and that we lock in and stay on especially their #1 and #2 threats. Make them find someone else to shoot the ball in the last few seconds of the shot clock. In crunch time, most teams have trouble doing that. So if the #1 threat has the ball with 8 seconds left on the shot clock, DO NOT sag off this person, maintain chair contact and take away the “thought” of them getting the ball back if they passed it off!!! Those top “2” players in the 2-1-2 are critical to being aggressive on defence!

Our 2-1-2 Defence is going to be an aggressive defence. As I have already stated, defences are lineup dependant and opposition dependant. So to start this HOME defence, we will have a 1 “hard” press and we will tell you to be either on the ball or a certain player. It is almost inevitable that that person will get back picked. Well that means the opposition now has 2 players out of transition, which slows up their opportunity to set up their offence. This single person on the press is going to work so hard and will be rewarded with nothing but admiration by the coaches and teammates. That person is willing to give themselves up for the benefit of the team. This person will not be trying to steal the ball, but just make sure they touch the ball to get the shot clock rolling, be a pest to a top threat, or maybe even be that pest to a picker sealer specialist like #12 from Brazil. This lone person will be checking her shoulders, looking for picks, slipping the pick and maybe, just maybe, with their hustle, draw some offensive fouls. What we don’t want is this person to pick up those types of fouls in transition. Don’t get rammy with your chairs, or get even when you get hooked and don’t get a foul call, suck it up and keep pushing. Do NOT show anger, frustration or being tired. That will be YOUR message to the opponent that you are not going to quit and you will be relentless. It will not show up in any stat sheet, it will show up in appreciation and innate satisfaction that you pushed hard. That your training took over and you got the job done.

While the 1 hard is doing their work in the back court, the other 4 have sprinted home and set up into a 1-1-2 temporary ZONE. Honestly, we are not a tall team, but we are Tenacious and with Juice and Kady primarily playing in the middle of the key (9 position in the number system) we have two of the best rebounders in the world. With such rebounding ability, we don’t see why we would use them anywhere else. That middle 9 position is critical as it has the responsibility of covering the middle, (9) the baseline (5) and (7) as well as challenging the top seals at (4) and (6) the elbows.

The remaining 3 players will be lineup dependant, but would look like Cindy playing a baseline side where the power might be coming from and Didi on the other baseline side. Our awesome 1 and 1.5 ‘s will be providing the support at the top two positions in the 2-1-2. In the 2 4.5 line-up, Kady will be in the middle (9) and Juice would be that baseline side guarding the opponents power side.

That is the initial set up. The 2-1-2 starts out with a single person press, until that person gets back into the front court and will be welcomed HOME to the defence. It is now that it will be a true 2-1-2 defence for the last chunks of the possession. Threat identification is the main focus; we Can’t lose track of where the top threats are.

Stop their chairs, switch into their path, don’t let them square up. Dominate with our chair skills. Don’t try to block shots, change shots. The worst foul I can think of is being on the opposite side of players shooting hand and trying to block their shot. Most times they get off a good shot and we get a foul called against us. But when you are on the same side as the shooting hand, that is where you can change the shot, especially if you are in a height mismatch. If you are on the reverse side of that, being the shorter person, you are NOT going to change the shot, so play your hand straight up or leave them on your wheels to box out. When you don’t reach, you also take the whistle out of the referee’s mouth as there is nothing to call.

We must keep in mind the entire time, if someone does get into 9, that really there is not a lot the four people not guarding that threat can do to the shooter, so OUR BOX OUT MENTALITY must come into place, look around for people crashing the boards and keep them out. (Think back to the drill in the Netherlands, that is exactly what we want you to do, LIMIT offensive rebounds.

The people in top pairing of the 2-1-2 will be very active, you will be jumping or pressuring, which is threat dependant, and communicating what you are doing and who you are covering. If you follow a #1 threat out to the 3-point line and there is 5 seconds left on the shot clock, don’t leave that threat so the pass does not come back to them. Those top two players in the Zone will be hustling the entire time and patrolling the top of the key, they will be backed up by the person in the middle of the key, as they will be able to reach all four corners of the key in one or two pushes.

We will also look at jumping from low (5 and 7) on certain threats. Most people are right handed shots so if they are on the 7 side, a jump from low makes a lot of sense as we are immediately on their shooting hand. That may be our quickest route to get out there. We can especially jump from low on either side if the person setting the screen or in the pick and roll is the 4th or 5th threats. Usually they might be shorter and they will run into Kady or Juice who are controlling and patrolling the (9) key. Jumping from low is an aggressive defence and requires us to get out fast, communicate we are jumping and then get back into the defence as soon as you have taken the shooter out of their position and made they go up high to the elbow, we then switch off with that person. Since the person covering the (9) key area is basically the help position, the weak side players must be aware of their side as well and grind chairs and not allow the pick and roll and low or top seals. Most likely you will be covering a 3 and 4 threat.

The purpose of this zone is to not give up easy shots from the key (9) and take away layups.

FOUNDATIONS OF THE 2-1-2 ZONE DEFENSE

1. Commit to getting “HOME”. Dead ball means go therefore do not allow the offensive team to get set up in our end or even worse, give up a fast break because we decided not hustle back. Read their offensive strategyand analyze what they are doing, if they are back picking us, let others know and maybe we can help get you back by crossing in DEFENSIVE TRANSITION.

2. Establish the chair position on your opponent; you dictate where YOU want them to go. It is called tactile defence, if you can’t feel their chair, then you are not close enough. When you can feel their chair, you know you have good wheel overlap and that allows you to check your shoulders, survey the floor and possibly provide HELP if needed. Because that is what WE do on Defence, we have each other’s backs. And when we do HELP or switch, we take that split second to communicate that during the play or at a dead ball. “awesome switch” “thanks for having my back” “great box out”

3. Play the percentages. An inside shot has a way higher percentage than the outside shot, so keep them from getting inside and don’t chase a lower threat and leave the paint exposed.

4. Don’t Reach We cannot stress this enough, reaching in is a lazy foul. Many times it is because you got beat off the dribble and rather than use your excellent chair skills, you reach, hook their chair or catch them on the arm. What we want you to do is get on those wheels and beat them to where they are going. You might give up a foot of space, but you will still have them covered with good wheel position.

5. Lock down chairs and keep an eye on their hands, many times it tells you the direction of their next push.

6. Avoid the picks and sealers by checking your shoulders and basically, just wanting it more than they do. Don’t give up if picked out or sealed, call HELP and hustle back in another way to the key. That different direction you took to get the key may often take you into the path of a different opponent who you can they BOX OUT. Grind those pickers and sealers so they can’t do their job efficiently.

7. Communicate your switches early and know when to call it off if you have regained wheel overlap.

8. Communicate whether you are JUMPING, PRESSURE, SAG, L Defence. Communicate the SHOT, PASS AND BOX OUT.

9. Avoiding fouls 45 – 90 feet from the hoop now allows you to take the smart fouls where the baskets are scored. This is usually a foul that stops a scoring opportunity, a layup, a post up shot, a pick and roll. Outside shots should be changed and contested, not going for a block which usually ends up being a foul.

10. Like in the press, if you can’t handle your assignment, be honest about and fix it.

11. Keep identifying where the top threats are on the floor and WHO they are. Especially when subs occur, a #3 threat could be elevated to the #2 threat etc. So communicating their numbers in order from 1 -3 threats is constant and consistent. Simply say 14 -15 – 6!

12. COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY COMPONENT TO A SUCCESSFUL DEFENCE!

2-1-2 Zone situations

➢ Other team is able to break our press and is getting lay-ups

➢ We will pretty much be in a 1 hard pressing situation in the game where we will have at least 1 person up to cover a main threat, cover an important player on their offence like a “sealer” or even it is to stop them from rolling the ball up the floor giving them extra seconds to run their offence!

➢ The other team is taller than us so we want to prevent an inside presence.

➢ The other team is not a great outside shooting team

➢ A 1 hard press where 1 or 2 people, whomever might be closest to the assignment, stays with them full court. The other four players drop back into a box or a 1-3 triangle or triangle if just 3 players to defend the key.

Set-up

We will go over this on the ZOOM call.

Objectives of the 2-1-2 Zone Defense

o Stop lay-ups

o Stop points in the paint

o Eliminate easy shots from 8-10 feet from the hoop

o The longer the #1#2 threats or point guard is defended, the more successful the defense

o Boxing OUT is critical. WE control the boards; we take away second chance opportunities.

PITFALLS of the 2-1-2 Zone Defense:

o Potential to give opponents momentum when they hit the outside shots with a high percentage through ball movement

o 3 pointers are an option for the opponent

o Lower threats may be left unguarded for easy layups

o Our intensity on Defence might go down

Other things to consider:

1. Does the #1 threat have superior chair skills?

2. Does the offense get high percentage shots without their #1 threat contributing?

3. Is a run going on during our time in the zone?

4. Are we achieving the desired zone outcomes?

Bowesy

October 2023