Chapter 3 - The Pressure Man-For-Man

Each player must be conditioned to change quickly from offense to defense. This mental trick must be learned before any kind of defense can become operative. Defense is a state of mind. It can be passive, active, weak-kneed, indefinite, or masculine and aggressive. To perform offensive skills properly, an athlete must be relaxed and confident. To execute defensive skills properly, he must be the very antithesis of relaxation. He must be tense, coiled, and aggressive. He must be in a fighting frame of mind. He must be combative. This switching mentally from offense to defense requires time and experience. The difficult task is turning back to relaxed movement for offense. Most athletes can get themselves in a fighting frame of mind. In the case of football, they have no need to change that mood during the course of the game. Basketball requires the athlete to play a mental game of hop scotch if he is to reach his potential on offense and on defense. Experience and time will help the young athlete develop this ability.

Defense begins as soon as the ball is lost. The player does not wait until he gets to the other end of the floor to begin to think about defense. He begins to think defense at that very instant. Unless he has been given the task of cutting the outlet pass (to stop an opponent's fast break), his first thought is to reach the other end of the floor as fast as he can run. This run is known as the defensive fast break.

Some teams are known as fast-break (offensive) teams; others are considered to be slow-break teams. Every good basketball team in the nation fast-breaks. They fast break, to the defensive end of the floor. This break should not be a trot or jog. It must be a full speed run. While the defensive player is executing his fast break he is looking up to spot his opponent. Some opponents are very obliging. They will always go into the pivot area or into a certain corner each time. This makes recognition very simple. Other players are not so obliging. You never know where these men will line up. That is why it is necessary to be skilled and alert at spotting quickly the number and face of an opponent. As soon as you have spotted your man, determine his relationship to the ball. Is he hi position to receive and score quickly? Can you reach him in time to defend your basket? Can you help a teammate who is momentarily in trouble?

As soon as you spot your opponent, go to him and assume a defensive stance, a defensive expression, and a defensive attitude. Let him know by your stance, expression, and attitude that you have come to hook up with him completely and without equivocation as long as his team possesses the ball. Let him know that as far as you are concerned, your life depends on stopping him. Let him know that in order to score he is going to have to break every bone in your body.

In playing the half-court press man-for-man, your first objective is to prevent the opponent from receiving the ball. Get an arm and, if possible, part of your body between your opponent and the ball. Block his vision if possible. Body check his movement to receive every time you can. That is, stay in front of him and check his break with your body. In general, make a real nuisance of yourself even though your man has not received. You have won nine-tenths of the battle with your man if you keep him from receiving. The only thing left to do is block out when the ball goes up on the boards.

Fig. 1

This diagram will illustrate overplay. This skill is a trade mark of the more advanced defensive teams and players. The diagram shows a defensive forward overplaying a corner. True, the offensive man may break down the baseline and receive for a lay-up. The defensive man is alert for just such an emergency. He has his left arm out in front (blocking the vision) of his opponent.  He has his baseline foot (right) back. He is low with the weight of his body rearward. If that offensive man cannot receive, he must come out farther to receive. If the defensive man makes his opponent receive only two steps higher than normal, he is in command of the situation. If his opponent breaks the baseline and doesn't get the ball, the offensive pattern is disrupted.

Fig. 2

This diagram offers one illustration of body checking. This offensive maneuver may be run as a set play or as part of a pattern. It is typical of the many offensive moves your defense will see a number of times during the course of a season. Note the weak side guard who is body checking his buddy's man while waiting for his own man to make his move. When his man makes his move he will pick him up and step in front of him if possible. Never miss an opportunity to body check. It slows up the opposition. It frustrates them and causes loss of that all-important poise. It disrupts timing of patterns and plays. It is also fun when the entire team begins to take pride in not allowing the opposition the freedom of movement.

Fig. 3

If your opponent is bringing the ball down the court, slow his progress without over committing or gambling. Do not allow him to breeze across center line and penetrate the critical shooting area without trouble. He is then free to execute fakes, changes of pace, direction, etc. Slow him up and stop him. Guide him in a direction he doesn't want to go. Be obtuse and stubborn. If he wants to go to the sideline, take him to the middle. If he wants to go to the middle, take him to the sideline. Take charge of him. Don't let him take charge of you.

If the ball handler is allowed to penetrate the critical shooting area, you no longer have a press going. Each of your four teammates is forced to "loosen" up on his man. This ground giving or "cushioning" spells disaster for the press.

Fig. 4

Note that the defensive player picked his man up just before he reached center line. There is something about the ten-second line that makes offensive players nervous. Pick them up just before they reach that line and they hesitate enough quite often for the defensive man to take charge. This defensive player has overplayed the dribbler and forced him to a halt high and near the sideline. The offensive man is in the worst possible position to run a pattern or to pass effectively.

To play a dribbler from a standing position is quite different from picking up the dribbler who is already moving. If your man does receive (which you don't want to allow, if possible), you are still not out of the game. Get your stance and get tight enough that he cannot score over you. Then anticipate what his next move will be. Decide the shortest route to the goal. Block that route with an overplay.  Show him the longest route.  Overplay the danger route so that he is forced to take the least favorable of the routes to the goal. Never allow the potential driver to go where he wants to go. Make him go where you want him to go. Having given him only one choice you are left free to play that direction much more forcefully. Don't allow him to reach his destination. Slow him up, make him deviate, harass him, annoy him. Anticipate his drive. Make him get tangled up in your feet, legs, and arms with his dribble. If you can do this successfully one time early in the game, it may be enough to frustrate him for the evening.

Fig. 5

This defensive man has cut off the baseline drive completely with half the width of his body. The driver is left with no driving room unless he goes toward the free throw line. It would appear to be wide open. This is not true. Since the defensive man has purposely left it open he is free to react quickly in that direction. He may force the dribbler so high that he will actually be above the head of the circle. This is not dangerous territory for a corner man. He may force the driver into a defensive post man. He may force him into a charging penalty.

When guarding a driver who has the intention of rubbing you off on a stationary screen, go over the top of the screen if at all possible. If you go behind the screen, the driver may stop and shoot while you are blocked by the screener. You also run the risk that he will reverse directions and catch you off balance for just such a move.

Fig. 6

To get over the top with him, you must force him a bit higher and wider than he actually wants to go. If allowed to go directly to his destination, you will be forced behind the screener. Overplay a bit and using aggressive tactics, make room for your body between the dribbler and the screener.

Fig. 7

When guarding a cutter, your first aim is to prevent him from receiving the ball. If he receives at all, don't allow it to happen in the pivot area. Beat him to his destination if he runs the same route often enough for you to anticipate. By overplaying the cut you are vulnerable to a change of direction and might find your man shooting a lay-up if you don't keep your eyes on him. Your overplay has to be determined by the angle of the cut, distance of the ball from the opponent, and speed of you and your opponent. Any time it is possible, keep part of your body and one arm between your man and the ball. Body check him if you can. Be sure you don't hook or hold when body checking. However, there is nothing in the rule book which says you have to move just because an offensive player wants to pass through the spot you happen to be standing on. Here is an illustration showing how to play a cut that occurs often and is familiar during the season.

When you are guarding a cutter and he attempts to rub you off on a screen, go over the top with him if he is about to receive and behind it if there is no danger. A cutter is much more agile than a dribbler for the obvious reason that he is unencumbered with the ball. That is why we think it best to go behind screens if possible when you are guarding a cutter. Always keep your body between the ball and your man in deciding which side of a screen to pass.

Fig. 8

The diagram just above shows the defensive man going behind a screen because it is the most direct route for interception of the cutter. The diagram (See Fig. 9) shows the defensive man going over the top because he can keep his body between the man and the ball.

Fig. 9

To defend the post area well, each team member should be drilled the same way. If no one but your center or post man practices guarding in the post area, he is the only one that will be able to defend well in that spot. Normally, he should be the most skilled defensive post man but not the only one. Since every defensive man will end up playing a man in the pivotal area at one time or another, each man should drill in that position.

Again, the first objective is to prevent your opponent from receiving in that area. If an offensive man receives in a 15-foot radius of the basket, with his back to the goal, not having dribbled, with many fakes at his disposal, he definitely has an advantage over the defense. If he does receive in that area get your legs bent and your arms high. The arms should be higher than normal and closer than normal to the offensive player's vision. Do not allow the opponent to raise you up. Be sure to keep the legs bent.

If you straighten up, he has only a one step drive for lay-up. Fix your vision on his belt and work your arms more than usual. He already has you at a disadvantage; don't enhance that advantage by straightening up. It is far better for him to shoot a short jump shot than a short lay-up.

Faking is not a weapon totally reserved for the offensive players. It can be employed to great advantage by the defensive man. Fake at the ball. Fake at his face with your hand. Fake to intercept his pass. Fake to let him by, then body check. Fake to body check, step back, then body check. It is a weapon employed all too rarely by defensive men. Some defensive men simply assume faking is for the sole use of the man in possession of the ball.

Some athletes are naturally "pepper pot" type individuals. These individuals should be encouraged to exploit this trait to fullest advantage while playing defensive basketball. The silent type must be encouraged to talk enough to warn of screens, call switches, etc. Some offensive players are easily frustrated by a talking guard. There seems to be little doubt that many contests in all sports have been decided by talking. Some athletes can talk you out of a game. Talk to your opponent about the weather, his girl friend, his region or state, anything to get his mind off basketball. Anything, of course, that is not profane or bigoted. Anything that would fall in the realm of poor sportsmanship might inspire the opponent to greater effort.

Talking serves another purpose. It stimulates your teammates. It lifts them to greater efforts. It discourages the opposition and detracts from any signals they might be trying to use. It is good to call signals with them, if they are the type of team that uses verbal signals for any purpose. For instance, some teams call numbers for an out-of-bounds play. Every one of your men should give a signal, too. It might prevent them from getting their own signal and might possibly cause them some disunity.

To use pressure man-for-man effectively, every chance to double-team the opposition should be utilized. The double team should take place when two offensive players cross, involving the ball on a lateral criss-cross maneuver. The ball is far enough from the basket that no immediate threat is great. A double team can be attempted and the defense will still be able to recoup if they miss on the double team.

Fig. 10

Double team with the use of the post man when cutters move by for hand-off passes. The post man may step in front of the receiver and the defensive man already on the receiver will form a very difficult situation for the offensive man. The corner of the floor of any half court is a good place to double team. The sidelines provide a third and even a fourth man for aid in the double team effort.

Fig. 11

The diagram (See Fig. 10) shows a double team situation with two offensive men crossing in front of the goal and moving laterally. The diagram (See Fig. 12) shows the places on the floor that are especially conducive to effective double teaming. The "X" marks in the corner indicate that these are the best places on the floor to harass the opposition. Once the double team is initiated, the two defensive men should move in tight and get their own feet as close to each other as possible forming a pen for the offensive player to escape. They should wave their arms vigorously and continuously in windmill fashion. The ball handler should be forced to throw the ball high if at all. Each of the other three defensive players should be especially alert for the interception. They should anticipate the place or places where the ball handler may pass the ball. Every passing opportunity should be cut off from the man being double teamed. The two men double teaming should not try to steal the ball. Their main task is to force the ball handler into throwing the ball high so it can be intercepted.

Full court pressure is exerted using the same principles that are used for half court pressure. The greatest difference lies in the fact that the offense is met with pressure long before it gets to center line. There also should be more overplay of each individual who is a potential receiver.

Fig. 12

The defensive guards can double team the guard who is in bounds and ready to receive. They can play their men normally and attempt to get the double team situation later while putting a great deal of pressure on the passer trying to get the ball in bounds.

Fig. 13

Each defensive player up court should attempt to play in such a position that they could intercept a long pass. More gambling may be permitted in the back court since the defensive man has almost 94 feet in which to recover to a more advantageous spot if he over-commits.

Pendulum Pressure

This pressure defense is used on a half court basis. It works most effectively against pattern teams. It requires a strenuous overplay of the two nearest men to the ball. This overplay creates a gap into which the ball handler is forced. When he enters the gap he is momentarily double teamed while all other offensive players are harassed as much as possible.

Fig. 14

Note the obvious driving room down the middle for the left guard. When he starts his drive, it is cut off by the defensive right guard. The defensive forwards immediately apply pressure by use of the overplay. The defensive post man makes every effort to prevent his man from receiving. If any of these men receive, the pendulum of overplay must swing so that the two nearest potential receivers are shut off completely. The nearest defensive man will stop the driver when he starts through the gap thus created.

If the offensive right guard breaks, the defensive right guard will go with him after stopping the dribbler. Fig. 16 —on page 52—shows how the pendulum would swing if the defensive right guard should allow his man to receive.

Fig. 17 is a pendulum swing if the offensive forward should receive. Note that the defensive left guard must be alert to stop the dribbler if he starts toward the free throw line. He must also prevent his man from receiving, thus giving the harassed ball handler an outlet.

Fig. 15

Fig. 16

Fig. 17

The overplay on the other side of the floor would be the same as that shown here for the left side. Every effort should be made to prevent a penetration of the ball to the post man. If the pivot man does receive, each defensive player should drop off to a normal position until the ball goes back to one of the periphery men. Then the pendulum action can be initiated again (See Fig. 18).

When a defensive assignment is made, the coach should appeal strongly to the individual's pride. For instance, Jimmy Jones is assigned to guard John Smith. Jimmy's job is to thwart John from scoring. If he can do this successfully, he remains in the game.  If he cannot, he does not remain in the game. He should not expect to remain in the game. Pressure man-for-man is as simple as that. You can whip your man or he can whip you. Any athlete who is really athletic by nature, upbringing, and attitude will have enough pride to fight his heart out under such circumstances, with this challenge ringing in his ears. If a boy does not have this pride he is wasting his time in the combative world of athletics.

Fig.  18

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