 1 on 1 with help Purpose: This is an excellent multipurpose drill. It teaches on-ball defenders to pressure the ball aggressively while forcing the ballhandler to the sideline. It teaches help defenders to step out of the key to help on penetration. For young players, the value of help defense is reinforced through the message that playing 2 on 1 (in the sense that the on-ball defender always has help available) is much more difficult to score against than playing 1 on 1 with no help. Players learn to pressure the ball while also containing the ball. This drill is also excellent at developing consistent defensive communication between teammates. |
 Organization: Players form 3 lines across half court. The front player in the middle line has a ball. Procedure: 1. Player begin the drill like a 3 man weave. 1 passes to 2, who is cutting towards the middle of the floor. 1 follows his pass, stopping just past half court near the sideline. 2. 2 passes to 3, who is cutting across the court towards 1. After passing, 2 follows his pass and goes into the key. 3. 3 passes to 1 and steps up to defend 1. |
 4. 1 attempts to make a scoring move. 3 defends, influencing 1 to the sideline. If 3 gets beat in either direction, 2 steps out of the paint to help. 5. Play continues until a player makes a shot. If 1 misses his shot or turns the ball over, the player who secures the rebound (or steal) dribbles out to the perimeter and the other 2 players communicate, with one player defending the ball (calling “I’ve got ball!”!) and the other defender getting into help position (calling “I’ve got help!”). 6. There should never be two defenders on the ball. Instead, one player defends the ball while the other establishes help position in the key. This requires excellent communication and adjustment |
 Coaching Points: 1. help defenders should look to help early, before the offensive players able to get into the paint for shot. When helping, defensive players should establish their feet outside of the key with arms fully extended, standing “number to number” with the offensive player. 2. On-ball defenders should work to keep the ball on one side of the floor, discouraging penetration to the middle, while containing the dribble (don’t get beat). |
 The defender influences his man toward the sideline by splitting the defender with the back foot. We want to keep the ball on the side where we we have established our help defense 3 can pressure the ballhandler knowing that he has support from 2. (2 is emulating help position – the shaded 2 on the wing represents an imaginary matchup – the coach can stand still in this position during the drill in order to give help defenders more of a game feel.)The help defender holds his position as long as the ball is being contained – we don’t want to over-commit by helping when it isn’t needed and forgetting about our assigned matchup. |
 If there is no shot, play continues with one on-ball defender and one help defender. 3 would yell “I got Help!” on the shift into help position. |
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 We try to provide early help outside of the paint on drives to the middle as well. |
 Play continues until a basket is scored. If the emphasis is on defense and communication, , the coach can have players If the emphasis is on rebounding, the coach can allow players to go for the |
 Defenders continue to communicate: 3 yells “ball”, and influences towards the sideline 1 yells “Help” and assumes an open stance with vision of the weak side. When a basket is scored, all 3 players step off the floor and the next group of 3 begins. Offensively, this drill emulates game conditions by forcing the offense to conserve motion to focus on the scoring move rather than just focusing on beating his man 1 on 1. Players can develop recognition on when to drive to the basket and when to respond to help with a pull-up jump-shot. fundamentals of man to man defense, teaching defensive communication |
