Teaching Defense via 3-on-3 SSGs

More and more coaches are making 3-on-3 a staple of their basketball practices, and for good reason. Increased reps, more space to experiment, fewer factors to pay attention to for coaches (which can lead to improved feedback), and ability to focus on specific parts of your offensive and defensive systems are just a few of the reasons to incorporate these small-sided games (SSGs) into your regular routines.

Here are 2 examples of how we use 3-on-3 SSGs to improve our players’ decision making and play on the defensive end…

Help and Rotate

No matter how great your players become as individual defenders guarding the basketball, chances are your team will be in a help and rotate situation multiple times over the course of a game. Knowing when to give help, how to rotate, and how to neutralize the “falling dominos” are key to guarding today’s offenses.

Defending the Break

As teams up their pace of play, being able to stop the ball in transition, organize, then defend in the half court has become increasingly important. Attack 33 (i.e., “Blood Drills”) are great at combining all those aspects into one drill. We like to start with the 3-on-3 version then build to 4-on-4 and ultimately 5-on-5.

Additional Resources

If you’re looking to incorporate more SSGs into your practices, check out my resources from CoachTube.com.

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