Beating the Half-Court and Three-Quarter-Court Press/Trap | Extreme Basketball Skills

Home Curriculum at a Glance Opinion Resources About Us Subscribe

Search... Search
Beating the Half-Court and Three-Quarter-Court
Press/Trap
Prep boys basketball in Colorado a
fundamentally flawed game (Denver Summary: Beat the trap by attacking the weakness of the trappers themselves their need for ease
Post, Mar. 6, 2011) of movement.

...But [coaches] all agree the lost art of If you review the suggestions on the web for beating a or -court press or trap (Ill just call it a trap
basketball at the prep level begins with the going forward), the suggestions always involve an elaborate series of moves and passes. The best
basics, which too often aren't being taught defensive teams make their living by baiting the offense and then stealing the resulting pass for an easy
well enough or are simply ignored... You'd and demoralizing lay-up.

be surprised at how many kids don't have

[basic skills]," longtime East boys coach
Rudy Carey said... Mostly gone are the days
when a player works on specifics of his or
her game in the offseason and comes to a
new season a more well-rounded player...
Videos & Opinion
Heres a revolutionary idea: beat a trapping defense by striking where they are weakest restrict
their freedom of movement!
Lets take a look at the business-end of a typical trap. It involves three members of the defense, one
positioned along the midline of the court and the other two arranged on either side between the midline
and the sideline. In the case of a -court trap they will be arranged along the near free throw line with
the middle defender a little further forward. In the case of a -court trap, they will be arrayed between
the 3-point and half-court lines.

Fundamentals
Ball Handling
Inflating a Basketball
Physical Skills
Athletic Stance
Breathing
Excercising
Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps
Core Muscles
Quadriceps and Hamstrings
Jumping
Running
Shoe Maintenance The goal of the trap is literally to trap the offensive player against the sideline (in the case of a -court
Stretching trap, the -court line as well), force that player to pick up their dribble, and under the pressure of a 10-
Warming Up second violation or 5-second violation, make a bad pass or produce a held ball.
Thinking Skills
To trap the dribbler, the middle defender directs the dribbler toward one sideline or the other. Their
Attitude
teammate on that side prevents forward progress and the weak-side defender looks for a bad pass over
Leadership
the top or to the side of the trap.
Individual Skills
General Individual Skills In order for the trap to be successful its critical that the trappers be able to move easily and redirect the
Boxing-out dribbler.
Offensive Skills
Dribbling The technique I propose is to prevent the trap from directing traffic and turn them into to a set of
Inside-out and Push-pull Dribbles stationary pillars like toll booths. The offense simply drives around or between the pillars no passing
Low Dribble necessary and, of course, no tolls.

http://extremebballskills.com/beating-the-half-court-and-three-quarter-court-presstrap/[2017-01-15, 9:03:39 PM]

Beating the Half-Court and Three-Quarter-Court Press/Trap | Extreme Basketball Skills

Power Dribble
Spin Dribble
V-Dribble
Movement With the Ball
Protecting the Ball
Pivoting
Rip Moves
Triple-threat Position
Movement Without the Ball
Cutting
Passing and Catching When looking at the three trappers (D3, D1, D2), think of them as defining four lanes two inside lanes
Catching the Basketball (marked A) and two outside lanes (marked B).
Chest and Bounce Passes
Overhead and Step-around Passes
Shooting
Basic Shooting Technique
Low Post Moves
Drop Step
Modified Shooting for
Smaller/Younger Players
Power Layup
Opinion
Team Skills
Man-to-man Offense
Pick and Roll
Zone Defense
Basics of Zone Defense
Uncategorized

Three members of the offense (O3, O4, O2), set up behind the trappers. They will key on the movement
of the three trappers.

As the ball is brought up the middle of the court, O4 watches the direction that D1 moves and then
screens to the opposite side. The dribbler can influence the direction of D1 by cheating to one side of
the middle.

O2 screens to the same side as O4 and O3 screens in the opposite direction of O4.

http://extremebballskills.com/beating-the-half-court-and-three-quarter-court-presstrap/[2017-01-15, 9:03:39 PM]

Beating the Half-Court and Three-Quarter-Court Press/Trap | Extreme Basketball Skills

This creates a safe inner lane between O4 and O3. A simple cross-over and explosive dribble takes O1
up this lane. O3, O4, and O2 then roll after O1.

The immediateresult is a 5-on-2 advantage for the offensive team.

If D3 responds the next time by cheating toward the middle of the court, O3 responds by simply
screening to the outside of D3. This opens up a safe outer lane between O3 and the sideline. As earlier,
O3, O4, and O2 roll with the dribbler and create a 5-on-2 advantage for the offense.

http://extremebballskills.com/beating-the-half-court-and-three-quarter-court-presstrap/[2017-01-15, 9:03:39 PM]

Beating the Half-Court and Three-Quarter-Court Press/Trap | Extreme Basketball Skills

Since the outside lanes are further away, they take longer to get to and get through. As a result, the
defender should be cheating in fairly far before choosing to screen them on the outside. Note that the
dribblers path is decided by his teammates who are screening the trappers, not by the dribbler himself.

The dribbler needs to ensure that the team has sufficient time to set up and read the movement of the
trappers. So the dribbler should take his time coming up the court.

At no point did anyone try to force a pass over or through the trap. The entire time the ball stayed in the
hands of your best dribbler. Before long, the trappers will be paying more attention to where the screen
is coming from and less to the dribbler.

The concept works exactly the same way at -court as it does at -court.

Link to this post!

<a href="http://extremebballskills.com/beating-the-half-court-and-three-quarter-court-presstrap/">Beating the Half-Court and Three-Quarter-Court Press/Trap</a>

Share this:

Copyright Extreme Basketball Skills. All Rights Reserved. About Arras WordPress Theme

http://extremebballskills.com/beating-the-half-court-and-three-quarter-court-presstrap/[2017-01-15, 9:03:39 PM]