ATTACKING THE ZONE

by

NATHAN LIVESAY

At some point in every season you are faced with attacking a zone defense. It may be a team that relies on it as a primary defense or it may be a coach trying to change the momentum of a game. Too often this causes your players to become tentative and suddenly your team becomes very inefficient on offense.

I believe that attacking a zone requires as much mental execution as it does physical. Your players must understand how to be aggressive in attacking the zone in order to get the shots that you want instead of simply settling for the contested jump shot the zone is trying to force. Our philosophy is to attack the zone with a series of set plays and continuity offenses that utiilize the following zone offense principles:

(1) Get good shots

This is a given, but you must make sure that your players understand the difference betwen the shot you want and the first open shot the zone allows. We stress getting the ball inside through post feeds and penetration instead of relying on the perimeter shot to beat the zone.

(2) Make someone guard you on the perimeter

Catch the ball in a scoring position and be ready to make a play with the basketball. On every catch you should be in position to shoot, drive, or pass. Use shot fakes and ball fakes to move the defenders.

(3) Use the dribble to attach the gaps

Probably the most single effective tactic for attacking the zone is to make two defenders guard one offensive player by attacking the gaps in the zone. Players must be under control and be able to find the open man when the second defender commits.

(4) Make the extra pass

This is the difference between a good shot and a great shot. Once you make the defense start to scramble your players must recognize when making one more pass will get a teammate a better shot than the one they have.

(5) Attack from behind the zone

In our offensive sets we attack the back of the zone in two ways. We look for every opportunity to get the ball into the short corner. When the ball gets into the short corner it almost always creates a great scoring opportunity from the short corner or on the next pass from the short corner. The other way we attack the back of the zone is to screeen the back of the zone for three-point shots or lob opportunities.

(6) Use sets to distort the zone

With your initial set you can force the zone to shift in order to defend overloads. This forces defenders out of their comfort zone and creates confusion as to what each individual defender is responsible for. This is often a great way to get a quick shot against a zone in special situations.

(7) Screen the zone

We screen both the interior and exterior of the zone. Zones are not made to handle screens and for us screening the zone has created easy opportunities for jump shots, drives, lobs, and post feeds.

(8) Attach the glass

Because block out responsibilities in the zone are not cleaarly defined, we find that there are many opportunities to score on offensive rebounds. Offensive rebounds often lead to easy baskets or trips to the free-throw line and these are essential in atacking a zone defense.

Article reprinted from BASKETBALL SENSE, the magazine for winning coaches. To subscribe, email: info@basketballsense.com.