(Ideas) On defending the dribble-drive offense

On defending the dribble-drive offense

by rick olivares

While watching Taiwan play the Philippines last night in the William Jones Cup opener, I thought that they were in shambles defensively. I don't think they are too disciplined defensively and rely on their bigs like Quincy Jones and Tsing Wen-Ting to crowd the lane. They had moments but I thought their huge third period rally was also due to poor execution by the Philippines.

The offense is a thinking man's game and you need smart players to run it. To defend it, you need to even be smarter.

How does one defend the dribble-drive offense especially one run by the best point guard in Asia -- Jayson Castro?

First of all, these are ideas and not hard and fast rules by a coach. I have been doing my own studying of the game (watching a lot of games and practices of teams who run this). These are merely my observations.

You apply a lot of pressure on the ball handler. Make him cough up that ball and use up a lot of that shot clock count. To do that you need someone with the speed, size and strength to match up against Castro. I don't think Taiwan had that.

If you can be physical as what the referees will allow, do so. Bump here and there but not too much. Just enough to throw the opposing guard off his rhythm.

Defensive players have to switch off on every hand off and provide help defense. Every player must recognize not only where his man is but also the movement of opposing players. The idea of the dribble drive is to attack, create space, and find the open man. 

Play some zone. A 2-3 zone maybe even a 3-2 zone with the perimeter moving around like a shield will provide immediate protection from the drive.

When the ball is swung to one side, try to pressure the offensive team into keeping the ball there as opposed to moving it around. As the shot clock winds down, they will probably not take the best shot available. 

Having a very good rim protector helps too. Some one like Hamed Haddadi. 

Of course, it is all easier said that done. Am curious how Korea will play the Philippines knowing what they know.

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ADDITIONAL READING:

On the Philippines' win over Taiwan