Defensive Basketball Tips

Series Summary

Basketball, b-ball, hoops—these are all names for one of the most popular games in America. Whether it’s professional play in the NBA, college games, the local high school team, a friendly round of one-on-one, or an outdoor street game at the playground court, basketball is exciting and fast-paced, pitting player against player and skill against skill. Having strong fundamentals like dribbling, passing, and shooting is the key to the success of any aspiring player or team. Though flashy dunks, trick shots, and off the wall dribbling antics are fun to watch and have their place, they often create a “superstar” mentality that ultimately hurts the team if not put in check. What makes basketball great is the combination of individual talent and team strategy, ultimately producing a match that’s sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.

In this free sports video series, learn how to play the game of basketball. Our expert, Kini Knox, will coach you in some of those ever-important fundamentals of the defensive part of the game. Get tips on how to stretch and warm up properly, how to defend full and half court and how to use distraction as a defense as well. Use the techniques in these videos and improve your game today, whether you’re a beginner or intermediate basketball player.

Video Transcript

"Okay this is the defensive overview now, I will show you what I showed you in the defensive drills as far as proper position, proper stance, your basic techniques, as far as keeping your back straight, body low to the ground, hands out. All these rules apply to all parts of the game, so if you have a person throwing the ball, inbounding the play and you are guarding the person inbounding the pass. You want to be on them denying everybody on the court the ball, keep your hands up, you want to stand up straight if they are inbounding the ball, stand up straight and as tall as possible, make yourself as tall and big as possible to distract them. So you can use that, it is kind of like "on the ball defense", where you are here and when they picked up the ball, you jumped up the same as when they are inbounding the ball, still "on the ball defense". Just make yourself as big, tall and wide as possible. Another thing like we said the "ball denial defense" and always remember your stance and your footwork. When I showed you the "shuffle" you can use that to deny as well. Shuffling, to deny your opponent the ball, ok, and it is important to stay in between the person passing the ball and the person you are guarding, always. Always stay in between them and do not let them have a clear view of the goal either, always be aware the goal is, the basket so you will know where that is and where your player is and where their teammates are because if you lose track of either one you can get lost. So proper "on the ball defense" we will review, you start here, low, knees bent, be able to touch the ground, back straight, head up, when the ball is picked up, jump, make yourself big as possible. "Off the ball defense", we are in the "denial stance" denial, or denial, denial, keeping them from getting the ball and that is the "defensive overview". The main thing is keeping your body low and your feet wide and quick feet movement, you got to have real quick feet on defense."