Youth Basketball Defense: Stopping a Fast Break

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Sean Hobson, and what we're talking about right now is the proper fundamental and the proper techniques to playing good defense. What we're going to show right here is when you're in a transition set, and you find yourself in a one on two situation defensively, if you're the first man back on defense, and you have two guys that are attacking you offensively, we're going to show you how that you need to stop the ball first, and then adjust to the defense. What we're going to do right now, is we're just going to kind of walk through the procedure. First of all, if he's a defensive guy, and he finds himself close to where the ball is, he's not necessarily going to pick the ball up right here, because that guy's going to go down and score. What he needs to do as a defensive player, is he needs to run up ahead to about where the three point line is, then he needs to turn and find the ball, and this is what we call "stopping the ball." So, as the offense is coming, he needs to first show to the ball, but not necessarily, he doesn't come up and attack the ball, because if he comes up and attacks the ball, he's going to make the pass to this ball, he's going to go in for an uncontested layup. What this guy wants to do is he wants to get in a good fundamental defensive stance, and he wants to show that he sees the ball, and that he's going to stop the ball. Then he also has to know where this defender is. So, hopefully when he plays this guy, he's going to pull up and then when he goes to make the pass, that's when he's going to adjust, and drop back on this guy. Now, hopefully if he's done his job, and he's done a good job of stopping the ball, and a good job of holding this guy up, then hopefully, his teammates will get back and help him, once the ball swings back to the point, his other defensive guys will be down here to help him. But, the main thing is against transition, in a fast break, you first have to stop the ball, you can't let this guy drive all the way to the basket, and then you've got to adjust and try to, you know, get in on the second pass, as well. So, that's how you play defense against the transition."