It is critical that a ball handler be able to beat one man, and beating one man doesn’t necessarily mean scoring on that man. “The basis of good playmaking is the ability to engage a second defender.” If you can never beat one man, then the defense never has to bring another man over to help stop you. So it becomes almost impossible to E2 if you can’t even beat one man. A good ball handler can always beat one man, not necessarily so for a good dribbler.
Example: 1 on 1 driveway basketball.
The way most people play driveway 1 on 1 is nothing like the way it happens in a real game against good competition. It usually starts with a check and it usually takes forever before they make their move. And then it almost always starts with some P-Dribbles (and more p-dribs) using the entire width of the court (driveway) sometimes there is a bunch a slow reverse dribbles, and it takes them forever to get their shot off. In a real game against a good team, you don’t have the time or space to do any of those things! Against good competition, you are always going to have a limited amount of space and a limited amount of time to beat your man.
So how do you beat your man (1 on 1) when you have a limited amount of space and a limited amount of time?
1 on 1 Techniques
Techniques are the grand equalizer in basketball. You can be going up against a defender that is bigger and quicker and faster than you are, but if you have good technique, good fundamentals, often times you can still beat that person.
#1 The BEST way to become a better 1 on 1 player is to become a better shooter. Why do you think that is true? Because when you can shoot, people have to come up and play you. When people have to come up to guard you (get close to you) it becomes easier to go around them.
The Lady Lions defense has been successful against bigger & stronger teams because most of those teams didn’t have good shooters, which means that we could back off and clog the paint and we were happy to give up 20% shots. And because we could back off and give a little bit of cushion, we could still close out to stop penetration into the lane.
But the people that are hard to guard are the people that not only are explosive and get by you, but are also the ones that can shoot. Because when you become a better shooter, you instantly become a better 1 on 1 player because defenders have to come up on you and it makes it easier to get by a defender. Also, being a good shooter means that any little fake will have your defender running at you. Your fakes become much more effective when you have a reputation of being a good shooter.
#2 MOVE ‘EM Whenever you are at a disadvantage, let’s say against a defender that bigger than you and quicker than you, you’re not going to beat that defender until you move them. That means you must make some type of violent abrupt faking action that unbalances that defender (to the left/right/back) in some way. When you are playing against somebody that is just as good as you are or better, you just can’t catch the ball and go into your move and hope it works.
Most players HOPE their move works. And if you’re playing against your little sister it might work, but against good defenders, you don’t want to base your game on HOPE. Abrupt fakes work real well in real games because most players aren’t use to seeing real fakes in real games. You must accomplish two things when you Move ‘Em: #1 Force the defense to make a decision. Are they going to stay in one place, move to the right, move to the left, back up? #2 Always fake for an advantage and be ready to Make ‘Em pay. What if you fake and they buy it, but you weren't ready to react to their movement? It was a wasted opportunity that the defender will probably not be fooled by again.
#3 MAKE ‘EM PAY After you move ‘em, you make em pay for whatever choice they made. You unbalance them and make them pay.
Key point – you have to stay low both in your fake and in your move. The only way to make an explosive move is if you are low!!!
Key Point – beating your man 1 on 1 is NOT about going around them. It is about going past them. (sweep step)
Common Sense Tip – Learn to be explosive using both hands. Doesn’t it make sense that you will be TWICE as dangerous if you learn to use both hands? But very few players spend any amount of time working on that simple fundamental. HUGE payback in practice time invested with just that one skill.
#4 Learn to make your move (or attack your man) within 1 second and with 1 dribble.
Time factor – against a good team, your best window of opportunity of successfully attacking that defense is the first-second after catching the pass. Because every time the ball moves, the defense has to adjust. Meaning your man has got to go from playing off the ball D to playing on ball D. Every man on the defense has to adjust on every pass. Your best window of opportunity is when everybody is adjusting to their new positions.
Meaning you have to be able to catch the ball in attack mode (DANGEROUS) you can’t catch the ball and then get ready. That won’t work against good teams. If you are slow to “go”, then you are allowing not only your man to recover, but the other 4 defenders are now able to recover as well.
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