Saturday, December 20, 2008

LEARN TO RECOGNIZE THE OBVIOUS

One of the most telling statistics in basketball is FTA (free throws attempted).  Good teams are aggressive, stretch the defense, and are hard to guard.  According to the statistics, the more you get to the line, the better chance you have to win. 

How can we easily score more points?  Shoot more free throws than our opponents.

There are two ways to shoot more free throws than our opponent.  The first is obvious…foul less than they do! 

You have to have a "no foul" mentality.  Most of our fouls are from reaching, grabbing or just being too aggressive rather than playing good position.  Simply by playing smarter, reducing the use of hands, you will foul much less.  Every foul you commit hurts your team and helps your opponent.

The second way is by putting more pressure on the defense by getting the ball to the basket.  By driving to the basket, getting the ball to the post, and taking shots closer to the basket, you will get fouled more often and shoot more free throws.

If we work to get just five more free throws a game and we limit our opponent to five less per game; the math is obvious.  I’ll take the five extra points for us, and five less for them any day. 

I challenge each of you to take a good look at the free throw situation and make some changes for our next few games.   Getting to the line more often (and finishing) is a major key to winning.

4:13

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