Teamwork beats any press

Hope everyone is enjoying the game video from Sunday (below, previous post). (I've reposted the videos and they are all "normal" sized now, still in HD.)

For now, check out this snippet of video I shot of one of Southside's games on Sunday afternoon. When they send their big man (Canton) to the bench, they like to press out of their man-to-man defense with the five smaller guys. Nothing special. The point guard dribbles up the sideline and a second defender leaves his man to trap right past midcourt. Simple and effective against ballhandlers with bad habits.

Notice that the Blazers did just about everything a team could possibly do wrong against such light pressure:

1. Jumped to pass over a trap, giving the back defender an extra second to time an easy steal

2. Sent high, soft lobs over the middle, easily intercepted

3. Drove into the paint without a plan — whether to use a post move or dribble back out — and wound up with a traveling violation

It was a comedy of errors that could've been corrected and prevented.

A. When there's a sideline trap, the smart thing to do is dribble away from the trap area. A second teammate should always be parallel to the point guard as a "safety valve".

B. If you see a trap coming, immediately decide whether to drive around the second trapper, or retreat with a dribble to create separation and space. (We'll work on this at practice.)

C. Use fakes constantly. If you noticed, Southside trappers love to jump again and again, hoping for deflections. They're not that tall, so if they jump on your fake, you should have an easier view of your teammates, and if they jump, dribbling around them is easy. It's a matter of faking and patience.

D. Once you pass successfully out of the sideline midcourt trap, you MUST cut to the basket. Your teammate will find you and we'll have 4-on-3 and 3-on-2 situations all game long.

So watch and learn. This is what I mean when I say we can win by 20 or lose by 20. It's about your awareness, intelligence and patience first and foremost.