LEVEL 2Small Sided1v1
Pick Their Poison for Them
On defense in one-on-one, don't let the attacker choose their path — choose it for them. Angle your body so one side is clearly open and the other is walled off. Most players should be sent to their weak hand: overplay the strong hand by half a body, and when they drive the direction you offered, you're already there because you invited it. Defense feels reactive, but the best defenders are making the first decision of every possession. You can't take away everything. Take away their favorite thing.
READ THIS
Identify the attacker's strong hand within their first two possessions — which hand they dribble with under pressure and finish with at the rim.
DO THIS
Shade half a body onto the strong hand with your top foot outside theirs, wall off that lane, and slide early into the weak-side drive you invited.
COACHING LINEAGE
Chuck Daly
Physical defensive positioning: make the offense feel every possession.
Larry Brown
Play the right way: fundamental execution over flash, every possession.
IN THE SITUATION ROTATION
You are defending a right-handed scorer in one-on-one who has beaten you twice going to their right hand. They are quick, and playing them straight up has not worked. They check the ball and size you up again.
Appears as a Situation of the Day · 1v1