LEVEL 2Team5v5
Guarding Space, Not Faces
In a 2-3 zone, you guard an area instead of a person: two defenders across the top, three across the bottom. When the ball enters your area, it's yours; when it leaves, you pass the responsibility and shift with your teammates. The whole zone moves together on every pass, like a net being dragged toward the ball. The zone protects the paint and hides slower defenders — but it's vulnerable in the gaps between areas and behind the top two. Shift as one, keep your hands wide in the passing lanes, and never chase the ball out of your area.
READ THIS
Watch the flight of each pass and the offense's high-post and short-corner spots — those are the seams the offense is trying to occupy.
DO THIS
Shift with the pass in the air, pinch hard on any middle catch and recover out, and bump coverage to your teammate as the ball moves past your area.
COACHING LINEAGE
Mike Brown
Paint protection is priority one. Force the ball away from the rim.
Chuck Daly
Physical defensive positioning: make the offense feel every possession.
IN THE SITUATION ROTATION
Your team sits in a 2-3 zone and you are the bottom-right defender. The ball swings to the right corner, and there is an opponent big lurking at the block behind you. You cannot cover both alone.
Appears as a Situation of the Day · 5v5