Press break

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Basketball drill · Under-11 and up

After a made basket, the inbounder takes the ball out under your own basket. Two guards get open for the first pass, a middle player flashes to the ball when the trap comes, and the ball goes over half court before the count runs out. Practise it against a real press and the first one you see in a game stops being a panic.

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Time
15 minutes
Players
8 or 9: 4 or 5 on offence against 4 pressing defenders
Equipment
  • 1 full court
  • 2 or 3 balls
  • Bibs for the press

Setup

  1. The diagram shows your backcourt. The basket at the top is the one you defend, and the bottom edge is the half-court line.
  2. The inbounder starts on the baseline, outside the lane, beside the basket. The two guards start at the free-throw line extended, one on each side. The middle starts near half court.
  3. The press lines up in a 2-2-1 without its back player: two in front of the guards, two behind them.
  4. On the slap of the ball the guards get open, and the inbounder has 5 seconds to get it in.
  5. The offence scores by getting the ball over half court under control before the count: 10 seconds in most US high school and youth leagues, 8 under FIBA and NBA rules. Swap after five reps.

Coaching points

  • Guards: V-cut to get open. Take your defender towards the basket, then cut back out hard towards the sideline and up the floor.
  • Inbounder: after a made basket you may run the baseline, so move to find a better angle. Do not throw it into the middle of the floor.
  • Catch and face up the floor. Look before you dribble, and never dribble into the corner where the trap is coming.
  • The middle flashes to the ball as the trap closes. A pass from the trap to the middle is the pass that beats the press.
  • Far guard: when the ball goes to the other side, sprint up your sideline. The pass after the middle is to you, behind the press.
  • Inbounder: step in behind the ball after the pass, as the safety valve.

On the run sheet: Get open for the inbound, catch and face up, do not dribble into the trap, find the middle, then go

Progressions

  1. Add a fifth attacker deep in the frontcourt and a back defender, so the long pass is on if the press overplays.
  2. The press may trap the inbounder after the first pass, so the safety valve has to be open.
  3. Play it on from half court: once the ball crosses, finish 4-on-3 at the other basket.

How it runs

This one is drawn on your backcourt. The basket at the top is the one you defend, and the bottom edge is the half-court line the ball has to cross. The inbounder takes it out beside that basket after a made shot. Both guards V-cut, and the guard on the inbounder's side comes free towards the sideline for the inbound pass. The press traps the catch with the two front defenders. The guard does not dribble into it. The middle flashes into the gap behind the trap, and the guard passes over the top to them. The middle catches and turns, and the far guard has sprinted up the far sideline behind the press. The middle passes ahead to them, and the far guard dribbles it over half court while the inbounder steps in behind as the safety valve.

Why practise against a press

A press works on surprise and panic. Youth teams usually see one for the first time in a game, and a team that has never practised against it throws the ball away under its own basket. Every pass in this drill has a target, so the only thing to learn is to look before dribbling and to trust the pass to the middle. After a few reps against your own press, the real one looks smaller.

The mistakes to watch for

Guards standing still waiting for the inbound. The catcher picking up the dribble or dribbling into the corner. Lob passes over the press that hang in the air. Everybody running away from the ball, so the trap leaves the ball handler with no one to pass to.

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