The 1-2-2 zone, and why the middle is bait
Basketball · Defence · 5 of your players
Five defenders in three tiers on a half court measured to scale. The point man meets the ball before the offence has picked a side, and the two low defenders read every pass into the lane.
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Where the five stand
Five defenders in three tiers: one at the point, a stride inside the top of the arc; two on the wings, wide and a stride below the free-throw line; two low, just outside each block. That is a 1-2-2, and what separates it from a 2-3 is the single defender out front. He meets the ball earlier and higher, before the offence has chosen a side to attack.
The two low defenders are the trade you make for that. Because they start outside the lane rather than in it, the pass into the middle looks available — and it is meant to. Both of them are reading it, and a catch on the free-throw line with two bodies closing is a turnover more often than it is a shot. Played honestly, the middle is bait rather than a hole.
The teams it hurts
Play it against a side with one real ball handler. The point defender fans the ball to a wing, the wing pressures, and the handler has to either reverse it or beat two people while moving away from the basket. It is also the zone for a team that wants the game faster: deflections that high turn into runouts, which a 2-3 almost never gives you.
It is the wrong choice against shooters who live in the corners, because the low defender who steps out to a corner leaves the block behind him. It is also wrong against a good offensive rebounding team, since neither low defender begins inside the lane.
Coaching points that decide it
- The point defender never guards the ball square. Move him a step to one side and mark the pass he is conceding. A 1-2-2 with a neutral top defender is only a poor man-to-man.
- The low pair splits vertically, not across. On a wing entry one takes the ball-side block and the other slides to the middle. Draw both paths on the same diagram and the argument about who owns the high post is over.
- Cover the short corner or stop pressuring. Draw the trip from the low defender out to the short corner and animate it. If it does not arrive in time, your wing pressure is a gift.
Open the 1-2-2 in the designer, add the five you would attack it with as the second team, and draw the ball reversal you want your offence to punish it with.
Also known as
- zone defence
- 1-2-2
- three quarter court
- pressure
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Put the 1-2-2 zone on a pitch
It opens with the shape already drawn. Move the players your team does differently, drag the runs, and send your squad a link that animates.
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