The defensive philosophy of the San Antonio
Spurs starts with the answer to the
question: At which part of the court do we
begin to play defense? Full-court defense,
if played from one baseline to the other
one, is called “40”; if we play from the freethrow
line at the front half of the court we
call it “30,” from mid-court is “20,” and in
the shooting zone is called “10”.
Coach Dean Smith of the University of
North Carolina taught me this very simple
way to play defense and I have found that
the players easily understand it. If we are
playing against a team like the Los Angeles
Lakers that is not making too much transition,
but relies mainly on the set offense
around the lane, then we play a full-court
defense to use up their offensive time and
change their passing angles. We don’t let
them start their famous “triangle offense,”
but make them use up time in the front
court.
On the other hand, when we play against
teams like New Jersey Nets, against
whom we played in the NBA Finals last
season, our tactics are different. The Nets
run an excellent fastbreak, so there will be
no full-court pressing, especially when Jason
Kidd is playing point guard. Compared
to the majority of NBA teams, we play a different
half-court defense (diagr. 1). We put
pressure on the player with the ball: X1
plays aggressively against 1, and X2, the
player, who is one pass away from the ball,
plays in a closed stance and doesn’t let 2
receive the ball. X3, the player who is guarding
3, who is two passes away from the
ball, slides towards the ball and under the
passing line. The passing line is the imaginary
line between the player with a ball
and 3.
One of the best positions for shooting is
when the player is positioned in the corner
on the ball side. The majority of coaches
want their players to try and stop the penetration
by moving the defender X4 to play
this defensive role. I do just the opposite. A
defender from the angle never helps on penetration
because I won’t let the offense
make a shot from the corner.
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