Basketball Defense – Half Court or Full Court

As a basketball coach, I’ve many favorite basketball drills over the years. The drill below is one I use when coaching basketball defense. It stresses the importance of defense.

A basketball drill that works for us in the half-court or full-court (3 vs. 3, 4 vs. 4, 5 vs. 5) goes like this. If you score a point, it doesn’t count unless you get a defensive stop right afterward. So if Team A scores on Team B, the score remains 0-0, but if Team A immediately gets a defensive stop next possession the score is 1-0.

Another drill we like is 3-man rebounding.

Put three guys under the hoop and a coach at the foul line throwing the basketball off the rim for rebounds. Every man for himself as they go for the offensive rebound. When a player gets the rebound he tries to score while the two other players try to defend. The player who gets the offensive rebound can one power dribble only. You get 1-point for an offensive rebound and 1-point for a put-back (So 2 possible points per play).

You can play to whatever score you want, we usually play to 10 points. It teaches toughness, boxing-out, and finishing at the hoop.