I have a drill I love called “killer”. The name says it all. These [tag]basketball skill drills[/tag] work on ball handling, man defense, pressuring the ball when the dribble is picked-up, and making a pass under pressure.
Here’s how it starts.
You will need two coaches and two [tag]basketball[/tag]s.
One coach at half court and the other coach under the basket with a ball.
What you do is put the players in a line out of bounds at the base line between the 3 point and the lane. The first player steps out to play defense on the second player in line. He guards him hard from the base line up to the top of the key extended. Once the ball handler reaches that point, he picks up his dribble and the defender mirrors the ball until the offense makes a pass to the coach at half court.
The defender then sprints to the half court, coach touches the ball, and then sprints to the basket to receive a pass for a layup from the coach who is under the basket with a ball. The defender scores and hustles back over to play defense on the next guy. He does this 3 times his first shot is a layup the next is from the elbow and the next a 3 pointer. After his third consecutive time the defender gets in line to handle the ball.
I usually divide the team in half and have the drill going on both ends.
If the defender gets beat off the dribble I make him run a down and back and the team cheers him on. Same with a bad pass by the offense. This drill has improved my team’s intensity.
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