Using the dribble to improve your passing angle will assist you in making a higher percentage pass to a teammate in your set offense or transition. Most importantly dribbling and ball handling skills cannot be performed in a game against hard defensive pressure unless you have repetitively practiced hours to automate the skill. In other words practice until you can dribble with confidence without thinking about it. Concept 1- Dribble Under Control. All great dribblers maintain control of the ball no matter what movement they attempting with the dribble.
Control is the key.
If you lose control the ball, even for a very brief second, you lose the ability to react and move in any direction at any time with the ball. This is when the defender can put you in jail is the moment you are most likely to turn the ball over to your opponent. You must be able to control both the stationary or penetration dribble and the open court speed dribble. In order to maintain control you should dribbler a ball with your fingers spread, dribble with the tips of your fingers not your palms, and low to the ground where the time the ball is in flight and exposed to a defensive hand flick is minimized. Keeping your fingers spread as you dribble increases the amount of surface area in which your finger tips are in contact with the ball improving control.