Help defense also means getting deflections on passes. Finally, teach your players to stay on the balls of their feet and attempt to react and move in the direction of any dump off passes as the pass is made. In other words physical move in the direction of the pass. If you players must step up very high on the court to stop penetration then teach your lowest weakside defender to step across to cover for a teammate and run rotations on this type of penetration breakdown. One other key point that might assist you as well is to have rules for forcing your penetrators to a spot on the court.
Some coaches teach push all penetration baseline where it can be trapped or more easily helped.
If you draw a triangular line between the far deep left corner of the offensive half court, the top of the free throw circle, and the far deep right corner of the half-court it forms a triangle. I teach my players to force all penetration along that line in either direction. If you can get your players on the ball to influence the dribble penetration along that line, your help defenders will gain another step in time to get more quickly into position. The Basketball Highway . All Rights Reserved.