Bill Russel, retired center for the Boston Celtics, has two quotes that can relate to great defense in basketball. The first is: “Remember that basketball is a game of habits. If you make the other guy deviate from his habits, you’ve got him,” and the second is: “The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.” Defense is all about having an idea of what your opponent is going to do next and preventing them from doing it or second guessing if they should.

Defense is one of the most important aspects of basketball. A player could have one of their best nights making every, or almost every, shot, but a win is not guaranteed from this. If the opposing team is allowed to waltz down the court without tough defense as an obstacle, that team will score just as easily. Defense is what wins games. Look at the NCAA Men’s March Madness tournament for example. Defense has been one of the deciding factors in the success of some of the lower seeded teams.

When playing defense, the most effective defensive stance to be in is low to the court with your knees bent. Your feet should be about shoulder width apart with your arms stretched out wide. This way, you are as much of an obstacle to your opponent as possible. Another tip is to stay light on your feet. The best way to achieve this is to stay on your toes. Defending while in this stance allows you to move in any directions in an instant. You have the ability to slide left or right, drop either leg back to slide diagonally, or to defend right where you are.

There are two forms of defense in basketball: man-to-man and zone. In this post I will focus on the first strategy for defense. Explaining man-to-man defense is simple, but running it successfully is much harder. Communication is the key. Just as it sounds, man-to-man defense is when you pick a single player on the opposing team and defend them for the duration of the game, or however long your coach decides to set the team this way. This tactic isn’t just simply following one player around clueless to the rest of the court though. There is a balance of knowing when to tightly defend your player or leave a little space. Another concept that closely goes along with man-to-man defense is the idea of help defense.

Help defense is when you leave the player you’re guarding to help your teammate defend his/her player. Typically this is if your teammate has gotten beat, and your opponent is about to score. The main goal is to prevent the player with the ball from driving or shooting to score. If the player you are guarding isn’t in the immediate vicinity of the ball with an opportunity to score, you always want to leave a little distance between you and your player. This way, you are always in a good defensive position to help your teammates or guard your player.

Bob Knight, best known for coaching the Indiana Hoosiers and being the second most all-time winning coach of 902 games, said, “defense is all about helping. No one can guard a good dribbler, you have to walk kids through how to hep and then how to help the helper.” After all, basketball is a team sport.

If you need a visual aid to help picture what man-to-man and help defense is really all about head over to the “How To Videos” section and watch the man-to-man defense video, or click here to jump right to the page!