Scribd
Upload
57 views

Basketball A Defence

The document discusses the amoeba defense basketball strategy. It provides diagrams and explanations of how the defense is set up and how players should move and rotate in response to the offense's actions and passes. The defense aims to cause deflections, steals, and turnovers by overloading passing lanes and having defenders anticipate passes.

Uploaded by

moB0B
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
57 views

Basketball A Defence

The document discusses the amoeba defense basketball strategy. It provides diagrams and explanations of how the defense is set up and how players should move and rotate in response to the offense's actions and passes. The defense aims to cause deflections, steals, and turnovers by overloading passing lanes and having defenders anticipate passes.

Uploaded by

moB0B
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

Ads by Google

Basketball Play
Basketball Drill
TOPICS

A-Z Page Index


Article Library
Anatomy & Physiology

Amoeba Defence
The following article was provided by Steve Mergelsberg, Assistant Basketball
Coach, Rutgers University - Newark, Newark, N.J., U.S.A.
While living in Las Vegas and coaching at Bishop German High School, I had
the opportunity to sit down with Tarkanian and have him explain the amoeba
defence. One thing that he said always stuck with me. "Our man defence was
good that night, but we had 12 to 15 minutes in that game where our amoeba
defence just took Duke out of everything," Tarkanian said. "It got us going on
a lot of fast breaks and scoring streaks."

Coaching
Fitness Development
Fitness Testing
Nutrition
Planning
Programs
Psychology
Sports
Sport Development
Sports Injury
Sports Merchandise
Track & Field
Training Aids

BasicAmoebaAlignment

Website Blog
Website Information
Web Links

The following is the basic alignment for


setting up the amoeba defence

TEXTTRANSLATOR

Select Language
Powered by

Translate

Ads by Google

Basketball Court
Game Basketball

SITESEARCHFACILITY

This is the setup that your defenders need


to be in when the offensive team is
bringing the ball up-court. XI is responsible
for picking up the ball handler as soon as
he or she crosses half court. Xl's main job
is to harass the ball handler, making it
tough to dribble up the floor and pass to a
teammate. X2 patrols the free-throw-line
area looking for flash cuts to the high-post
area.
The tandem of XI and X2 should be the
quickest players on your team. X3 and X4
are halfway between the free-throw line
and the baseline, facing on an angle
toward the sideline. X5 is the "hoop
defender," the last line of defence guarding
the basket. X5 stands as far back as
needed to see the whole floor and must
never get beat from behind.

Custom Search

Search BRIANMAC

When the ball is passed from the point to


the wing, X2 charges out to play the
opponent with the ball.
XI retreats to guard the free-throw area.
When the ball handler initiates a dribble,
X3 sprints out to double team with X2.
X5 moves over to the block area and X4
rotates to become the hoop defender.

If the ball is passed back from the wing, X2


goes back to his or her original spot at the
foul line and XI pops out to the top, back
to his or her original spot.

XI and X4 are responsible for covering the


shaded area on any pass from the doubleteam.
Ads by Google

Basketball Team
Basketball 2

The ball is now double-teamed at the wing.


XI can either deny the point player or
encourage a reverse pass from the doubleteam for a possible steal.
Tarkanian believed that if X2 and X3 are
doing a good job of double-teaming, any
pass cross court will be high enough in the
air to be picked off by either X4 or XI,
depending on where the pass is thrown.

Defendingwing-to-cornerpasses.
When the ball is passed from the wing to
the corner, X5 comes flying out and closes
out on the corner player with the ball.
When X3 sees that the ball is being passed
from the wing to the corner, he or she
pivots and sprints to the low-post area, in
what Tarkanian called an "X-cut." X3 fronts
the low-post offensive player. The gamble
here is when the corner offensive player
gets the ball and X5 is sprinting toward him
or her, the player with the ball will see the
low-post player open, not knowing that X3
is on the way to that area.
Many times, in a panic, the corner player
instantly passes to the seemingly open
post player and X3 comes up with a steal.
Tarkanian's belief is that if X5 is closing out
and tracing the ball, a good pass will be
impossible to deliver and X3 will come up
with a steal. XI and X4 are still responsible
for the weak side of the floor. X2 denies
the reverse pass back to the wing from the
corner. Any attempt to pass to the point
will be picked off by XI.

DefendingCrossCourtSkippasses
The rule on any skip pass to the other side of the floor is that the closest
player covers the player with the ball.
The pass is complete from the corner.

X4 would be the closest defender to the


ball, so he or she would cover the receiver.
X3 goes from low post to low post and X5
would become the hoop defender.
X2 retreats to the middle to provide any
help that is needed and XI would deny the
pass to the point.

This diagram shows the initial entry pass


as seen in Diagram 2, but here you have
an offensive player on the high post. In
this case - just as in Diagram 2 - when the
ball is passed to the wing, X2 sprints out to
defend and XI drops down to play the
offensive player in the high post.
This leaves the point guard alone, the
theory being that he or she cannot harm
you being that far from the basket. If the
offensive wing player with the ball takes a
dribble, X3 comes out to defend and
double-teams with X2. XI, who is denying
the high post, can anticipate a pass back to
the point and go for the steal.
At this point, if the ball is passed from the
wing to the corner, X5 sprints out and
plays the corner player. X3 "X-cuts" and
goes to defend the block area and X4
becomes the hoop defender. X4 and XI are
responsible for stealing anything thrown
cross court from the block area and higher.
This may seem like a lot of area to cover,
but Tarkanian believed that if your
defenders are playing good, hard-nosed
defence, the only pass that will be thrown
is one high in the air that X4 and XI have a
great chance for a steal.

Amoebavs.Two-GuardFront
Some offences try to beat the amoeba by utilizing a two-guard front.
If the offense plays a two-guard front, XI
and X2 match-up with the guards. If the
offensive team puts a player at the high
post, X5 comes up and guards behind. This
encourages the offense to make a pass into
the high post, which is what you want to
happen.
If the ball is passed into the high post, XI
and X2 immediately double down and
create a triple team at the high post. This
may cause the high-post player with the
ball to panic and either give up his dribble
or throw an errant pass. X3 and X4
anticipate any passes into their areas and
go for the easy steal.

BeatingtheTriple-Team
If the triple-team in the high-post area fails and the high-post player manages
to get a pass to either the wing or the corner areas, your defenders react
accordingly.
When the ball is passed to the wing from
the post, XI retreats to the high-post area
and denies the post. X2 plays the wing
player and X3 denies the pass to the corner
or encourages a pass and gets a trap or

steal in the corner. X2 may sprint down


and double-team the corner player,
depending on the game situation. X4
becomes the hoop defender and X5 guards
the low post.
XI, who is playing the post, must anticipate
passes to the point from the corner, the
wing and cross court. This is one of the
reasons why it is critical that XI and X2 be
your quickest players. XI and X2 must
always be alert and have the ability to
anticipate defensively. If the ball is passed
to the corner from the post or wing, X3
sprints out to play the corner player, X5
drops to the low-post area and X4 becomes
the hoop defender.
XI denies the post and X2 denies the pass
back to the wing from the corner or
encourages the pass and looks to make a
steal. A pass from the corner to the point
weak-side guard can be picked off by XI
and taken the other way for an easy layup.

PageReference
If you quote information from this page in your work then the reference for
this page is:
MERGELSBERG, S. (2005) Amoeba Defence [WWW] Available from:
https://www.brianmac.co.uk/basketball/amoeba.htm [Accessed
22/10/2016]

RelatedPages
The following Sports Coach pages provide additional information on this topic:

Basketball
The Amoeba Defence
The Basketball Triangle Offensive
Simplifying the Triangle Offensive
Speed Training Program
Planning the Training - 6 stages of development
Find a Coach
Sport/Event specific articles

Advertising
In order to provide the free information on this website we advertise products
and services in order to help cover the costs of maintaining the information
and hosting the website with our internet service provider. Please support
Brianmac Sports Coach by disabling your ad blocker on.

SportsCoachUpdates
Updates to the Web Site are detailed on the Sports Coach Blog

Needmorehelp?
If you are unable to find the information you are looking for then please select
this link to email me your query or email me at [email protected]

TellmewhatyouthinkoftheSportsCoachWebSite
I would value your feedback on the Sports Coach Web Site as it will help me
improve its content and layout.Please select this link to provide your
feedback.

Free newsletter and two free reports:


Training for Distance Running and Training for Speed, Power and
Strength
Email address
--Select Country

--Select sport--

Join

Top of Page

Home Page

1996-2016 BrianMac Sports Coach - www.brianmac.co.uk : All Rights Reserved : Page Last Modified - 13th September 2016

You might also like