Drill3 phasesRuns 6.1 s
Defensive Cutthroat
Three teams of three, half court. Only the defense can score: a point for every stop. A defense that gets a stop stays on and a new team comes on to attack; an offense that scores goes to defense and the beaten defenders step off.
- Trains
- DefenseBasketball IQ
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Ages
- U12–Adult
- Minutes
- 12
- Players
- 9–12
- Balls
- 1
- Equipment
- No equipment: players and balls only.
Run it, tilt it, change it to fit your practice. Free to start. No account, nothing to install.
Coaching points
- The only way to score is to get stops, so every possession is worth fighting for.
- A stop is a defensive rebound, a steal, a forced turnover or a charge.
- Talk on every pass: ball, gap, help.
- Finish the stop with a box out; an offensive rebound keeps the possession alive.
- A defensive foul costs the floor, the same as giving up a basket.
Phase by phase
1Phase 1
Live 3-on-3. On the pass to the wing, X2 closes out, X1 jumps to the gap, X3 sinks to help. The next team waits at half court.
- O1 passes to O2
- X2 cuts to the right wing
- X1 cuts
- X3 cuts
2Phase 2
O2 drives baseline. X2 stays on the hip, X3 meets the drive outside the lane, X1 drops to cover the rim. A contested miss and a defensive rebound is a stop: one point for the defense.
- O2 dribbles to the right short corner
- X2 cuts to the right short corner
- X3 cuts to the right dunker
- X1 cuts to the rim
3Phase 3
After the stop the defense stays on. The offense goes to the back, the waiting team comes on to attack and the rebounder gets the ball out to it.
- N1 cuts to the top
- N2 cuts to the right wing
- N3 cuts to the left wing
- O1 cuts
- O2 cuts
- O3 cuts
- X1 passes to N1
Variations
- Three points for a charge, a bonus point for three stops in a row.
- 4-on-4 with three teams of four.
- Coach's rules end a defensive possession: no talk, a straight-line drive, a missed box out.