One of the most popular questions, especially among young basketball players, is what’s the best trick to beat all defenders?
First things first: what is a playmaking move? When you put your guard down, ran away from the other guard, and missed a free throw from under the ring – did you make a play? And when you score with resistance from midrange, is that a play?
The main goal in basketball is to score more points than your opponent. Consequently, it is when you hit the basket that you are beaten. There is a detailed breakdown of the topic in another article.
What is a basketball rebounding game?
From this understanding of a play, the first and best move is the shot. If a guard is standing far away from you and doesn’t think about coming up, the best solution is to shoot the ball right away. You don’t have to make it hard. The only thing you don’t do is you don’t want to shoot right away if you get the ball within three points and in practice you score 5-6 out of 10 even from the middle.
Work on your shot. Then you’ll be a headache for the defense and for the whole opposing team.
The constant threat of an accurate shot from distance forces the defender to get closer to you. This makes him easier to beat in the passing game than if he was standing a few meters away from you. The constant threat also puts pressure on the defense: Your opponent cannot turn off for even a second, because otherwise he will get points in his basket. As a consequence, the defense will waste more energy and tire faster.
The constant threat of an accurate shot from distance forces the defender to get closer to you. This makes him easier to beat in the passing game than if he were standing a few yards away from you. The constant threat also puts pressure on the defense: Your opponent cannot turn off for even a second, because otherwise he will get points in his basket. As a consequence, the defense will waste more energy and tire faster.
Let’s say a defender doesn’t step back and we need to start running the ball. What’s the best move in that case? What is the best move to beat him with?
Let’s go in order. To beat him = to score. So we dribble to create a situation for our best and most accurate shot. That means we have to move the defender somewhere and get some space. Now it gets easier.
To dislodge a defender, we have to get him to move and change his speed or direction. Both of these things we will change early because the opponent only does it after reacting to our action. So you run with the ball, the defender is next to you. You stop first, only then does the defender stop. And while he stops, there is space between you and the defender. The change of direction works in a similar way.
Even if you look at all the famous star moves: Iverson’s crossover (change of direction), Harden’s or Doncic’s stepback (stopping and changing direction from forward to backward). They come down to these simple things.
It turns out that there isn’t one best move. It’s just that someone does a better crossover and someone does a better stepback. It all comes down to simple principles.
You want to beat any defender? Learn to change direction and speed. Do it fast and in different ways to make you harder to read. And of course work on your shooting and finishing. Without getting the ball in the basket, no other moves make sense.