Home » Misc » How to dribble under pressure basketball
How to dribble under pressure basketball
2 Dribble Moves To Beat Pressure and Create Separation
- By Joe Haefner
Home > Coaching > Drills > Dribbling > 2 Dribble Moves To Beat Pressure and Create Separation
In this video, Jim Huber covers two dribble moves from our Elite Guard Camps.
These moves create separation for more scoring opportunities and also help you beat pressure.
Dribble Move #1 - Step Back Crossover
This move helps you do a few things.
It's a great move to quickly create separation to prevent a 5-second violation.
It's also a great move when you're in scoring range. You quickly create space and face the basket to shoot. If the defense closes out quickly, you attack the rim.
Here are some keys to make the step back crossover effective:
Step back with top leg quickly
- You want to step back your top leg quickly and change directions. This gets you into a shooting or attacking position much quicker. It puts more pressure on the defense.
Stay low and compact - This also helps you get into a scoring position more quickly.
Push ball out - When attacking, you want to push the ball out to create separation and keep it away from your trailing defender.
Dribble Move #2 - Escape Dribble
Similar to the move above, with the escape dribble, your goal is to create separation.
However, this is more often used to protect the ball and separate from pressure. It doesn't always put you in an immediate position to score.
You might have an on-ball defender guarding you closely up and down the court. You also might face some traps that you need to escape. You might drive baseline and run into help defense.
Here are some keys to make the escape dribble effective:
Use two dribbles to create separation
- Using two dribbles helps create distance and makes the defender's job more difficult as they have to cover more space. It also gives you space to change directions.
Explode backwards - If you casually dribble backwards, the defense can easily guard that. You need to explode backwards and put the defense at a point of indecision. If they decide to close quickly, you can blow by them by attacking with an explosion dribble. If they stay back, you've created space to advance the ball.
Attack defender's hip - Once you change directions, you want to move in a straight line and attack the defender's hip. One, you get to spots on the floor faster when you move in straight lines. Two, if you can get the defender on your hip or backside, you have a better chance of scoring. You can even change pace and keep the trailing defender off balance.
Eyes up - You want to be able to see the floor. That way you can see open teammates and any potential defenders trying to surprise you.
Related Resources:
Elite Guard Camps - Advanced Shooting, Dribbling, and Decision Making
Breakthrough Basketball Camps
Ball Handling Workout App
What do you think? Let us know by leaving your comments, suggestions, and questions. ..
Handling Pressure and Changing Directions
Ball handling is key for players of all positions in today’s game – these drills will help develop this important skill.
Two skills that all player need to have in there repertoire are the ability to handle ball pressure and change directions to get by a defender. A team can never have enough ball handlers, so even if a player is not a primary ball handler, it is important to work on these skills to grow and expand their game. I’m going to discuss several drills to help players handle the ball under pressure and get by a defender using change of direction moves.
Click on a diagram to download the drill to your FastDraw library.
Handling Ball Pressure
Many players get passive when they are met with heavy ball pressure. This is a mistake – they should actually do the exact opposite. The best way to beat pressure is to attack it, using the pressure against the defense. Too often players shrink and put their weight on their heals, and expose the basketball to the defender when pressured. All coaches have seen players get pressured and immediately pick up the ball, raising it above their head leaving. This opens up the opportunity for the defense to get up into them.
When met with pressure, players should stay calm and make an assertive move against the pressure. A drag dribble or retreat dribble creates space and relieve the pressure. Instead of dancing and making a bunch of dribble moves that don’t take them anywhere, players need to dribble down hill toward the defender and use their body to get into the defense. Once they get the defender going down hill, the ball handler can use a drag dribble to stop and allow the defender to keep going, thus creating space between them and the defender. Another move that a ball handler can use to get out of pressure or if they are cut off is to use a retreat dribble as shown below. When retreating, it is important that the ball handler keep their chin on their shoulder and the ball on there back hip away from the defender.
Drag Dribble Series
Arc Retreat
Alley 1v1
Changing Directions
Changing directions with the basketball and being able to quickly get down hill toward the basket is a difficult skill for players to master, but becomes more and more important at each level as defenses get better. When changing directions, it is important to get low into the dribble move and stay low after making the move. Getting and staying low allows the ball handler to have leverage over the defense so they do no get bumped off of the driving line. The driving line is also an important concept for players to understand and practice during drills. The driving line is the line between the ball handler and the basket. Once a change of direction move is made, the ball handler must try to get back on this line to take a direct bath to the basket, absorbing any contact from defenders along the way.
Teaching players when to change direction is also crucial. At the youth level, far too many players stop going to the basket because either they received a little contact or, they do not know the proper time to change direction. It is important to keep reads as simple as possible so players are able to react as quickly as possible during a game. If a player gets outside their defender and only sees the defender’s shoulder, then they should attack that shoulder and get down hill toward the basket. If the ball handler sees the defender’s chest (so the defender is square with the ball handler), then the ball handler should change directions. This rule must also be applied when the ball handler is driving. The ball handler should keep driving to the basket on the same side until the defender cuts them off and gets square with the offensive player. Here are a few change of direction drills that rep these situations.
Partner Change Direction
-Partners standing roughly 15-20 feet away -Approach partner and once you reach your partner perform change of direction move (inside out, crossover, between the legs, behind the back) -After the dribble move, escape dribble out and get back on the drive line -Dribble towards partner with an approach dribble and change speeds after the move with an escape dribble
Turn the Corner
These next two drills are what I call “game like” as they simulate a live situation by including a defender. Progress to game like drills once players have completed the basic individual drills.
1v1 Pass
1v1 Touch
Final Thoughts
Many ball handling drills that I see are performed from a stationary position. Incorporating on-the-move drills is a must in any workout as that is how the game is played. Focusing on small details such as staying low and getting back onto the driving line are little details that can make a huge difference in a player’s ability to gain and keep an advantage against a defender.
No matter what position, a player will eventually be met with hard ball pressure and it is important to have the skills and knowledge to be able to attack and beat it. Moves and technique can be refined individually, but it is important to go against a live defender to truly understand when, why and how to perform a pressure relief move or change of direction dribble.
For more #PositionlessBasketball content, follow @PositionlessBb on Twitter.
More on Player Development: 5 Exercises to Increase Basketball Explosiveness
The following two tabs change content below.
Bio
Latest Posts
Jordan Petersen is a former collegiate player and coach. He currently runs Positionless Basketball, which provides elite level basketball training and camps for youth players all the way to college and professional. It's mission is to provide student-athletes with a unique experience that develops players' minds and athletic performance.
Dribbling and passing the ball in basketball | Presentation for a lesson in physical education (grade 7) on the topic:
Slide 1
Dribbling and passing the ball in basketball
Slide 2
Dribbling in basketball Dribbling (dribbling) is one of the main technical elements of basketball, the second, after passing, the way the ball moves around the court. Correct, technically competent dribbling is the foundation for stable control over it, the basis of individual outplaying an opponent.
Slide 3
Dribbling is distinguished by the main methods: high-speed dribbling (high rebound of the ball from the floor, knee bending angle - 135-160). combined management. low dribbling with covering the ball (low rebound of the ball from the floor, bending of the legs at the knees - 90-120").
Slide 4 legs, pivot (turning 270-360 when in contact with the defender) Pivot Kick in front of you Kick behind your back
Slide 5
Basic stance when dribbling: knees bent, pelvis lowered, body tilted slightly forward, shoulders turned, head raised. During the dribble, the player must be ready at any time to change direction, make a stop, pass or throw at the ring. The ball is covered from the opponent with the body, shoulder, free hand. The hand that dribbles the ball regulates the force of impact, the height of the rebound and the direction of the ball. In this case, only the fingertips touch the ball, the player should not look at the ball, but only control it with peripheral vision. In the field of view of the dribbler, partners, defenders, and judges should be simultaneously.
Slide 6
Dribbling is carried out with the pads of the fingers, the fingers should be relaxed and extended, a semi-circular movement is made with the hand, while the forearm moves up and down. Dribbling masters dribble close to the ground, which reduces the risk of being intercepted by a defender. Advanced dribblers can dribble behind the back, between the legs, and change the pace of the dribble, making it difficult for the player to defend and creating opportunities for passing, shooting, or passing. Keep in mind that no matter how fast you dribble, the pass will go faster. The method of dribbling is chosen depending on the distance to the defender and the opponent's ring.
Slide 7
It is worth noting the skillful masters of dribbling in basketball: Allen Iverson (Philadelphia 76, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons). One of the most famous point guards in the world. When Allen first got into the NBA, despite a lot of pressure from the whole public, he said: “I can beat anyone in the league” and, most likely, it was true ... All his actions were unpredictable for opponents. He had a huge amount of feints, false passes, crossovers, throw threat passes - he was almost unstoppable. Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs) This Frenchman's favorite technique is a 360-degree turn during the dribbling. This technique is useful in almost all game situations, even with small chances for a successful attack, he can circle around 2 or even 3 opponents with several such acrobatic numbers, and throw or give a pass to a partner waiting for a pass.
Slide 8
Passing the ball in basketball Passing the ball is one of the most important and most technically complex elements of basketball, the most important element in the point guard's game. The ability to correctly and accurately pass the ball is the basis for a clear, purposeful interaction of basketball players in the game. Effective pass - a pass to a player who subsequently hit the opponent's ring. Successful passing is taken into account in the final protocol.
Slide 9
The main methods of passing a pass from the chest, a pass from the shoulder, a pass from behind the head, passes from below, from the side, from hand to hand and others. The chest pass is the most common and effective way to quickly pass the ball to a teammate. Effective if there are no opposing players between the players of the team in possession of the ball. The passer, holding the ball close to his chest, pushes the ball forward, straightening his wrists and turning his hands. After the throw, the thumbs should be down, and the back of the hand should be turned towards each other. It is necessary that the ball flew into the chest of the receiver. In most cases, you should throw the ball in a straight line - this is the fastest way to pass the ball to the receiver.
Slide 10
Bounce pass A pass in which the ball is hit on the floor before it reaches a partner. Few defenders are fast enough to intercept the ball as it hits the floor, which is why bouncing passes are so useful. If an attacker is in a tight spot or doesn't want to pass very close to a defender when the receiver is in a good shooting position, a bounce pass may be the best option. She forces the defender into an unnatural posture, bending her body to reach the ball that is speeding past him. Overhead pass. With such a pass, the receiver must receive the ball at chin level or higher. If it's an overhand pass, the ball dropping to the receiver's waist restricts the receiver's hand movements, which makes it difficult to decide whether to receive the ball by holding the thumbs up or down.
Slide 11
Pass from behind. Pass, in which the passer takes the ball in his hand (usually with which he throws) and circles the ball around the body behind his back. Then he makes a pass to the player, while while the ball is being carried back, the passer has time to block the receiver . .. There are also "hidden" passes that are used in conditions of active defense of opponents and allow you to disguise the true direction of the pass. The main movements associated with releasing the ball in the right direction are partially hidden from the eyes of the guarding opponent and are somewhat unexpected for him. Most often, such types of “hidden” passes are used as hand passes, passes behind the back, passes from behind the shoulder, and sometimes passes from under the leg. "Hidden" transmissions are characterized by a relatively short swing, requiring a minimum of time, and a powerful final movement of the hand and fingers. Depending on a particular game situation, the distance to which you need to send the ball, the location or direction of the partner’s movement, the nature and methods of countering the opponents, you need to decide which method of passing the ball to use as an assist.
"Some players program themselves to fail." Dealing with pressure is the key to being a champion (he's trained) - Bank shot - Blogs
ESPN explores mental training from West to Durant.
Original: ESPN, Jackie McMullen
Although he himself knew he was wrong, because he was in such situations dozens of times, Steph Curry, highly experienced sniper and champion, who became the first unanimous MVP in history 40 days earlier NBA, could not behave differently. With 53 seconds left in Game 7 of the 2016 final series, moments after Kyrie Irving's perfect 3-pointer, he reacted without hesitation, on instinct. He spent his whole life in an eternally gurgling cauldron of struggle and pressure, and therefore only one thing sounded in his head: "I have to get even with him."
This - as Curry later realized - led to wrong actions. But at that moment pride was above practical considerations.
Curry moved the ball around the court, and with each step the pressure built up: Curry's hypothalamus, a tiny part of the brain next to the pituitary gland, went into alarm. When the body and brain encounter stress, the hypothalamus signals the adrenal glands to inject cortisol and adrenaline, the stress hormones.
It was because of them that Curry's heartbeat quickened, his breathing accelerated - blood went to those parts of the body where it was most needed: this is how the body reacts to emergencies.
These sensations were different from those that haunt Curry before important games: then he resigns himself to jitters, which leave unpleasant sensations in the stomach.
“Uncomfortable,” Curry admits. “And it happens very quickly. This feeling does not increase. I usually feel it when I'm setting myself up for an important game in the locker room.
The significance of the match is very high. It's a cliché, but if you're not worried, then you're not giving the game the value it should."
Former Golden State assistant coach Keith Smart noticed early in his career that Curry's leg would twitch when the tension escalated while Curry was on the bench. “It was like a nervous tic,” Curry recalls.
Smart suggested a solution: deliberately tighten all the muscles of the body, freeze like this, feel the pressure, and then suddenly relax.
"When you tense every muscle in the neutral position, your body seems to be thinking, 'Well, this is the maximum tension that can be.' So when you relax, maybe that provides a rush of endorphins. I don't know if it's based on some scientific research or if Smart did it himself as a player, but it worked."
By June 19, 2016, Curry was no longer doing this exercise. While he was concentrating on how to respond to Kyrie, his partner Draymond Green put a powerful screen on Irving in 44.2 seconds and forced Kevin Love to switch to Curry.
Curry felt a rush of adrenaline. He felt that he should take advantage of this unequal exchange.
“When I was in these situations when I was young,” says Curry, “I was fussy, in a hurry. With experience, you come to the fact that the game slows down.
Curry rocked a defender, created space for himself, went to the left, then crossed the ball to the right side. With four seconds left on the clock, Curry, succumbing to the urgency of running out of time, threw out a three-pointer. The ball hit the bow and bounced out.
“I was thinking, 'I need some space' and got busy here,” Curry says now. “I look back and think I could have easily passed Love and scored two. We could defend and then hit again, win another title. But instead, I aimed to solve everything with a heroic hit. When I threw that 3-pointer, I was out of control. It cost us the championship."
Curry was leaving the parquet - he felt empty and angry with himself at the same time. Before diving under the stands, he looked at the pile-and-small that the triumphant Caves had arranged.
Curry remembers what he thought at that moment.
"Never make a fuss in such situations again."
Can professional athletes prepare to be immune to pressure? Steph Curry thinks they can. He cites that fateful day in June 2016 as an example. Since then, Golden State has won two titles in a row and went three-pit. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Curry has since laid down 61 shots in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime. His mentality and ability to stay focused in decisive moments was at its best in the conference semifinals, when he scored 33 points in the second half of Game 6 against Houston, although he finished the first half without a single point.
“I think you can say that that blunder in 2016 didn’t break me.”
Top level athletes screw up. But the highest level is manifested in the fact that they learn from mistakes and grow from them. Remember how Magic Johnson in the final of '84 did not have time to attack in time and missed the decisive free throws - and thereby gave the victory to Boston. And in the final of '87, he already left the Celtics with nothing when he converted the legendary "junior-junior-hook", the eternal symbol of Johnson's greatness.
Remember how Heat Chosen LeBron looked passive and fell out of the rhythm in the 2011 Finals against Dallas. He bit his nails as the Heat squandered a 2-1 series lead, then turned into a real team leader and brought two titles to Miami and then another to Cleveland.
"True great players feel the pressure but don't focus on the consequences of failing," explains Heat president Pat Riley, who has worked with the Magic and LeBron. “If they were worried about it, they would fail every time.”
Stress is a natural physical and mental response to life's challenges. Top basketball players shared with ESPN how stress manifested itself at critical moments in their careers. He had a variety of symptoms. For example, Michael Jordan's hands were so sweaty that he had to repeatedly resort to talcum powder to better fix the ball. And, say, Larry Bird experienced constant nausea, which subsided only when he went out to the pre-match warm-up.
The legacy of superstars is directly related to how they deal with stress, and in some cases even get an extra boost from it. Don't think about the consequences, as Riley suggests, and your career will skyrocket. Become a victim of your thoughts and never reach your potential. It's the same as throw training: the more practice, the better prepared your body is.
Kyrie Irving puts down the most important shot in Cleveland history. He himself explains that it was important for him to realize the grandeur of the moment, because it is in such a situation that he feels invulnerable. Irving argues that the best of the best use pressure - for them it becomes a powerful source of self-confidence.
“Pressure to me is just a word that describes fear,” says Irving. - And when you comprehend your life, you understand how important basketball is for you, then you get rid of fear and accept pressure. In such circumstances, in such an atmosphere where there is fear, you feel more confident. I like pressure. On the contrary, I look forward to such moments.”
Jerry West, for his part, regularly trained his body and mind throughout his life to be ready for decisive moments. He says that as a child, when he threw the ball, he always thought about the last seconds of the match.
“I did this a million times as a kid,” he says. - And I never blundered - after all, I reprimanded the time myself. If I missed, I could always add a couple of seconds.
West played in the NBA in the 60s. Then the stopwatch did not display tenths of a second. He didn't need it - he could feel the constant countdown in his head. “I never looked at the stopwatch,” he explains. “I never felt the pressure at such moments, because from a very young age I knew that I could convert such shots.”
Statistics of throws in the "clutch" from those times have not been preserved. But West himself says that in the 1969-70 season, when Wilt Chamberlain suffered a serious knee injury, he won 12 games for the Lakers with his hits (the Lakers archives also mention this fact).
Not everyone is able to overcome stress. Former Orlando defenseman Nick Anderson missed four free throws in 10 seconds in the infamous Game 1 of the '95 Finals. He himself later admitted that it killed his self-confidence - and eventually destroyed his career. Although the story of Demar DeRozan is not yet complete, but, as sources at the club anonymously told me, the Raptors got rid of him, among other things, because he regularly failed in the playoffs - his hit percentage and performance fell sharply.
“For some players in the league, the regular season is different from the playoffs,” explains Michael Jordan. - Why is that? Because the pressure is very different. These guys don't believe in themselves when their game is taken apart. They are not sure that important throws can hit, and therefore they do not hit them. They are programming themselves to fail.”
In Achieving Your Best, Steve Magness and Brad Stalberg show that stress can spur growth and adaptation. They believe that the process of curbing stress is like lifting weights to build muscle. You feel tension, fatigue, restore strength - and become better.
“If you have doubts about how to execute a shot, or if you feel 'pressure' while taking a shot, it's purely because you haven't trained enough,” Jordan says. “The only way to take the pressure off is to work on the fundamentals, practice and practice so that when the game gets tough, you're ready for anything.
I could beat you one on one, get free kicks or defend. And if you throw three on me, then I will give the pass to a partner for an open throw.
Nobody believed me when I said that I always trained with more dedication than I showed in official matches. But it's true. It is in training that you create a comfort zone for yourself. And when you play, you're just reacting to what your body is used to doing."
Jordan hit the biggest shots in basketball history, including 25 game-winners. Of these, 24 were scored in the last 10 seconds. But, like many champs I've spoken to, he's more likely to remember the shot he didn't convert.
It happened in 1991, in his first Finals, when Chicago faced the Lakers with Magic, Worthy and Vlade Divac. 9 seconds before the siren of the first match, Jordan threw from the middle through outstretched arms Sam Perkins, his former partner at the University of North Carolina. The attempt seemed perfect.
Until the ball rolls over the bow and falls out.
“If you go back to that moment now, it was a very important blunder,” says Jordan. – It was the first game for me in the final. And I could break.
But it was not difficult for me to rehabilitate myself, because I understood that it was a good throw. I didn't rush, didn't jerk my hand or anything. I just missed the mark."
Since then, Jordan has averaged 32.9 points on 55.8% shooting from the field. The Lakers didn't take another game.
“I believed that when I go out on the floor, there is no one better than me. And the more I hit, the more I believed in it,” says Jordan. - When you miss - and no matter how big you are, but you will definitely miss - it does not touch you: you have gained enough confidence in yourself.
We've seen a lot of guys react differently. They miss one throw and after that they can't hit at all. That kind of negative baggage kills guys."
When LeBron James signed with the Heat, he announced that he, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh would take more than one championship, not two, not three, not four, not five.
Then the 2011 final happened. The Heat, who were considered the absolute favorites, took a 2-1 lead in the series, and then deflated in the next three matches.
“We would have won that series if we hadn't missed out on the win in Game 2,” says Pat Riley. “We were 15 points ahead with six minutes left and our guys, LeBron included, were already celebrating.”
In that series, LeBron's problems in the last quarter were obvious. He averaged 3 points per game in the fourth quarter, missed 8 of 9 3-pointers and shot 33.3%. The saddest thing was his unwillingness to quit at all - he averaged 3.5 attempts. Because of this, he was criticized for being afraid of responsibility at a crucial moment.
“LeBron is a great player,” Riley says. “But before joining us, he was banging his head against the same wall as other great players who couldn't win. His first season in Miami was very difficult - difficult in terms of team chemistry. No matter how much these guys talk, but the three most significant players on the team never came to an understanding. It’s not that they had problems, but they didn’t discuss everything among themselves the way they should have.”
The aftermath of that Heat fiasco was horrendous. James heard a lot about himself: a choker, a clinical case, can only beat weaklings.
“When we met after the season, LeBron was introverted,” Riley recalls. - I didn't want to talk to anyone. He was paralyzed and fell into a depressed state. But I didn't worry. I said, “Listen, man, call Magic Johnson. Ask him what it's like when people say you can't play under pressure, that you've failed."
In the HBO series, James admitted that after the failure in 2011, it seemed to him that "the whole world collapsed."
“The final is over. And I heard: “Hey Bron, what the fuck is going on with you? You think a lot. You didn't show anything. You didn't do what you should have done." Do you understand? And now you can't even sleep at night because you haven't given all you could."
Outsiders advised James to see a therapist, but Riley let his player think it over. He was confident that James' assistants, Rich Paul and Maverick Carter, would help a friend deal with this difficult situation.
“They did a great job,” says Riley. “They knew how to cheer him up, how to surround him with love.”
In order not to overburden his head, James stopped using social networks, did not go to nightclubs, tried not to attract too much attention to himself. He began to read more and devoured the entire Hunger Games series of books on the road. He spoke candidly with his friend Wade and let him know that he would no longer share leadership functions with anyone.
He found harmony in the hall and, like many before him - Magic in the mid-80s, Jordan a little later - began to recover from the consequences of the psychological trauma of 2011.
That this is happening is amazing. In the central nervous system, there is a substance called myelin, which allows unequal cells to transmit information faster and allows the brain to carry out more complex processes.
Let's say a right-handed player tries to dribble with his left hand for the first time. He gets very awkward, clumsy. Initially, the nervous system that sends signals to complete this task is controlled by the prefrontal cortex of the brain. Over time, after countless repetitions, these signals become more isolated. Myelin sheath builds up. After all, it takes much less effort to use the left hand, and the brain takes it as a natural process.
The same thing, according to neuropathologists, happens with pressure play. Through repetition, pressure can be transformed into a special ability. With James, it happened after this grandiose disappointment.
“I came across something I wasn't used to,” he said. - And it hurt me, because at that moment in my life I still cared about what other people thought of me. That moment helped me become who I am today.
After the 2011 final, I only thought that this would not happen again. I can lose again. I may not win. But I will never fail again. "
When the Heat won in 2013, Ray Allen's most famous shot came from a three-pointer from the corner. In 2016, the Caves nevertheless won the championship, and then the amazing ball, realized by Irving, thundered all over the world. But it would be wrong to think that LeBron himself did not make important shots.
Since losing to Dallas in the Finals, James has sold five buzzer beaters, a total of seven such balls in his career. Only Joe Johnson has more - eight. All this according to ESPN Stats & Information, which has been conducted since 2002.
Moreover, James has made the most shots (10) that would equalize or put the team ahead in the last 24 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime. Experts have been keeping this statistics since 1996. Only his former partner Ray Allen (7) and Kobe Bryant (7) got close to him.
In 2012, Justin Rao and Matt Goldman prepared a paper for the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference, in which they studied the impact of pressure on NBA players. They used 1.3 million possessions to study two aspects of the game: offensive rebounding (a skill that depends on effort) and free throw percentage (a skill that depends on mental toughness and concentration).
Rao and Goldman found that players taking free kicks in the home stands looked worse than away. All because of what the authors called “malicious self-focus.” Their research showed that when players take free throws in front of cheering crowds, they are more likely to rely on instinct and muscle memory. When it is necessary to do the same in the home arena, where their fans, friends, family members believe in their success, they think too much, which, according to the authors, "prevents the shot from the machine."
Kevin Durant is close. In his second year of high school at the National Christian Academy, he turned into a star. This is after helping the team last season, only wiping the floor in the hall.
“I really wanted to get into the papers,” Durant admits. “But when the time came, I wanted it so badly that I screwed myself.”
Durant's team was two points behind Montrose Christian (Durant will move there in a year) in the closing seconds. And then they broke the rules.
He got on the line and suddenly felt a little dizzy. His adrenaline skyrocketed, but no one taught him that a couple of deep breaths would bring him back to normal.
“My thoughts were running wild,” says Durant. “I thought, ‘What if I miss? What happens if I get in? Will everyone adore me?" You weigh the pros and cons. You can't calm down. I could only think about what would happen if I missed. I knew these sensations, I knew that I would drown in them.
Durant, who has shot 88% of his free throws in his NBA career, knew as soon as he let go of the ball that he had no chance to enter. He focused too much on the negative.
“I hated myself,” says Durant. - You dream of such moments, but when you dream, you always realize the throw. Plus, you never think that it will be some kind of free kick.
It is necessary to work on ensuring that at such moments there are no extra thoughts in the head. But you learn this through difficult moments - through defeats and misses.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr is convinced Durant and Curry are no longer under pressure. He couldn't say the same about himself as an NBA role player.
“I've been thinking a lot,” says Kerr. “And if your thoughts lead you to the wrong place, then you are finished.”
Kerr, who has performed alongside Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Tim Duncan, says that after screwing up big players for the Bulls and experiencing Jordan's fury, he took Phil Jackson's advice and turned to meditation. This allowed his brain to come to a natural throwing motion, rather than being tormented by endless "what ifs".
“In the end, I thought: “Fuck everyone.” If the ball comes to me, I throw,” explains Kerr. “I would rather not give a damn about anything than bother my head with thoughts about the possible consequences. ”
Kerr even went so far as to write "Fuck everyone" on his sneakers. With this motto, he converted the winning goal in the sixth match of the final series with Utah in '97. He said that after that, coaches from colleges around the country turned to him for advice on how to convey his methods to their wards. Kerr laughed a lot when he saw a newspaper photo of Butler star Shelvin Mack with "Fuck It All" written on his sneakers.
Kerr says he's jealous of players like Jordan and Byrd who didn't have an ounce of self-doubt. Byrd talked about a moment from his high school career. Then he broke his ankle and slowly recovered. He was sitting on the bench, and suddenly the coach yelled: “Bird!”
“I wasn't ready to play,” Bird recalls. - But he went out on the floor. Immediately got a screen and hit the ring. I thought then: “I haven’t played for five months, but I’m already getting into it.”
By the time Bird entered the free throw line with 13 seconds left in a tie, his self-confidence was skyrocketing.
“I went up and hit both shots,” he says. - He didn't bat an eyelid. I always felt sorry for the guys who got lost at important moments.
Great basketball players are not immune to pressure - they just know how to deal with it. Today's players can count on the help of their teams, which provide both perfect training facilities and the services of medical headquarters, where there are nutritionists, sports performance specialists, psychotherapists, sleepologists, yoga and meditation instructors.
And yet the most valuable thing is the inner confidence of the players that they have everything to succeed.
“Great players know it's okay to lose,” Riley says. “They don't break under pressure, but sometimes they break under the influence of the context of the game, especially today when so much changes from match to match, even from quarter to quarter.
Look at Boston. They beat Milwaukee in the first game and felt like kings. And then they lost four matches in a row and were completely lost. These are what I call "peripheral rivals". If you allow yourself to break under pressure and excess emotions, then you will have problems.
Durant admits it happened to him, even after winning the Finals MVP award in 2017 and 2018. He says that it is quite difficult to abstract from everything and maintain proper concentration.
“I was afraid of embarrassing myself in front of everyone,” he explains. “Everyone in the NBA has huge egos because we are surrounded by endless attention throughout our lives. When you fail in front of everyone, you start listening to those who tell you “I told you so”, and not those who love and support you.
You can either go down or rise above it all.”
The NBA's brightest star today - Giannis Antetokounmpo - got his healthy dose of basketball under pressure when his team lost 2-3 in the East Finals to Toronto and had to single-handedly save the Bucks' season.
“I never thought about it, because when I came to the league, no one expected anything from me,” Antetokounmpo says. “The pressure builds with victories.”
Antetokounmpo has already come up with his own methods that allow him to calm down. When he gets nervous, he remembers the words of his father: he always told him that there was no point in worrying, because you have been playing this game all your life. If he needs to relax even more, Giannis admits, then he massages his hands.
Curry finds it useful to sit on the bench and imagine what he hopes to do when he returns to the floor. He also says that deep breaths allow him to slow down - and slow down the game.
“I learned a tough lesson in 2016,” Curry explains. Kairi had confidence that he would hit. And now it will stay with him forever. Now, every time he gets into a stressful situation, he can bounce off that shot."
Durant bounces back from the 2017 finals when he came to inner peace—and perfection—through deep breaths and meditation. He learned how to avoid pressure—turning off his phone, putting a Do Not Disturb sign on the door, not having relationships with people outside the team, and focusing on one thing only: winning in spite of himself.
It also gives you space to change directions.
..
Too often players shrink and put their weight on their heals, and expose the basketball to the defender when pressured. All coaches have seen players get pressured and immediately pick up the ball, raising it above their head leaving. This opens up the opportunity for the defense to get up into them.
At the youth level, far too many players stop going to the basket because either they received a little contact or, they do not know the proper time to change direction. It is important to keep reads as simple as possible so players are able to react as quickly as possible during a game. If a player gets outside their defender and only sees the defender’s shoulder, then they should attack that shoulder and get down hill toward the basket. If the ball handler sees the defender’s chest (so the defender is square with the ball handler), then the ball handler should change directions. This rule must also be applied when the ball handler is driving. The ball handler should keep driving to the basket on the same side until the defender cuts them off and gets square with the offensive player. Here are a few change of direction drills that rep these situations.
Progress to game like drills once players have completed the basic individual drills.
Correct, technically competent dribbling is the foundation for stable control over it, the basis of individual outplaying an opponent. 
In this case, only the fingertips touch the ball, the player should not look at the ball, but only control it with peripheral vision. In the field of view of the dribbler, partners, defenders, and judges should be simultaneously. 
One of the most famous point guards in the world. When Allen first got into the NBA, despite a lot of pressure from the whole public, he said: “I can beat anyone in the league” and, most likely, it was true ... All his actions were unpredictable for opponents. He had a huge amount of feints, false passes, crossovers, throw threat passes - he was almost unstoppable. Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs) This Frenchman's favorite technique is a 360-degree turn during the dribbling. This technique is useful in almost all game situations, even with small chances for a successful attack, he can circle around 2 or even 3 opponents with several such acrobatic numbers, and throw or give a pass to a partner waiting for a pass. 
Effective pass - a pass to a player who subsequently hit the opponent's ring. Successful passing is taken into account in the final protocol. 
Few defenders are fast enough to intercept the ball as it hits the floor, which is why bouncing passes are so useful. If an attacker is in a tight spot or doesn't want to pass very close to a defender when the receiver is in a good shooting position, a bounce pass may be the best option. She forces the defender into an unnatural posture, bending her body to reach the ball that is speeding past him. Overhead pass. With such a pass, the receiver must receive the ball at chin level or higher. If it's an overhand pass, the ball dropping to the receiver's waist restricts the receiver's hand movements, which makes it difficult to decide whether to receive the ball by holding the thumbs up or down. 
.. There are also "hidden" passes that are used in conditions of active defense of opponents and allow you to disguise the true direction of the pass. The main movements associated with releasing the ball in the right direction are partially hidden from the eyes of the guarding opponent and are somewhat unexpected for him. Most often, such types of “hidden” passes are used as hand passes, passes behind the back, passes from behind the shoulder, and sometimes passes from under the leg. "Hidden" transmissions are characterized by a relatively short swing, requiring a minimum of time, and a powerful final movement of the hand and fingers. Depending on a particular game situation, the distance to which you need to send the ball, the location or direction of the partner’s movement, the nature and methods of countering the opponents, you need to decide which method of passing the ball to use as an assist. 
If I missed, I could always add a couple of seconds. 
And if you throw three on me, then I will give the pass to a partner for an open throw. 
– It was the first game for me in the final. And I could break. 
It’s not that they had problems, but they didn’t discuss everything among themselves the way they should have.” 
He was confident that James' assistants, Rich Paul and Maverick Carter, would help a friend deal with this difficult situation. 
" 
They used 1.3 million possessions to study two aspects of the game: offensive rebounding (a skill that depends on effort) and free throw percentage (a skill that depends on mental toughness and concentration). 
“But when the time came, I wanted it so badly that I screwed myself.” 
” 
These are what I call "peripheral rivals". If you allow yourself to break under pressure and excess emotions, then you will have problems. 
“The pressure builds with victories.” 
-Step-5.jpg/aid43486-v4-728px-Play-21-(Basketball)-Step-5.jpg)
