The full court zone press and its multiple stunts: part III, the 2-1-2 press.

The 2-1-2 press (or "3 Press") is a rather unique full-court zone press that is less aggressive than the 1-2-1-1 full-court zone press ("1 Press") in that it does not pressure the opposition's out-of-bounds "Trigger Man" and does not trap the initial inbound receiver.

Though unique in initial appearance, the "3 Press" is similar to the 2-2-1 zone press ("2 Press") in that it is a conservative press that attempts to bait the opposition's ballhandler into dribbling down the sideline before setting a trap on the ballhandler.

The dribble-trap can be on either side of the time line (like the "2 Press") with front and back-court locations having their own strengths and weaknesses.

By simply moving one player from the back of the "2 Press" to the middle of the "3 Press," the whole personality of attacking offenses changes drastically. The middle defender causes problems in this zone press. His positioning is unique enough to make the offense believe that the middle of the zone press is obviously an area that should NOT be attacked.

The three full-court zone presses and various half-court defenses can be easily identified, and thus permit the coach to integrate the various defensive combinations and make them both unpredictable and difficult to attack.

The first digit of the actual defensive call identifies the full-court defense, while the second digit targets the half-court defense. By designating the 2-1-2 full-court press as the "3 Press," the 1-2-1-1 full-court zone press "1 Press," the 2-2-1 zone press "2 Press," the full-court Run and Jump as "4 Press", and a full-court man-to-man press as "5 Press", you should find it easy to name and distinguish the five possible full-court pressure defenses. Each full-court press becomes a separate entity with its own defensive alignments and stunts.

The half-courts are designated as follows:

"1" is the half-court 1-2-2 zone, "2" the half-court 2-3 zone defense, "3" the 1-3-1 half-court zone defense, "4" a box and one zone defense, and "5" is the half-court man-to-man. The use of the specific defensive numbers will allow the defensive team to operate any of the full-court defenses before retreating into a half-court defense.

For example, a coach who has to make use of the 2-1-2 full-court press ("3 Press") and then fall back into a 2-3 half-court zone (the # 2), would have a simple defensive call-"32."

If the coaching staff elects to change up its overall defense and switch to a 1-2-1-1 full-court press before falling back to a half-court man-to-man defense, it need merely call out a simple number "15", to the team.

The required techniques, slides, and rotations of the zone press defenders; including the names of all the pressing positions in the three-zone press defenses ("3 Press," "1 Press," and "2 Press") are all very comparable to the names in the other two zone presses.

These similar characteristics simplify the three full-court presses so that any or possibly all three of them can be executed within the defensive system.

The same team, without any misunderstanding or uncertainty by the players, can possibly operate all three presses during the year.

The "3 Press" can also fluctuate the degree of pressure and the actual pressure points of this zone press. It can be modified from a 100% full-court press, backed up to a "three-quarter" press and even back to a half-court defense.

Since most teams are right-handed, the opposition's right side (and also the defense's left side), is defined as the "tight side" of the court. An opposing team that continually takes the ball out of bounds from the left side instead of their right side, does not actually affect the "3 Press," as it does in the "1 Press." See Diag. 1.

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The names of the five defensive positions and their general placement of personnel to maximize the effectiveness of the "3 Press" are described below. Under the assumption that the "1 Press" or the "2 Press" is also used by the defense, the individual players in the "3 Press" are located in defensive "spots" similar to the "1 Press," the "2 Press" or locations with the same kind of defensive.

When the offense scores, its five defenders must immediately converge into the "3 Press." To embellish the defensive team's multiple types of threats in its full-court package, the defenders should set as shown in both the "1 Press" and "2 Press", using comparable names and assignments.

As in the "2 Press," the two designated "wings" will set up immediately near the elbow areas where they both can keep the in-bounded ball in front of them.

As in the "2 Press," both the "Tight Wing" (TW3) and the "Wide Wing" (WW2) discourage passes to the middle of the defense and force the dribble down their particular sideline.

The second line of the defense must anchor itself in the middle of the "3 Press," highly discouraging the opposition from attempting to attack the defense in this area.

Experience has shown that just a presence in the middle of the press greatly reduce the chances of the ball being passed into that vulnerable area.

Denying the penetration pass to the middle of the press will also help encourage the opposition to advance the ball down the sideline areas where the defense is lying in wait for the advancement of the ball.

The "Monster" (M1), as the offense's point guard, will start back to defend his basket as the shot is taken. If the shot is made, M1 will rotate back up to the middle of the press, as 4 and 5 sprint by to set up the final line of defensive pressure.

These two designated sideline dribble trappers (TT4 and WT5), must align themselves just slightly deeper than the intersection of the 10-second time line (as they do in the "2 Press"). They will still form a "ball-you-man (in your area) flat triangle," formed first by the ball, then themselves, and finally the first opponent in their zone area. See Diag. 1.

As in the "2 Press," there are two basic defensive stunts that can be integral parts of the "3 Press." They are identical in concept and have the same names.

The "Out" stunt dictates that the ball-defender (either TW3 or WW2) must again "fan" the ballhandler down his sideline and look for a trap rotating up from the time line with his teammate on the same side of the floor.

TW3, in Diag. 2, fans the dribbler and again tries to speed him up by getting the ballhandler to dribble the ball down the sideline in an out-of-control manner.

The ballside "trapper" (TT4) uses the same concept of "bluffing and retreating" to eventually spring the trap on the ballhandler (with WW3). See Diag. 2.

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The "3 Press" defenders' techniques are again as follows:

"No (side)lines (for the "mid-court trapper") and no splits (for the balldefender wing).

If the ball escapes out of the trap via a dribble or a pass, both defenders (TW3 and TT4 in this particular situation) sprint out of the trap and try to get to the new "ball-level," while the other off-the-ball defenders sprint back to get to "ball-level" and protect the basket.

If the dribbler kills his dribble, both trappers (TW3 and TT4 in this instance) will "trace the ball" with both arms outstretched in a cross-face position. This will prevent quick escape passes and encourage soft lob passes that can more easily be intercepted, deflected, or allow defenders to more easily get to the new ball level.

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Cheap fouls are prevented by having both trappers pressure the ball-handler, but from a position a foot away from him.

For all off-the-ball defenders in the press, the general rules for positioning are to always form a "ball-you-man-in-your area" flat triangle and "the farther you are from the basketball, the farther you are from the man in your area."

As the ball is forced down the sideline, the off-the-ball "wing" (WW2 in this case) diagonally drops to the middle of the press offense to prevent any penetrating passes to that area.

The "3 Press's" "Monster" (M1) sprints diagonally down and over to shoot the gap between the ballhandler and the potential pass receiver left open by TT4's rotation up to trap the dribbler with TW3.

This trap must be near the sideline, but can actually be on either side of the time line. S1's rotation is started just as the rotation to trap the ballhandler is initiated. The "Wide Trapper" (WT5) rotates back to become the new goalie of the defense. He should easily be able to defend the basket.

Whenever the opposition escapes out of the trap and the ball has advanced into the frontcourt, all five "3 Press" defenders must retreat immediately to become half-court defenders.

The "3 Press's" second defensive stunt is a complement of the "Out" stunt in the "3 Press" system. As in the "2 Press," it is appropriately called "In" stunt. When used in conjunction with the "Out" stunt, it becomes a two-headed attack on the opposition that can surprise, confuse and cause numerous turnovers.

Its chief difference is that the original wing defender (TW3 or WW2) still harasses the dribbler and seemingly starts fanning the ball down the sideline.

When the offense slows down its dribble to stay under control, it becomes the ideal time for the ball-defender (TW3) to sprint ahead and then force the dribbler to reverse his direction back to the middle of the court.

The "Monster" (M1) is the "3 Press's" designated middle trapper of the dribbler. He will trap the dribbler with TW3 whenever the dribbler attempts to evade TW3's surprise cut off the sideline dribble.

The ballside backline defender (TT4 in Diag. 3) will still utilize his bluff action, but will retreat to deny the dribbler / passer the opportunity to make the vertical sideline pass.

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This will allow WT5 to remain the goalie and protect his team's basket. The weakside off-the-ball wing (WW2) will sag off diagonally deeper to protect the middle of the "3 Press."

With TW3 forcing the dribbler to change directions, TT4 denying the most logical advancement pass, and WW2 preventing penetration passes in the middle of the defense, the reverse dribble into the quick jump trap by M1 is about all that is left for the dribbler to attempt.

This offensive move is not only expected but wanted by the defense when the "In" stunt is called.

Press defenders still utilize the same techniques mentioned above:

"No (side)lines (for the "TW3") and no splits (for the "M1").

If the ball escapes out of the trap via a dribble or a pass, both defenders (TW3 and M1) should sprint out of the trap and try to get to the new ball-level.

If the dribbler kills his/her dribble, both trappers (TW3 and M1) should "trace the ball" with both arms outstretched in a cross-face position.

Both trappers put maximum pressure on the ball but with minimum chances of fouling the trapped ball-handler.

All off -the-ball defenders in the press should determine their correct positioning by always forming a "ball-you-man-in-your area" flat triangle and sagging off the specific area they are to defend. This can be done by using the phrase, "The farther you are from the basketball, the farther you are from the man in your area."

The third defensive stunt that can be executed in the "3 Press" defensive package is similar to the one used in both other zone presses. It is called "Match."

Some opponents will use very conservative offensive sets that will always allow them to safely reverse the ball behind the original dribbler's ball level. After the opposition uses part of the 10-second time limit and then chooses to make the reverse pass that is almost impossible to intercept but is actually farther from their offensive basket, this stunt will allow the defense to get out of the zone press concept.

It will force the defenders to rotate to the nearest opponent to match up with and then guard in the man-to-man defensive scheme until the half-court defense is needed. See Diag. 4.

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The actual positioning of the two wings in the "3 Press" can vary, depending upon how much denial pressure is desired. Diag. 5 illustrates the difference in the normal alignment of the "3 Press," called the "3 Front." It has both wings (WW3 and TW2) swing completely around to faceguard and deny the inbounded pass.

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M1 is the defender who floats in the middle of the press and reads the out-of-bounds passer's eyes to determine the target of the lob pass. He will always be one of the two trappers of the inbounds pass.

The defense looks for an errant lob pass, a five-second call, or other turnover produced by the surprise trap of the pass. This defensive set could be called intermittently to surprise and confuse the opposition's offense and is very similar to the initial action of the "1 Press."

The two trappers (TT4 and TT5) should rotate up slightly to new "ball-you-man (in your area) flat triangles" to help discourage any longer passes to the potential receivers. In this case, TT4 acts like the Monster in the "1 Press" and WT5 has the responsibilities of S5 in the "1 Press." See Diag. 5.

Once the ball has successfully escaped the surprise trap, the general "3 Press" and its rules, responsibilities and assignments come back into effect. TW3 stays in his normal area, with M1 dropping back to his regular middle area.

This will allow WW2 to step back up toward his basic wing area on his side of the court. Both TT4 and WT5 will go back to become the potential backside of the "3 Press."

If nothing else, this stunt has surprised the opposition and caused minimal damage by taking some of the 10 seconds that the opposition had to advance the ball downcourt. See Diag. 6.

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Because of its two different alignments and three different stunts, the "3 Press" can be the zone press that makes up the entire full-court defensive entity that a basketball team has to have. Like the "2 Press," it can also be a valuable tool with which to disrupt the opposition's offense and help to control the game tempo.

With the utilization of the three simple stunts and two possible alignments, the "3 Press" can provide a multiple form of attack that can be perceived as very difficult to predict and therefore attack.

In reality, this press can still be a very easy form of attack for the actual defensive team.

If and when the "3 Press" is also integrated with one or both of the other zone presses, the defense can become even more of a multiple force of attack for both the defense and offense (to create easy shot opportunities).

By John Kimble, Former Coach Crestview (FL) High School