Just to follow up my last post, I wasn’t trying to bash officials. Blame for the sloppy/trashy endings to basketball games lies just as much with the coaches as with officials. I do think officials bear 100% of the responsibility for the ‘swallow the whistle’ mindset, but I think that coaches share in the responsibility for the sloppiness (and sometimes trashiness) at the end of games.

I have seen teams continue to foul, the last few seconds of a double digit loss……that’s on us (coaches). I’ve seen teams simply push or hack, with no attempt at a legal play, then the coach (and fans) go nuts when an intentional foul is called….again, that’s on us (coaches).

With this post, I want to present a drill that we used to use to help us learn how to finish ball games, on both ends of the court. This drill puts the kids in a great position to experience the pressure and decision making that goes with finishing a gameout, on both ends.

4 ON 4 STOP

I’m not sure if this is a drill I stole from someone, or if it is one we developed over the years, but it is a great drill for putting kids under the stress of having to play great defense to come up with a stop, while at the same time requiring kids to take care of the ball and get good shots. The drill is simple, it’s what you coach and emphasize that makes it a great drill (and sometimes hard to understand)

Divide your kids into groups of 4, then play 4 on 4 full court, live. The trick is that the scoring is the opposite of what it is in a real game……..the only way to score is on defense. A defensive stop (rebound, caused turnover, charge drawn) gets your team a point. Any defensive fouls is a defensive ‘turnover’, which means that if you commit a defensive foul, you lose your ability to score by having to play offense. Play for 4 minutes, full court, team with the most points wins. You can assign a little work for the losing team. In the case of a tie, shoot it off at the free-throw line with 1 and 1’s.

Here are things I think is great about the drill:

It’s a great offensive drill, because a turnover is a point for the other team. It teaches offensive rebounding and shot selection because a defensive rebound is a point for the other team. It teaches great defense because, with a made basket, you lose your ability to score. It teaches defense without fouling, because a foul costs your team the opportunity to score.

If you are on offense, with the lead, you have to do a great job of taking care of the ball and coming up with a makeable shot because a miss followed by a defensive rebound (or a turnover) results in a point for the defense. This also emphasizes offensive rebounding.

If you are on defense with the lead, you have to prevent the offense from getting a makeable shot….if they make a shot, they get to play defense and the only way they can gain ground on you is by playing defense. If you foul in this situation, you have put the other team on defense, which gives them a chance to score and gain ground.

If you are on offense and trailing…..you have to make a basket (simply getting a quick shot is not good enough) so that you can play defense.

If you are on defense and trailing, you have to get stops without fouling……very hard to do!

I love this drill – kids hated it. It’s a physically demanding drill, even though it’s only 4 minutes long, because it’s intense. It’s one of those drills that when something goes wrong early, it’s hard to bounce back from…..which makes it a great drill for building mental toughness. Looking back, this is one of the drills that I would run more of, if I were to ever get back in.

This drill can be confusing……if you have questions feel free to email, text, leave a question in the comments, or even call…..I’ll be glad to explain further.