How To Beat a 2-2-1 Press

The 2-2-1 press is a common full court defense used to slow down the offense, making them second guess themselves with soft traps and playing the passing lanes.  Its important for your players to have a plan on how to attack this press and how to move, manipulate, and read the defense.  The video below shows a simple but effective way to attack a 2-2-1 press.

Most teams have one guard on the ball and the other guard taking away middle, allowing the guard to guard pass.  By allowing you to reverse the ball, they are hoping you use up your 10 seconds in the back court or turn you over when you start to panic when rushing to get the ball across the timeline.

Being aggressively patient and knowing who to attack and when is key to beating the press efficiently.  Having your guards beat their man and attack the forwards on the wing makes the defense rotate and opens up their teammates.

When you attack the forward, the lob to your teammate leaking up the court should be open, as shown above.  From there, the 4 can attack the 2 on 1 with the 5 or hit the 3 coming down the middle.

If 1 attacks the forward and the bottom defender comes up to steal the pass to the 4, 1 can look at the 3 in the middle or the skip to 5.  When the 3 gets it, attack the basket and you will get a layup or numbers advantage.

If both of those options are taken away, the reversal is always there and you have the same options on the other side, but with a defense out of position ready to be attacked.

One thing to look for on the reversal is the guard defending the middle sprinting to cut off the 2 too quickly.  This might leave the 3 open in the middle before the other guard can get to the middle.  That is why its important to have a plan and being ready to attack with a plan.  Having a plan and attacking takes advantage of the defense having to sprint and rotate.

To beat it, its important to work on being able to make different types of passes, including the over head pass, and its important to stress making strong passes, using ball fakes, and meeting the pass on the catch and catching with two hands every time.

Working on 2 on 1 and 3 on 2 drills are important as well, so that you can take advantage of numbers situations and make the defense pay for pressing you.