How To Beat a 2-3 Zone in Basketball
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Published 2019-07-06
When I first started coaching 10 years ago, I looked up how to beat a 2-3 defense and I couldn’t find anything to help me out. Over the years I’ve created my own strategies and figured out the best ways to attack a 2-3 through studying the game and learning from the best coaches in the country.
I decided to share my strategies to help other coaches who are in the same position. It can be very frustrating, so I’ve put this video together to help you beat those annoying zones.
In order for us to beat a 2-3 zone defense in basketball. We first have to understand what a zone defense is used for?
A zone is put in place to do a few things. First, it keeps your offense outside on the perimeter, forces you to take deep shots, and drive into multiple defenders. A 2-3 zone also keeps the bigs from rebounding. If you a smaller line up in the game, you may go 2-3 zone to make sure there's always 2 or 3 players inside to help rebound, and 3 and most important, a 2-3 zone takes away the ability to go 1 on 1 and makes your offense work as a team.
If an offense has 1 or 2 star players, and the others don't do much, a zone may be the perfect solution to make those stars move the ball around and if they don't, they'll be going into 2 or 3 defenders and taking bad shots.
So, now that we know that the purpose of the zone is keep us the offense outside and on the perimeter, and as an offense, if we don't play extremely smart with a high basketball IQ, then a 2-3 could easily dismantle a high powered offense.
No, the answer to a zone is not to just jack 3's. That's probably why they play zone against you in the first place. At younger ages, you'll see that teams play zone because younger kids can't shoot consistently from deep.
The first key is to beating a 2-3 zone is excellent ball movement along with excellent player movement.
Great ball movement is always needed to beat a 2-3 zone defense. The ball must move quickly from player to player in order to get the defense to move.
Remember, each defender has an assigned area, and our job is to move the ball and our players quick enough to get those defenders out of their assigned areas.
[BALL MOVEMENT AND PLAYER MOVEMENT]
When beating a zone, ball movement is the number one key.
Do not waste any dribbles. Many players love to catch and dribble twice before passing, and this just allows the defense to adjust into position. The faster the ball moves, the more difficult it is on a 2-3 zone.
The key to quick ball movement is to get the defense to move. The more we get the defense to move out of there assigned area, the more openings we'll have to take advantage of.
[ATTACKING THE GAPS]
Basketball is a game of angles, and those angles are extremely important when beating a 2-3 zone defense. If you wait patiently for those gaps to open up and use the appropriate angles, you'll have easy scores all day long.
[HIGH POST]
When beating a 2-3 zone, you must have a player flash into the high post. If you're all standing on the perimeter, you're in trouble!
Once you get a flash to the high post, you can now become a threat to pass,
high low pass opposite pass, or square up to the basket and become a threat to score.
[BASELINE RUNNER]
the baseline runner is essential to beating a 2-3, this player is extremely important because he is the only player on the court that can see everyone, but not everyone can see him or her. You're watching and reading the defense from the defenses perspective which gives you the ultimate advantage.
Utilizing a player that's a great passer in this position can create easy layups or wide open shots.
You must be able to fake a pass and make a pass. Unfortunately most players are working on their euro step and therefore, they never learn how to make a great pass. This is a key to beating a zone.
In this video, I've covered how to move the ball quickly against a zone while not wasting any dribbles. We covered how to move the ball to the high post and get some high low action. Along with the flash to the high post, you can also step out and set that back screen on the top defenders. Don't forget to use your baseline runner in order to utilize the corners and short corner area.
Thank you for watching HOOPSIQ with Coach Novak.
#BEATZONE #HOOPSIQ
All Comments (21)
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Very well spoken, it's amazing how many people who really enjoy the game do not know any of these core principles.
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Celtics need to watch this
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So the weakness to the 2-3 zone is that if attacked correctly, it forces the defense to help which results in a man being open.
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Against this Syracuse zone I suggest keeping the ball up top while having two offensive players baseline near the basket. One of them sets a back pick on the defender closest to the basket and the other offensive player on baseline will have an alleyoop.
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This is a great video! I like how you've combined your clear explanations with the whiteboard and then actual vids. I appreciate the reminder that it's not just ball movement that matters, but those subtle player movements too. A simple dribble wide towards the corner flattens the bottom three and may draw that top defender a step too low, opening up short corner, mid/post, or a skip pass. It's only 1-2 simple dribbles but can easily render a zone ineffective!
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This was a nice breakdown on how to attack the 2-3 zone. Well done!
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best video on 2-3 zones i have seen so far. Thank you.
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Excellent video!!! I really appreciate how you use actual college footage from games to show what they were not doing correctly, where they should have moved to attack the zone, then what they actually did that caused a turnover or forced shot, etc. I had all of my players (12-13 years old) watch this video and I changed from doing a 1-3-1 against the 2-3 to this 3-2, teaching my 2 tall post players to do the X movement you describe. We went over it practice today spending over an hour on the concepts in the video, adding different layers of things to do, and the X worked especially well with multiple times the high post dumping it down low after receiving the ball and facing the basket! That's real basketball they are learning and we have a game tomorrow night we will run this offense and ball movement in. Thanks again, I'm excited to see it work tomorrow night and beyond!
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Very well spoken, that was a amazing breakdown how to beat 2-3 zone defense
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Could you do a video on how to beat a 3-2 zone defense?
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Thank you for this video. Great work. We'll be using this for our practices and playoffs coming soon. Thank you for your explanations and time!
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Excellent analysis. Keep up the great work.
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Watched this thursday had a game today. Had 26…. Appreciate you 💪🏾
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To be simple, get that cutter into high post. If the ball gets in there, the defense is in trouble. You can hit high-lows, easy kick-outs, or they have to concede a one on one inside. Also, when you make a pass, especially inside, relocate. Especially for guards, it's easy for the defense to help the inside if they know you're staying in one spot. If you relocate, they either have to move with you or most often, they turn their head to look inside and lose sight of you. Most teams use two bigs, alternating between the short corner and the high post. It helps keep your offense dynamic instead of static.
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Good job breaking this down! Really like the 131 and X approaches to getting into the middle. Most guards DO stay up too high, and they pass around without looking inside orto the corners. This makes it too easy for the zone D to rest and wait for the drive or 3 pointer.
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Good stuff. I like teaching the READ and REACT that Rick Torbett coaches. Pass cut fill. Great video!
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Excellent video from a retired ball coach! Love it
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Nice work Dave! Really enjoyed the video
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Very impressive video. It helped my coaching strategies. Please give us more. Thank you.
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Much agreed with everyone else....great way to articulate the process of breaking down offense vs. 2-3 defense. Was looking for simple ways to teach this to elementary school kids; think I found it. Thank you
