Drills play
Drill: 3v3 Help and Recover
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 6 steps
About this play
The difference between stopping the ball and leaving your man, which is why every pack-line program has a version of this. Setup: 3v3, one ball, the point at the top and two wings; the on-ball defender a step toward the basket and both wing defenders in the gaps, two feet inside the arc and three steps off their man. The point drives a gap; the on-ball defender slides to take away the straight line and the gap defender stunts, one hard step with a hand at the ball, never a trap, then recovers as the ball picks up. The kick-out brings a short choppy closeout, hand high, and the other two defenders jump to the gap and drop to the help line. A baseline drive brings the helper off the help line to stop the ball, and the next kick brings a recover to a closeout. Play live to a stop, one point per stop, losers do push-ups. Common mistakes: full help that leaves a shooter, flat closeouts after helping, both gap defenders stunting at once. Progression: 4v4 stunt and recover with a quick reversal, or add a post. High school. I learned it from Coach's Clipboard's close-seam-and-recover drill and Joe Abunassar's help-and-recover video on Dr. Dish; give both a look for the three-at-the-rim variation.
