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Defense on a pick ’n roll

A pick and roll is an offensive play that is designed to create mismatches and open players on the offense. This is a very nice offensive play and that is why you have to know how to defend against it. There is no one thing that I can tell you that will hold true for every screen, it all depends on the circumstance, so use your instinct on picks and rolls. If the offensive center comes up to set a pick on the guard who is defending the guard with the ball, you as the defensive center must step out in front of the guard to slow him down. this allows the defending guard time to get past the screen and back to his man. as soon as you feel that the guard is covered again, quickly run back to your center who is now on the roll towards the basket. If you, as the center, get beat on the center’s roll the forward is responsible to slide over and help. You can now see how much trouble these picks and rolls can be. The guard, center and forward can be affected by it.

Never go around a screen to get to your man because he will have time to shoot a nice open shot. You must instead always slide through the screen between the 2 centers. Now I am using the center and guard as an example, no matter who you are this is how you must beat the screen. You and your fellow defenders must talk so that you know what you are doing. if you think that you should temporary switch men but your teammate thinks that you should slide through it and continue with the same man, you are going to get scored on unless you communicate. When you do switch and you find your self looking up to a seven foot monster, you have a physical mismatch. The way to stop this beast from trampling you is to play him in front. This means that you face the ball, have him behind you and have your teammates help you out with the lob pass over your head. This is a good way to play the mixed matchup because it isn’t as easy for him to catch the pass as if you were to play behind him.