Individual Skills
Help defense is a situation where a defender leaves their assignment to defend another player (usually the ball handler who has beaten their defender).
Direct answer
Help defense is a situation where a defender leaves their assignment to defend another player (usually the ball handler who has beaten their defender).
| Category | Individual Skills |
|---|---|
| Source volume | Basketball Knowledge Vault/vol2_intermediate_building_your_game.md |
| English | Weak-Side Help Position and Principles |
|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 弱侧协防站位与原则 |
| Traditional Chinese | 弱側協防站位與原則 |
These graph neighbors help place Weak-Side Help Position and Principles in the larger basketball map.
The foundational off-ball positioning rule: a defender guarding away from the ball sits on the ball-you-man line in an open (pistols) stance so they can see both the ball and their man at once, forming a flat triangle…
The nail position (free throw line area or high post) is a key help location because it allows a defender to see the ball and all relevant players.
A skip pass is a pass that travels across the court to the weak side (opposite side of the ball handler).
The nail position (free throw line area or high post) is a key help location because it allows a defender to see the ball and all relevant players.
A hammer action is an off-ball play where, as a teammate drives the baseline, a weak-side player sets a baseline back/flare screen ("hammer") for a corner shooter, freeing them for a skip pass and a wide-open corner…
The responsibility of the weak-side low defender (the "low man" or "I") to rotate to the rim and stop a ball-handler who has beaten the on-ball defender, while teammates X-out and rotate up to cover the abandoned…
The dunker spot is the low weak-side baseline position just outside the lane, level with or slightly below the rim, where a non-shooting big stations himself to finish lobs and dump-offs and to crash the offensive glass…
Help-side defense is the organization of off-ball defenders who are two or more passes away from the ball.