Ball Screen Offense—Beating The Hard Hedge

What is a hard hedge?

Hard hedging against ball screens can be an effective way to neutralize the action and take away any potential advantage for the offense. The screener’s defender will execute the hard hedge by sliding out to cut off the ball handler as he comes off the ball screen—the goal of the hard hedge is to force the ball handler to retreat.

The ball handler’s defender can then go over or under the screen, depending on the shooting ability of the ball handler, and recover back to his man. The screener’s defender takes 1-2 slides with the ball handler to allow time for his defender to recover, and sprints back to the screener with high hands. Like all ball screen coverages, there are a number of effective ways to counter the hard hedge.

1. Retreat & Go

Turn the Corner

The first option for the ball handler as he comes off a ball screen against a hard hedge is to retreat and turn the corner. The hard hedge from the screener’s defender will force the ball handler to hesitate or retreat—typically once the ball handler retreats, the screener’s defender will stop hedging and recover back to his man. This allows the ball handler to potentially turn the corner and attack the rim once the hedge defender leaves and before his defender recovers.

Pull Up

If the ball handler is a shooter, he can look to retreat and step in to a pull up jumper as the screener’s defender begins to recover back to his man. This is a great option, especially if the ball handlers defender gets caught going under the screen as he tries to recover back.

2. Split

Another great option for the ball handler as he comes off the ball screen against a hard hedge is to split it by push dribbling between the screen and the hard hedge. The split is an effective option when the hedge defender hedges too early or leaves too much space between himself and the screen. After splitting the hedge, the ball handler’s first option is to get downhill and finish at the rim. If help arrives, the ball handler can look to pull up or punish the help by kicking to a shooter.

3. Hit the Screener

Short Roll

If the ball handler cannot get downhill or step into a pull up jumper, their next option is to hit the screener on the short roll. With the screener’s defender stepping out to hedge, a quick pocket pass is almost always open as it does not allow time for an additional help defender to tag the roll.

Wrap Pass

Another option to get the ball to the screener quickly is with a wrap pass. The wrap pass is when the ball handler attacks the hard hedge looking to turn the corner, and wraps a pass around the hedge to the screener as he rolls to the rim.

Over the Top

If a quick pocket or wrap pass is not available, the ball handler can also look to go over the top in order to get the ball to the roller. The key to this pass is getting it high enough to avoid the high hands of the hedge defender as he recovers back to the roller.

Pick & Pop

Hard hedging ball screens leaves the defense susceptible to a pick & pop, especially when it is an empty ball screen being set with no help defenders to tag the roll. If the screener is planning on pick & popping, they should pop as soon as their defender steps out to hedge. This will allow the screener maximum time to get to his spot and set his feet for a catch & shoot.

4. Punish the Help

The final option against a hard hedge, and really against any PNR coverage, is to punish the help. More often than not, teams will use a third defender to help defend the ball screen action by tagging the roller—leaving a man open.

If the roller is tagged or the ball handler can draw an additional help defender, the ball handler should look to punish the help by kicking to the open man for a catch & shoot.