Understanding How to Play with the advantage
What is an advantage?
An advantage is a condition or circumstance that puts a person or group in a favorable or superior position. In basketball terms, an advantage refers to the offense having the upper hand over the defense; an offensive advantage often leads to a high percentage scoring opportunity.
Understanding advantages is important because every offensive action that has ever been run, from a simple drag screen to the Princeton Point Series, was designed with one goal in mind… create an advantage. Creating an advantage puts the defense in scramble and recovery mode, which is often times when the highest percentage shots are created.
Types of Advantages?
Understanding the types of advantages most often created in the flow of the game is critical to being able to identify and recognize an advantage the moment it is created. There are three major types of advantages in the game of basketball worth noting.
Positional
Numerical
Mismatch
Positional:
A “positional” advantage occurs when an offensive player obtains a shoulder-to-chest advantage on a dribble drive, has open space to attack, or has his defender sealed in the deep post.
Numerical:
A “numerical” advantage or numbers advantage is when the offensive team has more players attacking than the defense has defending (5v4, 4v3, etc.). Numerical advantages most often occur in transition, but can also be triggered in the half court through actions like ball screens, gets, and dribble handoffs.
Mismatch:
A “mismatch” advantage occurs when a size or speed mismatch is created either through a hard transition push (forcing the defense to guard different players) or a switching defense.
Playing with The Advantage:
Any specific actions you run on offense should all have one goal in mind… create an advantage. Pushing the ball hard in transition, ball screens, pin downs, etc. are all designed with the goal of creating an offensive advantage.
However, almost just as important as creating the advantage is understanding how to keep the advantage and turn it into a high value, high percentage shot.
According to Coach Ross McMain’s “domino” rules (popularized by Alex Sarama at Basketball Immersion), making quick decisions, being properly spaced and keeping the paint clear allows you to turn any offensive advantage into a great shot. The term “domino” is an analogy many coaches are using when referring to an offensive advantage (i.e. get the 1st domino to fall).
Rule #1: Quick Decisions
When an advantage is created the most important rule is to make quick, first-touch decisions. This is sometimes referred to as playing “.5 basketball.” When an advantage is created, you want to keep the advantage. The number one thing that will kill an advantage is indecision, or the ball coming to a stop.
When driving the ball with an advantage, the attacking player (with a shoulder-to-chest advantage) is deciding whether or not he can get downhill and finish or if he should kick it to an open player along the perimeter. If the attacking player sees a help defender’s chest in front of him, he should pass to where the help came from. If the attacking player does not see a help defender’s chest in front of him, he should continue and look to finish with his defender on his hip.
If the ball is kicked out, the player receiving the pass must make a quick decision on the catch. If given space, the player should look to shoot (if it is in his range and it is on balance, in rhthym). If the defender does not have space because of a hard closeout, the player should look to drive. If the player cannot drive because he does not have an advantage or there is no space (paint is clogged), he should look to move the ball or move the advantage to keep the defense in rotation.
Again, the most important factor in turning an advantage into a high value shot is making quick decisions and not letting the ball stick. Keep the advantage until the first great shot is created and don’t pass it up.
For a deeper dive into making quick decisions and playing “.5 basketball,” check out the Importance of Playing .5 Basketball breakdown.
Rule #2: Keep Space & Be Available
The 2nd rule of playing with an advantage is to keep space and be available. This rule refers to your dribble penetration reactions. For example, most coaches will say when the ball is driven towards you, be patient and push away to keep space. When the ball is driven away from you, lift or pull behind the driver.
Another important aspect of this rule is being available. A common phrase used when teaching this concept is “never be three in a row” meaning you should never be directly in line with the ball handler and your defender (three players in a row). If you are, there is no window for the ball handler to pass to you if needed.
To keep it simple, push away when the ball is driven at you, lift to fill behind if the ball is driven away and never be three in a row (find the passing window).
Rule #3: Get in, Get Out
The 3rd and final rule of playing with an advantage is to “get in and get out” meaning if you drive the ball and kick it out to a player along the perimeter, get back out to space along the perimeter as quickly as possible.
If you are able to drive the ball deep in the paint before kicking the ball out, replace opposite of your pass along the perimeter. If your drive is cut off and you kick the ball early (after 1-2 dribbles), replace yourself along the perimeter.
Sprinting to re-space re-opens driving lanes and the paint. However, it also gets you back in the action quicker. By sprinting to space along the perimeter, you make yourself available to receive the next kick out or extra pass, compared to if you were hanging out in the congested paint with multiple defenders around.
Of course you could make one hundred rules for playing with the advantage, but following these three simple rules once you create an advantage ensures you give yourself the best opportunity to create a high value shot.