Full Court Press Basketball

There are several defensive techniques in basketball that teams use to create turnovers, intimidate their opponents, and control the pace of the game. A classic example is the full court press, which is especially effective at these tasks. Keep reading to learn how a full court press works in basketball.

What Is a Full Court Press in Basketball?

In basketball, a full court press is a defensive technique in which players apply pressure along the full length of the court. This is in contrast to a half court press, in which pressure is only applied in a team’s defensive half of the court. In a full court press, defenders will immediately begin trying to force a turnover after the other team gains possession rather than waiting for them to advance the ball down the court.

Full Court Press Basics

A full court press in basketball is a defensive strategy where players aggressively cover opposing players by spreading out across the full length of the court with the goal of forcing a turnover. This can mean a zone defense, such as a 2-2-1 or a 1-2-1-1, or a full court man-to-man press. 

The role of each defensive player varies on whether it is a zone or man, but the goals always remain the same: to create turnovers, speed up the offense, change the momentum of the game, and take time off of the clock from the half-court offense.

Strengths of the Full Court Press

Pressing in the full court with a deep team gives an extra advantage over a half court trap or press, because it can cause the offensive team to become more fatigued after dealing with pressure all the whole length of the court. This leads to more steals as time goes on, accomplishing the goal of creating turnovers and momentum shifts.

A full court press is one of the only ways in which a team can dictate the tempo of a game, speeding it up or slowing it as they want, depending on the amount of pressure that's applied. The ability to control the game’s pace, along with creating turnovers, makes this a strong defense to use.

Weaknesses of the Full Court Press

Although pressing can lead to great gains for a team, it can also cause negative outcomes too. A good press takes a lot of moving parts to work together well, and if they don’t, it will lead to easy buckets for the offensive team. This amount of practice time used learning the press could leave a team behind in other facets of the game. 

In the end, a press is a high-risk yet high-reward defense, so even the best presses give up easy buckets from time to time. All in all, a full court press can pay dividends, although it is a calculated risk in the end that can go wrong too.

Types of Full Court Presses

There are many variations on the full court press, and they are usually divided into man-to-man presses and zone presses. Here is a list of the most common types of full court presses:

• Full-Court Man-to-Man Pressure
• Full-Court Run and Jump Defense
• Diamond Press
• 2-2-1 Press
• 1-3-1 Press
• 3-1-1 Press
• 1-2-2 Press

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