Changing Tempo During a Game

 I've been coaching for a very long time but I've always made it a point to approach coaching with the attitude of  "you don't know everything."  I was coaching a game last night and my team was giving up a lot of height to the opposition.  At the same time, the other team were not good shooters from the outside so we decided to play a 2-3 zone and pack it in.  This would serve the dual purpose of having all 5 of our boys crash the boards and protect the paint from the height difference we were dealing with.  

The zone worked fairly well.  The rebounding was okay and the outside shooting by the other team kept us in the game as it was poor.  At about the 3 minute mark of the 4th quarter we found ourselves down 6 points and we decided that we would no longer be in the packed in zone but would rather go man to man and extend full court.  This change of defense caught the other team off guard and got me thinking.  How much did the change in tempo that the new defense offered have to do with the opposition's inability to handle our new defense?  Teams grow into games.  What this means is that with enough time, 2 teams of equal talents will grow accustomed to the pace and the style of defense you are playing.  Being that we played a packed in 2-3 zone which allowed the other team to move the ball around the perimeter for most of the game, it made the other team grow used to the pace and the opportunities that were available for them against the zone.  Once those opportunities vanished with the change in defense the other team panicked and began throwing the ball away and rushing shots.  We managed to catch up and win in overtime thanks to  a game tying shot in regulation and good guard play but the success got me thinking about how the change in defense worked so well.

I think there is a lot to be said about changing defenses to change tempo.  This is easier to be done when you have players with speed or who can play comfortably either in a zone or a man.  Who can play 1/4 court defense or full court.  I've always known about the effects of changing defenses but usually don't do it because I like to play man to man aggressive defense throughout the game.  Now I may need to reevaluate my approach.  Like I said earlier, I don't know everything.  It's time to reevaluate.

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