When we’re facing a “rotated” mark paired with good up-line dump defense, we have to do a few things to win.
First, we have to cut and clear decisively. The defensive tactic succeeds if it forces the handlers to “dance,” clogging the reset lane and creating uncertainty for the thrower. Even if the handlers have nowhere to run but towards the defense, they must run. Often times, the defense isn’t as strong as it looks and the handler can swim past the up-line defender, or the thrower can shimmy to open up the around-break throw.
Even if the defense holds, the decisive handler movement will still expose a soft spot: the inside-out lane. There are a few ways to exploit it.
- A handler who makes a hard up-line cut can button-hook back towards the inside-out lane.
- A cutter – either the first person in a vertical stack, or a far-side cutter in a horizontal stack) can step into the i/o lane. If their defender has rotated to take away the i/o, then often a cutter can make a hard juke and get open straight to the sideline.
- Regardless of who makes the cut, the thrower can increase his odds exponentially by pivoting aggressively. In this case, that means pivoting to get his hips past the marker’s hips. By using his body to seal the marker, the thrower creates a clean throwing path to the inside lane — either the marker must concede it, or he must foul, resulting in a free throw and a new 10 seconds.
I hasten to add that I think this is a very good defensive strategy, worth adding to a team’s arsenal. Any time you can make a team resort to its second or third option, your defense is succeeding.
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