Special defense: 1-1-3 match-up zone

Nothing can replace solid fundamentals and strong individual and team defense. But there are players and teams with clear problems in their defensive match-ups, or with the inability to deal with the basic defensive situations. The main reason for these problems comes to the difference in technical and physical skills. A better strategic approach to this concern can help hide these weaknesses, and can change or ruin the opponents' offensive flow.

One of these strategies can be the use of the 1-1-3 zone defense against three common offensive plays.
1) Double high post with series of screens.
2) High pick-and-roll.
3) Play with the double exit for the guard.
RULES FOR DEFENDERS
These are the main rules for the single defenders:
▼ The first defender must be in front, putting constant pressure on the dribbler, pushing him to one side of the court.
▼ The defender on the free-throw line must switch on every screen, defend against the high post, or guard the first pass to the high-post player.
▼ The defender against the low-post player must prevent any pass to the post player, defending in front of him (or 3/4 in front of him, depending on the single defensive system or philosophy).
▼ The player on the wing must play against the offensive player on the wing, forcing him to get higher or lower (depending on how the post player is guarded).
▼ The defender in the paint must protect the rim and be responsible for defensive rebound on the weak side.

David Blatt began his coaching career in 1993 as the assistant coach of Galil Elyon (Israel). Later, he has become the team's head coach, and stayed there until 1999. He was named Coach of the Year in the Israel National League in 1996. He became also assistant coach of the National team of Israel. In 2000 he went to Maccabi Tel Aviv as the assistant coach, taking over the head coaching duties in 2001 (winning two national titles and playing in the Euroleague Final Four). He was again Maccabi's assistant coach in 2003-04, and then in 2004 he went to Dynamo St. Petersburg, where his team won the 2004-05 FIBA EuroCup and was named Coach of the Year for the Russian League. Since 2005
he has been coaching Benetton (Italy), where his team won the 2005-06 Italian
title. He became the Russian Men's National team head coach in 2006.

---