Attacking the weak sisters in the zone

By Clay Kallam
Publisher

A team can go a long way with a good defense, solid rebounding and an offense that works against man-to-man. But there comes a time, in every season, when there's no way around it: You have to beat a zone.

From a distance, all zone attacks are the same, and it comes down to this: If you make your open jumpers, your zone attack is the work of an offensive genius. If you don't make your open jumpers, your zone attack is the work of a coach who will soon be pursuing other career opportunities.

But this discussion will not be about the fundamentals of the zone attack, and the best way to apply them, but rather about one of the inherent weaknesses of a zone that a clever team can attack -- and exploit. This won't work all the time (nothing does, as you've undoubtedly figured out by now) but at certain key moments, this strategic wrinkle can turn a game around.

The basic idea is this: A zone defense allows the offense to determine whom to attack, which can be a huge advantage in two distinct ways.

The first is obvious: If your opponent starts three all-leaguers and plays a 2-3 zone, then obviously there are two players out there who aren't all-leaguers. Therefore, run your offense at them rather than the all-leaguers.

Practically speaking, there is usually a significant difference in athleticism between one forward in the 2-3 and the other, and there is often a significant difference in the two guards as well. From the defensive coach's point of view, there are two options: Stack both strong players on the offense's right-hand side, since most teams are offensively right-handed; or have the strong guard on the same side as the weak forward.

Clearly, if both strong defenders are on the same side, only the most obstinate coach would insist on trying to attack that side of the floor. If they're going to give you the left-handed side of the floor, then put your best wing on that side, and go to it.

But even if they have a strong guard on one side, that means the baseline is vulnerable. Put your best driver in the corner, give her the ball and have her take that weak sister to the hole. If the good guard comes down to double, the zone is now extremely distorted and either a skip to the other wing or a pass back to the point guard spotted up (hopefully for a three) has to be open.

This basic strategy is, for some reason, seldom employed. Most teams just run their zone attack, pretty much regardless of the strengths and weaknesses of the various players in the various positions. But even if you don't have a scouting report, it won't take long to see which defenders are strong (to be avoided) and which players aren't (hello, we're back again).

The other significant weakness of the zone comes late in the game, when fouls are a problem. At Campolindo High School in California, where I coach, we played a very tough team in the semifinals that ran an excellent 3-2 zone. The other team, Terra Nova, had two very good players who carried their offense. One of them, providentially, got in foul trouble in the fourth quarter -- and since Terra Nova never twitched out of that zone, we went right at her every time down the floor. Realizing this, the other coach moved the player to another spot in the zone, but we always knew where to find her, and she fouled out in the final minutes.

If Terra Nova had played a man, they could have assigned their foul-troubled player to our least effective offensive player and had her focus on denying the ball. But Terra Nova's zone got them this far, and most zone teams are similarly committed -- so the point guard need only direct the attack at the girl with four fouls to either get her out of the game or force the opponents to play a defense they don't want to play.

Going after players with foul trouble can and should happen early, especially if you know a particular player is foul-prone. As soon as any starter has two fouls, it's worth a shot to get that third one -- and once she has three, why not go for four?

All that said, though, there's still one key to the zone attack: Make open shots. It won't matter if you attack the weak sister and keep missing layups, or if you foul out the other team's best player but are down by 20 at the time. Still, in a close game, the strategic weakness of the zone can be crucial. The offense has the choice of where to attack, and should make that choice with malice aforethought.

9/3/96