What is the strong side in basketball
The strong side in basketball is the left side or right side of the court that the ball is currently located on, which also contains one or more offensive players as well as at least one or more defensive players.
As an example, if an offensive player in the frontcourt has possession of the ball at the top but afterwards, that same player passes it to another offensive player on the right side wing, then this means that the right side of the court is now the strong side.
Furthermore, if the ball is currently located on the strong side, then the opposite side of the court would be known as the weak side. That is to say, the weak side is the opposite side of the court, which does not contain the basketball.
What are general actions that offensive players could implement on the strong side
Offensive players on the strong side of the court could implement actions such as perimeter or post isolation, overload, basketball cuts or basketball screens.
Isolation
When the ball moves to a side of the floor (that is, the strong side), it is possible for the offensive team to clear out and isolate that same side which gives the offensive team’s best perimeter player or post player the opportunity to create scoring opportunities for themselves or other teammates.
For example, one offensive player in possession of the ball could be near the strong side wing or strong side low post block while the other offensive players fill the weak side and other areas of the court that are more than one pass away from the ball.
When that happens, the offensive player with the ball could execute basketball moves against the defensive player currently guarding them in a 1-on-1 setting.
Furthermore, if another defender, usually more than one pass away, attempts to execute weak side help defense or perhaps a double team, then the offensive player with the ball could simply pass it to another teammate as an additional scoring option.
Overload
When the ball is on the strong side, it is possible for the offensive team to overload that side of the floor by filling it with multiple offensive players.
This particular concept is typically utilized as a tactic against zone defense as opposed to man to man defense because a zone defense will generally include only a certain amount of defenders on a side of the floor.
Basically, by overloading the strong side of the court, specifically against zone defense, the offensive team could create an advantage numbers-wise. That is to say, there would be more offensive players than zone defenders.
As a result, the zone defenders would not be able to effectively cover all of the offensive players, which could lead to scoring opportunities for the offensive team.
Basketball Cuts
When the ball is on the strong side, this gives offensive players the chance to execute various types of basketball cuts such as the backdoor cut, the baseline cut, and the Laker cut.
Backdoor Cut
A typical backdoor cut occurs when an offensive player without the ball takes a quick step towards an offensive player with the ball and immediately cuts to the basket.
For example, an offensive player near the strong side wing or strong side corner could execute a backdoor cut to the basket, receive the ball from an adjacent teammate, and score with a layup or dunk.
Baseline Cut
A baseline cut occurs when an offensive player without the ball, initially on the weak side, cuts through the baseline area, typically to the strong side corner.
Afterwards, that same cutting player could receive the ball from another offensive player with the ball on the strong side for a potential jump shot from the mid-range or beyond the three-point line if that is open.
Laker Cut
The Laker cut occurs when an offensive player, typically near the strong side wing or strong side corner passes the ball to another player near the low post area and afterwards, cuts to the basket above or below the offensive player near the low post.
From there, the offensive post player with the ball could pass it back to the cutting player for a possible scoring opportunity at the basket.
Basketball Screens
When the ball is on the strong side of the court, offensive players could execute certain types of basketball screens such as corner ball screen, the cross screen, the side ball screen, and the step-up screen.
Corner ball screen
The corner ball screen occurs when an offensive player with the ball near the strong side corner receives an on-ball screen from another offensive player.
Afterwards, the offensive player with the ball could use the screen to score themselves or generate assists for other teammates.
Cross screen
The cross screen occurs when an offensive player without the ball receives a screen, typically set in the middle of the lane.
Afterwards, the offensive player without the ball could use the screen, cut through to the strong side low post, receive the ball, and then attempt to score by way of low post moves near the basket.
Side ball screen
The side ball screen occurs when an offensive player has possession of the ball near the strong side wing area and afterwards, that same player receives an on-ball screen from another teammate that faces the adjacent sideline.
Following that, the offensive player with the ball could attempt to get dribble penetration towards the middle of the lane which could lead to a mid-range shot, layup at the basket, or possible assists via additional scoring options for other offensive players without the ball.
Step-up screen
The step-up screen occurs when an offensive player has possession of the ball near the strong side wing area and afterwards, that same player receives an on-ball screen from another teammate that has their back turned away from the baseline.
Afterwards, the offensive player with the ball could attempt to get baseline penetration, which could lead to a mid-range perimeter shot or scoring opportunity near the rim for the offensive player with the ball or offensive player that set the screen.
What are general actions that defensive players could implement on the strong side
Defensive players could implement actions on the strong side such as on-ball defense, low post front, denial defense, stunt defense, and ice defense.
On-ball defense
When the ball is on the strong side, particularly near the strong side wing or strong side corner, at least one defender should guard the offensive player that has current possession of the basketball with proper on-ball defense.
The main purpose of the on-ball defense is to limit dribble penetration and take away uncontested jump shots near the perimeter or from beyond the three-point range.
To execute adequate on-ball defense, the defender should implement the basic skills of the defensive stance as well as the defensive slide.
Defensive stance
To execute the defensive stance, the feet of the on-ball defender should be slightly wider than shoulder width apart with bent knees and a straight back while maintaining balance.
Also, the on-ball defender should remain on the balls of the feet and not stand flat-footed. Following that, the on-ball defender should implement a certain amount of defensive pressure against the player with the ball.
However, the on-ball defender should not reach at the offensive player in an attempt to steal the ball as that could lead to an undesirable foul. Furthermore, the hands of the on-ball defender should be active mirroring the ball and away from the sides of the body.
Moreover, if the offensive player with the ball has the ability to shoot the ball accurately from the mid-range or three-point range, then the on-ball defender could keep one hand near the face of the offensive player while the other hand continues to mirror the ball.
Defensive slide
To execute a defensive slide, the feet of the on-ball defender should move laterally from side to side with one foot leading the other while still executing the proper defensive stance.
For example, if a defender wants to move to their right (which would be the left side of the court from the offensive team’s point of view), then the defender should move laterally (from side to side) with the right foot leading first followed by the left foot thereafter.
Conversely, if a defender would like to move to their left (which would be the right side of the court from the offensive team’s point of view), then the defender should move laterally (from side to side) with the left foot leading first followed by the right foot afterwards.
Also, the feet of the on-ball defender should be kept as close to shoulder width apart as possible while executing the lateral slide. In other words, the defender’s feet should never be too close together as that would take away the defender’s lateral quickness.
Furthermore, it is also important to mention that the feet of the on-ball defender should not cross over each other when executing the lateral defensive slide.
If that were to occur, not only does this eliminate the defender’s ability to effectively slide laterally, but it also could cause the defender to lose balance and possibly fall to the floor.
Low post front
If the ball is on the strong side, particularly near the perimeter areas, and there is also an offensive player near the strong side low post, then a suitable off-ball defender should front the low post player.
The main purpose of the low post front is to deny an easy entry pass into the low post area.
Generally speaking, to front the low post, the off-ball defender should position themselves between the ball and the low post player that is being currently guarded.
Furthermore, the low post defender should place an arm into the passing lane between the ball and the offensive low post player.
Moreover, the low post defender could front the post on the low side near the baseline or near the high side towards the perimeter and half court line.
However, it should also be noted that the low post front could become vulnerable to the offensive post seal counter in which the offensive low post player executes a pivot turn to face the basket with the low post defender behind them.
Therefore, it is usually more effective to execute the low post front when there is at least one other help defender nearby on the weak side area.
Denial defense
When the ball is on the strong side, it is possible in certain instances for an off-ball defender on that same side to deny the ball to an offensive player that is one pass away from the ball.
For example, if the ball is on the strong side wing, then an off-ball defender could deny the ball to an offensive player in the corner.
However, this corner denial is typically not necessary unless the offensive player being denied is the offensive team’s primary scoring option and/or the defensive team is implementing a junk defensive scheme against that offensive player.
Conversely, if the ball is in the strong side corner, then an off-ball defender could deny the ball to the offensive player on the wing.
In this instance, the denial action could be highly effective for the defensive team. Essentially, if the ball gets stuck in the corner, particularly after the offensive player ends their dribble, then this limits the offensive team’s scoring options.
Stunt defense
When the ball is on the strong side, particularly near the wing or corner, an adjacent off-ball defender one pass away could stunt at the ball as a tactic of limiting dribble penetration.
For example, let’s say an offensive player has possession of the ball on the strong side wing and then that same player gets by the defender currently guarding them and dribbles toward the baseline.
From that point, an adjacent off-ball defender one pass away could stunt at the player with the ball for about a half-second and then recover to the offensive player that they were originally guarding.
The main objective of the stunt defensive action is to slow down the dribble penetration of the offensive player with the ball until the on-ball defender that was initially guarding that same offensive player can recover to get back in front of the ball.
However, it is also important to note that the defender that stunts at the ball should not attempt to fully stop the ball or execute switch defense with the initial on-ball defender.
It is because the offensive player with the ball only has to execute one pass for the stunting defender’s assignment to receive the ball, which could lead to an uncontested jump shot.
Ice defense
When the ball is on the strong side, in certain instances, the offensive team might utilize a side ball screen as an attempt to get the ball into the middle of the court, especially into the lane.
Therefore, the on-ball defender as well as the screener’s defender on the strong side could implement ice defense as a tactic to counter that offensive action.
To execute ice defense, the on-ball defender will jump above the side ball screen, before it is fully set while the screener’s defender stays below the screen near the free throw line extended area inside of the three-point line.
The primary objective of this is to keep the ball on the strong side while limiting scoring options of the offensive player with the ball as well as hindering the potential roll action of the screener.
