This basketball finishing drill is great for teaching players to catch the ball, square up their defender, and then face the pressure. If the player catches the ball and immediately gets on their heels and doesn’t square up the defender, they are not an offensive threat. They are not able to see the floor or be in a position to make a move past their defender. That allows the defender to have full liberty to harass the player with the ball, and the offense is basically at a standstill from this point.
The key is to be strong with the ball, face the pressure, and then make the defender pay for being over-aggressive. Once this happens a couple of times, the defender will back off, and you will be able to run the offense. Basketball drills like this seem like they are working on a smaller skill, but without being able to handle pressure, the offense will struggle.
Basketball Drill Overview
Drill Name: Face The Fire Triple Threat Basketball Drill
Equipment Needed: 1 basketball and a partner with boxing gloves (optional).
Similar Basketball Drills and Resources
Goals of the Drill
- Learn to face the pressure out of the triple threat and then rip through for a strong finish at the basket.
Coaching Points
- Clear your space and keep the basketball in positions where you are strong.
- Don’t expose the ball to the defender.
- Make sure that you see the floor so that if there is an open teammate in a game, you won’t miss them.
- Be explosive on the rip through move and go in a straight line to the basket.
Basketball Drill Instructions
- The player will start with their back to the basket just inside the 3 point line on the wing.
- They will spin the ball to themselves just outside the 3 point line, reverse pivot, and square up to the basket in the triple threat position.
- As they are doing this, the partner is going to be fouling them with the boxing gloves.
- The player must keep the ball strong and not turn it over.
- When the coach/partner says go, the player must rip through (you can decide what type of rip through to work on; low, medium, or high) and finish at the basket with 1 dribble (younger players may need 2 dribbles).
- As soon as they finish, the player is going to get their own rebound and then spin the ball out to themselves at the top of the key and repeat, and then finally, they are going to finish on the opposite wing with the same move for a total of 3 different spots.
