Your team's ability to win a basketball game rests largely on the strength of your offense. Offense is where the team has the chance to score. It involves making plays and moves that will eventually lead to a score. Where defense is more about reacting to the opposing team, offense is more about making the actions.
To play good offense it is important to include a lot of moves that will throw off the opposing team's defense and give you good court position. The opposing team is working hard to anticipate your moves so you have to be unpredictable.
There still are three moves that are used quite often in offensive play because they work well. They allow the team to move the ball and get good court position. These three moves are often reactions to moves made by the defense which makes them last minute moves that every player needs to have mastered.
Move 1: Curl - The curl is used after a player cuts and the screen is in place. Sometimes defenders will try to go around the screen, defeating the whole purpose of the play. At this point a player will call a curl to alert everyone to the defender embarking on the screen. Players react to keep the ball protected and the screen in place.
This move is important as a backup to offensive plays. It is going to keep the ball safe and keep the good court position just created by the play.
Move 2: Flare - This is a move made after the cut and after the screen is made. It involves the player coming off the screen and shooting right away. It is usually combined with a fake to get the defense off the trail and out of the way before making the shot.
This is a classic move that is used quite a bit after a cut play.
Move 3: Pocket - The pocket is a move that helps to defend the player with the ball. It is much like a cut or screen move, but with a pocket the defender is blocked when coming at the elbow. The ball can then be shot and caught at the elbow. This allows for the ball handler to have perfect form and the ability to defend themselves in case other players can not be there to act as defenders on his behalf.
Knowing these three basic moves can help your offense to be ready for whatever the defense will throw their way. You can not underestimate your opponent. No matter how predictable a team may seem to be, they can always bring out a new move to the basketball hoop that will then throw you off.
If a team does not have the ability to react quickly to moves by the opposing team then the game is easily lost. Being a master at as many fundamental moves in the game as possible allows for the best team possible. A team that has a variety of moves is also not a team that people can make predictions about. The other team will have to be on their game when playing you and that makes for some great basketball.
