Power Through Pressure
– Think The Game Thursday –

The best playmakers in the game are not afraid of pressure. They welcome it. They thrive on it – on the rebound, on the wing or in a trap, their default mode is the power position. In this week’s video, Tyler Coston shares how you can play with power, poise, and vision even under pressure.

Think Deeper

Don’t Avoid Contact

There is one thing great playmakers do consistently to get to the paint that average players don’t – they play with contact. Avoiding contact is a problem we see in thousands of the athletes we work with across the world every year.

We have the solution.

You need to think about one thing when driving to the basket if you want to play with more contact – getting sexy. Well not sexy exactly, more like SECSY. SECSY is an acronym we use to teach athletes how to initiate and maintain contact in playmaking situations.

S: Shoulder through the hip.

Open the door!! When attacking a defender you want to make a move and then get your shoulder to their hip and create a collision that will open their body up (open the door) and allow you to go by.

E: Explosive step.

Most people think about having an explosive first step but you actually want your first step to be toe to toe with the defenders to set up your shoulder through hip. If you explode with your first step you will typically avoid contact. After you open the door with your first step you explode by with your second step. You want to throw your shoulders in front of your body, getting low to the ground like a sprinter in the blocks. At times you may even touch the ground to maintain balance.

C: Create contact.

After you open the door and explode by your job isn’t done. A lot of players win this battle but lose the war because they don’t maintain contact. You want to think about severing the angle at this moment, cutting off the defenders ability to recover.

S: Space with dribbles.

Along with severing the angle this is the way you ensure the defense can’t recover to get back in front of you. Extend the ball out, be purposeful, and take as few dribbles as needed to get to the paint.

Y: Why? What’s next?

You now need the ability to read the defense in order to figure out what opportunity is available. Is it a finish for you? Is it a dump off pass because they helped? Is it pivoting to find a shooter? You have to make reads!

Line of attack. Imagine a line going from your eyes to the rim. This is the line you must stay on throughout your drive. If you drive in loops and curves it becomes impossible to get to dangerous areas. Stay on your line and get SECSY!!