When we begin to attack a 3/4 court press, we will start in the same press breaker as we do against full-court pressure. We set up in this press breaker assuming the defense will use full-court pressure. 04 takes the ball out of bounds, 05 and 01 work in tandem, 03 works the right side of the floor and 02 works the left side of the floor, as shown in diagram 44.

Once the ball is inbounded we will attack things differently than we do against a full-court pressure. After 04 inbounds the ball to 01, 04, and 02 will interchange. 05 works the middle of the floor. 03 continues to work the right side of the floor and 03 will move down the floor to spread the defense, see diagram 45.

We still need to maintain 45 degree angles. We need someone behind the ball to relieve pressure (02), keep good floor spacing, and Z the floor.

01 will begin to advance the ball up the floor by looking to pass to 05, if he is open in the middle of the floor. In moving the ball up the floor it is important to remember the quickest and most efficient way to advance theball is by passing the ball.

01 dribbles the ball towards the half-court line and will hit 05 immediately if he can, as shown indiagram 46. If 05 is not open 01 continues to dribble towards the half-court line and tries to get the defense to commit (start to form the trap). Just before being trapped or before crossing the half-court line, 01 reverses the ball to 02, as shown in diagram 47. Remember in a Box (2-2-1) press the defense is looking to trap the ball near the half-court area, so we must turn the ball before crossing the half-court line. Hopefully, we can do so after forcing the defense to shift to one side.

When 02 catches the ball he is looking to advance the ball across the half-court line and attack the basket. 02’s first look will be to 05 who continues to work the middle of the floor by moving in and out and attacking from behind the defense. If 05 is open we will look to hit 05 right away, as shown in diagram 47 and create a 3 on 2 situation, like we see in diagram 48.

If 05 is not open right away, 02 will look to hit 04 who has moved towards the baseline to spread the defense or to 03 on the right side of the floor. Ifthe defense had already begun to shift to form the trap on 01, 02 may be able to advance the ball across the half-court line with the dribble. We again look to attack the basket, but if we do not have an advantage we will bring the ball back out and set up our half-court offense. 02’s last option would be to return the ball back to 01.