Breathing Room is a Must

The best way to defend and slow down a very talented three point shooter is to get in his face and challenge every shot they put up. In order to prevent this teams/coaches set up special plays to get their respected long range shooters an open and clear shot at the hoop.

There are many ways a team can achieve this and a very good play is a simple pick and roll. This occurs when the shooter sets a screen for the ball handler and then rolls off his defender and that creates enough space for he can get an open look. Another method is just simply setting a screen for the shooter, and the video above is a great example of this. A shooter can also create his own shot just by using a crossover dribble (Example in video below) or also using a shot fake to get the defender in the air. Another good plan is ball rotation, in which you the team rotates the ball around three point line until they get an open look, this technique works best against a man to man defense. The last method I will mention is ball penetration in which the ball handler enters the paint and allows the zone to collapse around him, then dishes it out to an open shooter for three. This method works best against a zone defense.