Keys To Winning A Basketball Game

Determining the keys to winning consistently in basketball keeps many head coaches up late at night. As the coach puts together and develops his team, he wants a cohesive team with players that bring out the best in each other. In many cases, this is a more important factor than having one or two superstars who can dominate a game.

Team Defense

Playing tough defense is vital to any winning team. The coach wants all players to play with maximum effort on the defensive end of the court. This means stopping their opponent's dribble, jumping into the passing lanes to intercept passes, contesting every shot and battling hard for loose balls. It also means having the awareness to help teammates out on the defensive end if a player on the opposing team is a major scoring threat and double coverage is needed to stop him.

Quick Passing

When a team passes the ball aggressively, it does so because it wants to get the ball to an open player for an uncontested shot. Passing is an easy way to move the ball and the quickest way to get the ball to an open player. It also leads to an unselfish attitude for all the players on the team. Instead of looking for one hot shooter or a high-scoring player, the player likely to shoot is the one who is open and close to the basket.

Excellent Shooting

Your team has to be able to shoot the ball consistently to win. The only way you get points is through successful shooting, and it takes practice to become a dependable scorer. Shooters and scorers must have confidence to believe they can hit an open shot and that they can hit the key shot when the game is on the line. Teams work on shooting throughout practice, and the best shooters spend hours working on that aspect of the game when they are on their own.

Team Attitude

There's a subtle change in a group of players who suddenly believe in each other and become a winning team. Instead of playing to put up impressive scoring totals, they play for their teammates. Former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley was an All-American player at Princeton and became a Hall of Famer during his NBA career with the New York Knicks. He said the commitment that players have to each other eventually becomes a more important and overriding factor than individual talent when it comes to winning consistently.