Prepping Your Team for Post-Season Play

Post-season play is right around the corner (and may have even started for some of you).

Here are a few thoughts about how to optimize the end of your season:

1. Shorten your practices, keep it light, get some shots up, game prep, and get out of there. You don’t need to have 2–3 hour practices at this point in the season. The main focus should probably be on keeping your players fresh, maintaining skill levels, and prepping for your next game.
2. Add some wrinkles (or new stuff altogether). You’ve likely been running the same stuff all season. Now isn’t a bad time to throw in some wrinkles or curveballs for your opponent. Change your ball screen coverage a little, add a different zone read, put in a new backdoor set, add another option to something your opponent’s are familiar with.
3. Have a “Last Supper” after your last regular-season game. Get together as a team, talk about how the post-season is different, and have one last communal meal together before the focus level really amps up while the team tries to advance as far as they can.
4. Spend more time prepping for your opponents. Really study the film and look for an advantage for your team. Walk through what your opponent is going to do and make sure your players know what is coming. THEY don’t need to know everything (that’s your job to prioritize what’s important), but YOU should probably know everything.
5. Have some fun. Each team has its own journey. And often struggle is involved. Find a way to enjoy the last few weeks with THIS particular team. That could look like a lot of things — going to a sporting event as a group, heading out to dinner, going bowling, watching a movie, doing something fun at practice — whatever. Enjoy the last moments you have.
6. Self Scout. Get somebody to watch your film as if they were preparing to play against you. See what your weaknesses are and any areas you may need to shore up before you get in the thick of the post-season.
7. With the post-season comes a lot more late-game situations. Here is a short (somewhat random) list of some things you might want to drill with your team (before it’s too late):free throw situationsintentionally missing, how to defend an intentional miss, free throw box out strategiesup 3/down 3what do you run?up 2/down 2what do you run?up 1/down 1what do you run?tiewhat do you run?up 4+/down 4+what’s the comeback strategy?down 10 to start the 4th quarter (or something similar)inbounds situationsBLOBsSLOBsFull court (getting it in when you’re winning against full pressure/denying certain players)delay game/defending a delay gamefouling the right players/making sure our right players have the ball to get fouledI think this is so underrated with end-of-game strategywhat to do when the other team scores and you have no timeoutsWhat’s the philosophy? Get the ball in a particular player’s hands? Get to the rim? Or something else?

BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT EVERYTHING!

Before we close here, I want to pitch a drill I love, and have mentioned numerous times both here and on Twitter, is called “95–95”.

Put the score of 95–95 up on the clock, add 2:00, and have your team play live in the full court. When a team gets to 100, start the clock and play the situations from there.

Now comes the fun part.

You can alter this drill however you want.

You could make the point guard foul out, you could have the losing team only have 3 team fouls, you could not allow any timeouts, you could officiate atrociously against one of the teams, etc. etc. etc.

It’s up to you as far as whatever curve balls you throw at your team.

Or you could just play it straight up.

I’d probably do this drill, or something like it, 2–3 times each practice in the postseason as the likelihood of a closer game or situation is much more likely.

P.S. — Whenever you’re ready, there are a few ways I can help you as a coach!

1. Hoops Companion Master Playbook/Drill Book with almost 500 pages of plays and drills
2. Film Consultations — I can scout opponents or provide a scout of your own team. Email thehoopscompanion@gmail.com for more info!
3. Create Your Coaching Portfolio Course to help you organize your coaching, develop a portfolio, and focus your philosophy (self-paced course)
4. Follow us on social media (we are everywhere)