The PGC Blog

Great shooters like Ray Allen and Kobe Bryant are providing a must-watch NBA Finals series as they show off theiroffensive games to give their teams another NBA crown. While it can be difficult to prevent a great shooter from scoring, especially if they have strong counter dribble moves, there are a few simple things you can do ‘every’ and ‘always’ to limit the scoring opportunities for any great shooter.

Attitude is probably the most important aspect of the game. What is your attitude? All of us have a good attitude when things are going well; when we’re the stars of our teams and winning big games, but what’s your attitude when your team is losing?

ESPN’s Jay Bilas wrote a terrific blog during last year’s basketball season about the often used (yet often misunderstood) word in sport – toughness. It was one of the best blogs I’ve ever read, and a viral buzz was created because of it. Here are some key, bullet point thoughts about this word.

Regardless of what position you play and what level you compete at, avoid these three common offensive mistakes. It will create more offensive efficiency and productivity for you and your team. More importantly, once you start playing with a shot clock, it becomes even more important to avoid these offensive pitfalls.

As basketball players we should always try to gain a one second advantage. We can do so by using screens, moving on penetration, moving defenders with fakes, etc. Often that one second advantage is the difference between getting a great shot and having a shot contested or coming up with an empty possession and not even getting a shot off at all.

Basketball is a contact sport. Period. In varying degrees of training, I seldom see coaches and athletes work against defensive contact. If an offensive player doesn’t make that first punch though, good luck making it beyond the first round, or first line of defense in basketball terms.

Officials have the thankless job of maintaining the integrity of the game; something that is very important. Yet, the sport community of players, fans, and coaches are not acting in ways that I would consider ‘championship-like’. Here are some key things to remember about Officials.