What is a 2-1-2 Press?
A 2-1-2 press is a press setup with 2 players up front guarding the ball initiating the press. One player is in the middle of the floor. And two players are back in the press. The players form a 2-1-2 formation across the entire court.
The 2-1-2 is normally a ¾ press or a press where the front two players are extended about half-way between the half-court line and the 3-point line. This is normally a press that does not extends all the way up to the opposite baseline. It is extended past half-court but usually not by much.
The small extension into the press helps to keep the defense more compact in hopes that this will lead to better traps. The 2-1-2 press is also wanting to use the half-court line and sidelines as much as possible near a trap to limit the offense’s ability to go in all four directions. The ability of the press to trap in the right spots with using the sideline and midcourt line leads to better success for the press.
Advantages of a 2-1-2 Press
1) Less Likely to Give up Layups
The 2-1-2 press is different then most of the other presses because it keeps two players back closer to the defending basket. The 2-2-1 box press and the 1-2-1-1 diamond press have just one player back. The extended 1-3-1 press also has just one player all the way back. That means if the offense is able to get a pass through the defense or over the defense, then the offense is only going against 1 player at the rim. The 2-1-2 has two players back so the ability of the press to rotate with these two players give the defense much better coverage at the rim.
The 2-1-2 press by having 2 players back does not have much free space in the back of the press. The free space is in the middle of the press in between the front two players and the back two players of the press. This is the area the offense can run into or pass into to better beat the press. This has the advantage of keeping the ball in front of 2 or 3 defensive players making it harder for the offense to get a layup on the press break.
2) Better Positioning to get into half-court defense
If the defense has to move from a press to a half-court defense, then the 2-1-2 has a better chance of successfully dropping straight into the half court defense. The reason for this is the setup of the 2-1-2 having 2 players back. The zone defenses of 1-2-2, 2-3, and 3-2 zones give the defense an easy transition from the press to the half court.
As a defense, there are two times during a press that are the hardest to defend. The first is the pass coming out of a trap. The second hardest time to guard well is the transition period between the full court press and the half court defense. The 2-1-2 press dropping into one of the 3 zone defenses I mentioned earlier makes this transition period much faster. The faster the defense moves from full court defense to half court defense, the less time the offense has to attack the defense and score easy baskets.
The 2-3, 3-2 and 1-2-2 zone defenses make the transition easy out of the 2-1-2 press because if the players are put into certain spots, there is no need for the players to rotate or change their alignment. The defense simply drops back into the half-court. This keeps the defense into good guarding positions. The better guarding positions the defense can maintain, the less space the offense has to shoot and score.
3) Slows the offensive transition
The 2-1-2 press is much more of a defensive press in that it tries to slow the offense down and not let them score in transition. It forces the offense to stop and make good passes and decisions in getting the ball down the floor. This prevents the offense from just running down the floor and getting into their half-court offense quickly.
When playing against a team that likes to go fast and transition, a defense can do things to try and slow them down to control the tempo of the game. One thing a team can do is put on a defensive press. The 2-1-2 gives the defense the ability to stop the ball by having two players up front. And it reduces the risk by having two players in the back.
The 2-1-2 setup stops the ball which stops transition. Then it makes the offense play in front of the two back players thus preventing easy baskets. All of this combined slows the offense down and dictates the tempo of the game. A team wanting to play fast can struggle when the tempo is slowed down. The 2-1-2 press does a great job of helping the defense control the tempo of the game.
Disadvantages of a 2-1-2 Press
1) Less Likely to Get Steals
The 2-1-2 press being more of a defensive press means the ability to get steals is going to be reduced. It is not supposed to put a lot of pressure on the offense. The result of the 2-1-2 being more defensive is that the defense will not be putting on as much pressure. The less pressure causes a reduction in the number of steals the defense is going to get.
I think a lot of people have the idea that a press is supposed to produce pressure and steals. This is not true. The 2-1-2 press does not put as much pressure on the offense as far as trapping which means the offense should not turn the ball over as much.
2) Trapping is Harder in a 2-1-2 press then other presses
In a 2-1-2 press there is not a natural lane or place to get a trap. To get a good trap, the ball needs to be in between two defenders. In a 2-1-2 press those areas are in the middle of the floor so there is no help from the sideline acting as a third defender. And the rotation from the next defender is going to be late and slow. All of this makes trapping in a 2-1-2 press very hard.
The key to trapping in a 2-1-2 press all comes down to one player. That middle defender is the key to success in a 2-1-2 press. They have to be smart. They have to anticipate. They have to understand what is going to happen and where the ball is going to be passed before anybody else on the floor. Lastly even with their anticipation getting them closer, they still have to be fast enough to close the final little distance at times to get a trap. That brings us to the 3rd disadvantage.
3) The middle defender must be smart and anticipate which not all teams have
Some players are smart. Some players can anticipate well. Some players are both smart and can anticipate. The difference is the ability to do all of this and be at the right spot on the court at the exact right moment to get a trap. If the defense is able to move this middle defender with passing, then it reduces the chance of getting a trap to almost 0.
I have not coached a player who I thought could fill this role. I have coached against less than 10 players total and that number may be closer to 5 players who would be able to play the middle defender position. There are not a lot of players out there in my experience who could have played this spot effectively.
Without this unique player, the 2-1-2 press just is not going to work well. And then there are not many players who can fill the role of the middle defender. I have not coached one player who could have played the spot, so I have never had the opportunity to run this press. It is an effective press with the right middle defender though which makes it a good press.
Positions of a 2-1-2 Press
The front two players in the 2-1-2 press are usually in between the half-court line and 3-point line. It really depends on how far up the defense wants to pick up the ball. The middle defender is right around half-court. And the two back players are around the top of the 3-point line.
The middle defender is the key which I detailed earlier so I am not going to go in depth on this player.
The two front players are usually the guards. Their job is to stop the ball and slow it down. They are not trying to force the ball to a spot. They are just wanting to make the offense take as much time as possible. This gives the middle defender more time to figure things outs and get to a place to get a trap.
The two back defenders are normally going to be the post players. They are tasked with preventing any possible layups. They are wanting to stop the ball long enough to give enough time for the front 3 players to get back on defense. If the back 2 defenders are stopping the ball, then there is a good chance the offense has been able to get through the front defenders. So, now the back defenders are wanting to stall the offense to let the front defenders get back into a half-court defense.
Trapping in a 2-1-2 Press
The key to trapping in a 2-1-2 press is the middle defender. They have the freedom to roam. They are reading the offense and trying to anticipate where the ball is going to be.
The other four players are trying to basically slow down the ball until they hear the middle defender call out trap. The middle defender will communicate to the other four defenders when they are trapping.
When a trap is called then the middle defender and the player will trap. The other 3 defenders will rotate around towards the next pass or the basket. These are the rotations with each of the four different traps.
The middle defender is free to run and trap where and when they are able. In the above trap, the middle defender gets to the sideline and cuts the sideline off. The front defender follows the ball to form the trap.
The other 3 defenders have to rotate to take away the next pass out of the trap. The areas the 3 defenders need to cover are the sideline, the middle and the rim. The ballside back defender takes the sideline away. The backside defender takes the rim. The backside front defender rotates back into the middle of the floor.
In each trap the 3 other defenders are looking at getting to the sideline, the middle and the rim.
In the 2nd trap, now on the other side of the floor, the middle defender is coming across to finish the trap. In this trap the front defender has stayed in front of the ball as it is coming up the floor. The middle defender reads the ball handler going to the sideline. As the eyes of the ball handler leaves the middle of the floor, the middle defender can rush the ball and trap it before the dribbler realizes the trap is coming.
The other 3 defenders are rotating just like the previous trap except everything is moving to the other side of the floor. The sideline, middle and rim are still being covered.
The last 2 traps are when an offense make a pass over the top. If the middle defender can react to the pass quick enough, then they can trap with the back defenders.
The back defender will stop the ball. The middle defender will come out of the middle to finish the trap.
The other 3 defenders are all rotating behind the ball. There are 2 different rotations that can be done with the front 2 defenders sprinting back into the half-court defense.
The first one is if the offense does not have anybody on the ball side baseline. This means the defense does not have to rotate out to the baseline.
So, the backside back defender goes to the front of the rim. The backside front sprints to the high post area. The ball side front defender is coming back close to the trap and taking away the nearest offensive player to the trap.
This kind of rotation is trying to force the offense to make a skip pass out of the trap. A skip pass gives these 3 defenders an opportunity to jump the pass and get a steal. This is perhaps the more aggressive rotation out of the two.
In the 2nd scenario, the trap still occurs with the middle defender coming to trap. The backside back defender is moving to the ball side short corner area. The back side front defender is running to the front of the rim. The ball side front defender is sprinting to the high post area if somebody is there. If the high post area is empty, then this defender can move up towards mid-court.
This kind of rotation is getting more players behind the ball. This is the more conservative of the two rotations. This will prevent layups even if the offense makes a pass over the top of the front defenders.
Keys to a 2-1-2 Press
1) Having a player to play the middle
As you have read in the above sections, the middle defender is key to the entire press. They are creating any traps that are occurring. They have to play sideline to sideline. They have to be very good at reading what the offense is doing and reacting quickly.
A player that can not play this position correctly creates a disjointed defense. The front two players are guarding the ball. The back two defenders are protecting the rim. But there is no continuity between the two parts without a good middle defender. This player is the glue.
2) Understanding this is a tempo press and not a turnover press
A 2-1-2 press should not be used to create turnovers. It is to slow down an offense and create a game tempo favorable to the defense. It is going to force the offense into a more half-court game. This is a great press to use against a team that looks to score a lot of their points in transition.
The players need to understand this concept as well. If they think we are pressing so we should be gambling and trying for a bunch of steals, then they are going to put themselves out of position looking for traps when no trap is coming. The players need to understand the reasoning behind what the press is trying to accomplish.
3) Good transition defense from press to half-court
A defense has to transition from a press to half-court defense effectively. A bad transition will give the offense time and space to score. A good transition will move from the press into the half-court while maintaining good positioning and ball pressure. This takes away any time for an offense to attack.
This lack of time for the offense usually means they have to center the ball back to half-court and start their offense. All of this is slowing them down even more. And if the press is being used for tempo purposes, then this re-centering is giving the defense even more advantage.
This transition is also about sprinting out of a trap after a pass has been made to a half-court defense. A defense that traps is going to be vulnerable right after the trap because the offense should have a 4 on 3 advantage. The way a defense reacts after a trap is important. A score right after a trap can be demoralizing to a defense. So, this transition needs to occur well to prevent those possible scores.
Youth Basketball and the 2-1-2 Press
The 2-1-2 press can be an effective press at the youth level because of the possible basketball knowledge difference in players. At the youth level some players have a much high basketball IQ than other players. Those players will be able to play the middle spot effectively because of their higher basketball IQ.
The development difference between kids can be exaggerated at the youth level. Some kids mature faster leading to size and speed differences. Likewise, some players start understanding the game of basketball quicker than other players leading to basketball intelligence differences. A 2-1-2 press can exploit those differences with the right player.
And a 2-1-2 press is going to be using all 5 players. Nobody can be hidden away. However, the middle player will be doing more than the other 4. The other 4 will still have responsibilities for the defense to be effective. This press still works on developing all players even though some players are going to be tasked with doing more.
Conclusion
The 2-1-2 press can be an effective press at the high school level. But the younger the players, the more likely the press is going to work. It can work at the varsity level but it is unlikely. It is more likely to work at the freshman team level. It is a viable press to use at the junior high level. And it is a press I would use at the youth level.
There are three main reasons why the 2-1-2 press can be used at the youth level and cannot be used the older the players get. The first reason is the speed of the game and players. The game and players get faster the older they get. The slowness of the game at the youth level gives the middle defender time to get into correct spots. The high school game tends to move too fast for the middle defender to be able to get into the right positions to get effective traps.
The second reason is the skill and talent of the players. The skill and talent of the players increases as the players get older and are able to work on their game. The middle of the press tends to be wide open. The ability to pass the ball into this open area is not the same between elementary kids and high school kids. The kids are able to dribble better as they get older so the ability to dribble at the press becomes easier as well.
The third reason is the overall knowledge of the players. At the youth level there may be only one or two players on each team that understand the game and how to work the game in their favor. At the high school level, most players have a good understanding of the game although there are some players still at a higher basketball IQ than others. High school players may be tricked once or twice but then they will stop doing what is getting them in trouble. At the youth level this repeated action can occur more often because they think something will work even when it is not.
I like the 2-1-2 press as an early press to learn as kids are starting the game of basketball. It teaches teamwork and spacing. It gives all players the ability to learn more without overwhelming them with different things. The smarter players can play the middle and process more things. The lower IQ players can be put in one of the outside spots and be given one or two things to do. All of this allows each player to be progressing and getting better at basketball.
At a certain age around jr. high to high school, the players have enough basketball knowledge to understand spacing that they can attack the openness of the 2-1-2 press. They also have the skills to use the dribble to attack and retreat to keep the middle defender from getting a good trap. At the high school, the 2-1-2 press can be used with a special player playing the middle spot, but for most teams the 2-1-2 is just not a viable option.
