Defense Zone 2

A 1-2-2 Zone Defense starts with one player at the top around the top of the key, two players on the wings around the elbow area, and two players just above the low blocks. With a 1-2-2 Zone Defense every player has a responsibility to cover an area on the perimeter. This makes the 1-2-2 Zone a great go-to defensive strategy to use against a team who excels at scoring from the perimeter. Ideally, the 1-2-2 Zone Defense is used against teams with strong guards and shooters but weak on the inside.

The 1-2-2 zone defense features a top defender that applies immediate ball pressure, two defenders at the high post areas, and two defenders near the low post blocks.

Additionally, the wing defenders can either cover the high post areas near the elbows or extend the zone out to deny ball entry to the wing players.

Also, in the 1-2-2 zone defense, those same wing defenders typically start out by only covering the high post areas and apply instant pressure when an offensive wing player receives the basketball.

The post defenders focus on guarding the left and right post blocks respectively.

In addition, the post defenders must be quick enough to run out towards the corners and close out on potential three point shooters.

The sections below include some general principles and showcase brief examples of the 1-2-2 zone defense.

General Principles

This section covers the general principles of the 1-2-2 zone defense.

Active Hands
1-2-2 zone defenders should have their hands up and active at all times. This will make it much more difficult for the offense to pass through the gaps of the zone.

Move with the ball
1-2-2 zone defenders should move with the ball. It is important for each defender to move to their correct area as the ball is moving.

If a player within a designated area moves after an offensive player catches a pass from another teammate, that offensive player could have the opportunity to take a wide open jump shot especially if the ball is moved to a wing or corner.

Communication
1-2-2 zone defenders should always look to communicate with one another.

Similar to man to man defense, players operating within this zone defense must talk with other teammates to call out offensive actions such as passing and cutting.

Players will also need to determine which offensive player is open and quickly tell their teammate to close out swiftly on that offensive player.

Perimeter ball pressure
Unlike certain types of zone defenses, when the 1-2-2 zone defense is implemented, the offensive perimeter players will receive a certain amount of pressure.

If the ball is at the top of the key, the middle defender will guard the ball closely.

Likewise, if the ball is passed to one of the offensive wing players, the wing defenders will guard those respective offensive players closely.

Overall, this is a good zone defense to execute against teams with good outside shooters.

Transition opportunities from ball pressure
As mentioned previously, the 1-2-2 zone defense allows the perimeter defenders to apply instant pressure on the ball.

This type of pressure can possibly create turnovers via steals which will then produce transition opportunities for easy layups.

High post and corners are vulnerable
One of the primary weaknesses of the 1-2-2 zone is that there are potential openings which are found at the high post and the corners.

If a team is able to pass into the high post, this can create open mid range shots, high low action, or kick out passes to shooters in the corners.

Low post entry can cause problems
The 1-2-2 zone defense only has two post defenders: one on each respective post block.

What this means is that if the ball is entered into the low post from a possible high low, wing, or corner pass, a post defender will have to play one on one defense or the post defender will have to receive help from another teammate.

Unfortunately, if a post defender receives help from a teammate, the ball can be quickly passed back out unto the perimeter for a possible open jump shot.

So, it is important that the offensive post player is fronted by the post defender or that the ball is not able to be entered into the low post in the first place.

Top

This is an example of the defensive coverage when the ball is at the top of the 1-2-2 zone defense.

X1 places immediate defensive pressure on the ball handler.

X2 and X3 cover the high post areas. If the ball is passed from the top to the wing, the wing defender on ball side immediately closes out on the offensive wing player.

X4 and X5 stay within the respective low post areas of the zone.

Wing

Here is an example of the defensive rotation when the ball is on the wing within the 1-2-2 zone defense.

X3 continues to guard the ball while X1 continues to guard the high post near the elbow.

X2 drops back into the lane near the bottom of the free throw line area.

By doing this, the offensive player located at the top of the key or the offensive wing located on the weak side can be stopped from making a straight cut to the basket for opportunities to score with layups.

X5 fronts the strong side offensive post player to take away the potential wing to post entry pass.

Also, by fronting the post, the strong side post defender can more effectively close out on a shooter if the ball moves to the corner which is demonstrated in the next example.

X4 steps into the lane in front of the basket to take away potential backdoor lob attempts over the top of the zone defense.

Corner

This is an example of the defensive coverage when the ball is in the corner.

X5 closes out and guards the ball within the 1-2-2 zone defense.

X4 fronts the strong side low post player to prevent the post entry feed.

In addition, X4 can simply defend the strong side low post offensive player without fronting the post.

X3 takes a step back to stop any passes to the middle of the floor.

X3 can also chip in to help prevent dribble penetration from the ball handler located in the corner.

X1 can continue to defend the high post region to stop any offensive players from being able to cut straight down the middle for possible layups.

X2 also backs up into the paint to stop potential cutting or help on possible dribble penetration.