Top Basketball Drills:
The Give 'n Go to Break

Like other top basketball drills, the Give 'n Go to Break is essentially two drills in one - at one end of the floor, it practices skills all players need to know to effectively run set offensive plays; at the other end, players fast break.

At the core of any set basketball play, there are only a few moves that players need to know, other than individual skills: pick and roll; jabs and cuts; screens; give and go.

This drill focuses first on the give and go.

Here's what players need to focus on:

• Cuts need to be hard, and always lead with a jab opposite to the direction the player is cutting
  
  
• Snap the passes
  
  
• In the give and go section of the drill, there should be no need for dribbling - players should be getting the pass well within their two step distance, and dribbling will just slow the move down
  
  
• On the fast break portion, sprint hard and focus on finishing the break strong
  
  
• If the drill is on the left side of the court, dribble and shoot with your left; if it's on the right, dribble and shoot right

How this Top Basketball Drill Works

Players line up in two lines - one line in the middle of the court with the first player in line at the 3 point line; the second line along the sideline, with the first player in line at about foul line extended Each of the first three players in the middle line have a ball The player at the front of the middle line (#1) starts the drill by executing a strong chest pass to the player at the front of the other line (#2)

#1 then jabs away from the ball, before reversing direction and cutting to the basket on the ball side #1 receives the return pass from #2 and continues hard to the basket for the layup

Immediately after passing the ball to #1, player #2 follows #1 in to the basket, rebounds his shot, and speed dribbles the length of the court Remind players that this is the fast break aspect of the drill, so they need to go as fast as they can, but they also need to focus on controlling the ball Player #1 goes to the end of the line at the sideline

Player #2 finishes his fast break layup, gets his own rebound, and executes a strong two handed overhead pass to the player at the end of the middle line #2 then hustles down the court to the end of the middle line At the same time - as soon as the first player clears out of the key - the next player in the middle line (#3 in the diagram) begins the drill

Variations to this Top Basketball Drill

There are variations you can make to this drill to make it more challenging or to better suit your needs. For example, you can:

• Have a coach or manager at the far end to provide token defense against the fast break layup; or
  
  
• Have your big men execute a power layup in the give and go.
  

Also be sure to have the team switch sides after a couple of minutes so that they work both the left hand and right hand.

This is a top basketball drill that combines some important skills work with some good conditioning.