Playing ICE on Pick and Rolls:
This will force ball handlers to go baseline and your on ball defender will take away the middle. When opponents try to screen towards the middle your on ball defender will
jump in front of the pick and take away any contact that the ball handler tries to initiate on the ball handler defender, therefore there is no separation or contact and no help defense will be required.
This negates any pick and roll opportunities offenses try to create. No hedge is required, since your screener defender is there just to contain the PG until the on ball defender can recover. Again, if your defensive settings and POE’s are correct then there will be no unnecessary help rotations that will leave shooters wide open. You should control the on ball defender mainly when your opponent is setting on ball screens towards the baseline. Play more off ball on screens towards the middle.
Mixing it up can also be effective, where you can bait the ball handler to throw skip passes so you know you will recover to close out. Most people are used to seeing the opposite corner/wing being wide open due to automatic defensive settings and over aggressive online users playing limit perimeter shots.
The counter to beat this is for your opponent to start setting screens towards the baseline, but that is okay since it cuts the floor in half and leaving them less room to operate. We can still also on ball defend this and take away the screen. If you have the proper settings with good off ball help defense then this should be able to be contained.
The one downside to this scheme is the Pick and Pop, but not many online users utilize this at all. This is where you will need to start manually controlling your screener defender off ball and anticipate the pass to the screener on the fade for good close outs. Most stretch 4’s do not shoot well off the dribble, so if you can get a hard close out and force them to put the ball on the floor to drive then that is acceptable too. If they want to take semi-contested 3’s and mid range shots then that is what you want!
I hope you guys learned a thing or two from this defensive introduction. Remember this is just the beginning as we will continue to progress even further for this scheme.
