It’s very easy to get blocked around the rim especially if you’re a smaller player. But there are a lot of things you can read from your defender to prevent getting blocked often.
Defender is directly behind you: If your defender is directly behind you, you do NOT want to finish overhand instead finish with a scoop layup or underhand layup.
Defender is trying to block from your outside shoulder: A lot of players are taught that when chasing down blocks they should jump outside the frame of the offensive player to swat the ball and avoid getting a foul call. However if the defender is going to attempt this you can simply finish with your interior hand making it far more difficult for the defender to swat outside.
Defender in front of you/side: This is the most difficult time to finish and might not always be the best shot. But if you are going up you should attempt to jump into your defender and finish overhand and if they jump early double clutch and then finish. If you’re in this situation and your defender has longer arms you should finish by extending the ball outside your frame and finishing. Doing guard Mikans will help with this.
Defender protects same side you jump from: This is the simplest read to make yet it looks the flashiest when it is done correctly all you need to do is go up and under. Kyrie Irving does this A LOT watch his film to understand how to better finish going up and under. Work on Net Touch finishes to improve this skill.
Defender is too low in transition/off drive: Use a floater instead of jumping into a layup and making things more difficult than they need to be. If you don’t have floaters in your bag as a guard you NEED to start working on them.
Check out how to read the Pick n Roll here 👉https://drillmindhoops.com/offensive-reads/reading-the-pnr/
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