Playing Point: Lesson 2
Finishing around the rim and over big men.
Ok, so if you’re the prototypical point guard, you’re not the tallest person on your team, and even if you play point forward as a bigger player, you still need to be able to finish over or around rim protectors.
The key to making lay-ups without getting rejected, no matter who you are, is all about your timing.
Look at Steph’s footwork on this blocked lay-up. Remember ALL the lay-up drills your coaches made you do with this footwork? Jump off your inside foot, drive your knee as you extend with your outside hand, and BAM!!! Get pinned to the glass.
Sorry. Time to unlearn all that crap. In the video below and in this training system, we will practice many different lay-up variations to throw off the defender’s timing so that they cannot jump and easily block your shot.
That is why I call this skill set “finishing”. Lay-up lines and many drills common to youth basketball do not prepare you to be an elite finisher. They make you predictable and easy to block. Despite the blocked lay-up above, Curry is actually a great finisher around the rim by being unpredictable with his release and timing.
Nash was also a master finisher around the rim. Watching his highlights here, you will see him finish in many creative, non-traditional ways. Nash especially likes to use the scoop lay-in, extending his arm away from those shot-blockers as seen on the cover shot of the video. He is also an incredible left-hand finisher. To become a fantastic finisher like Nash, you will need to be able to make shots with either hand, on both sides of the rim, underhand, overhand, and with many types of footwork.
These types of finishes or lay-ins, I call goofy or awkward because they go against the “natural” tendency to jump off your inside leg and finish with your outside hand, as has been drilled into player from a young age. Here are just a few examples of those types of finishes that can throw off timing by shooting, scooping, or laying the ball in the hoop before they even have a chance to jump.
Above you can see a variety of finishes from Steve Nash, including jumping off of the “wrong” foot, further from the hoop than expected, and scooping the ball up to keep the defender from blocking the shot. These, and other types of finishes take time and effort to master.
If you ever want to be an MVP like Steve Nash, then you better put in the work!
Finishes to Master:
Outside hand, outside foot R/L
Inside hand, scoop R/L
Jump-stop, pump-fake R/L
Mid-lane floater
Veer finish R/L
Reverse lay-in R/L
Euro-step R/L
