“Up Screen (Back Screen)”

NTL Photo Library

If you come down court and you settle into the post and one of your teammates fills the wing area and you notice the wing’s defender really extending out, effectively in a “denial” position, it is a good idea to come out and back screen that defender. What the defender takes away on the outside, he/she gives up on the inside. It’s consistent with the principle of “reading the defense”: in taking away one thing, they give up something else. It is up to you, oh astute basketball player, to read it (see it and understand it) and take advantage of it. Don’t worry, after awhile it comes naturally. You’re doing lots of good things out there naturally already that fall under that principle, and you don’t even know it. It’s, like, in your soul, your basketball soul. (Okay, you’re right, you caught us. The photo was staged.)