You’ve got the team down by 4 with under two minutes to go and you’re at half court. You need some easy points, but it’s not as easy as you might think to score when the defense is actively trying to prevent you from doing so. Here are some steps you can take to score some easy points in the fourth quarter of your next game!
Score Easy Points in the Fourth Quarter
Learn scoring moves
While having a go to scoring move is important for you to creating shots for yourself, not all moves are going to work every time. Take practice time as seriously as game time, so you can find easy scoring moves that fit your style and keep your team ahead on points. Basketball is a game of momentum, so getting yourself and your team into a rhythm early will make things much easier later on. One quick way to get yourself into that rhythm is by learning simple scoring moves during practice. There are plenty of different ways you can do it – dribble drills, layup lines, shooting drills – but they’re all designed with one purpose: getting you open looks at the basket.
Practice scoring with your team
One of the keys to scoring easy points with your team is to practice with them outside of game time. In a sense, building chemistry with your team allows them to trust passing the ball to you and creates opportunities to score easy points. Outside of game time might be tough on you mentally—but it’s also necessary for creating team scoring opportunities. That said, there are still steps you can take during games to build chemistry and increase your chances at easy points. For example, try using transition scoring opportunities (when the defense is out of position) instead of looking for an assist first or trying for a three-pointer at all costs.
Know what plays your coach likes
As the game gets later and your coach likes to win, play more like a coach. Watch your coach, who has the playbook and has spent more time studying it than you have. In the fourth quarter, a good coach looks for opportunities that move him toward a win, rather than looking for the obvious choice of shot or play. Being aware of your team’s tendencies will help you take advantage when coaches start trying out new plays. If nothing else, it’ll be good practice for when you’re on the court playing with them (and have spent all week studying their playbook).
See who’s hot in your league
We all want a piece of the best players in our league, but if you’re in an auction draft it can be tough to predict who will go for big bucks and who won’t. So do some scouting! Know who the best players are in your league and study them, research the prices they’ve been going for recently and find out if those prices are inflated or not. Sometimes top scorers on great teams fly under the radar because their teammates get more attention from fans. Other times a player might go for a high price because his current owner is bidding against himself (or herself) — always worth keeping an eye on that as well.
Focus on passing out of a dead ball situation
In-bound plays are quick and when executed properly can result in a bucket every time. The premise is simple: catch, quick layup, play defense, repeat. It’s a good idea for every player to have at least one go-to scoring move out of an in-bound play in their arsenal; there’s nothing worse than losing possession because you tried doing something fancy and it backfired. If you’re looking for some easy points in crunch time, look no further than your teammates. Everyone is involved on in-bound plays—from passers, shooters and rebounders—but sometimes it only takes one or two players stepping up (or diving on floor) to seal a win.
If you want to level up your shooting accuracy, we got you. We created the 6ixShooter Academy. A one-stop basketball training program to help elevate your game and become an unstoppable shooter with coach Seth McCoy a.k.a 6ixShooter. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
If you want to level up your shooting accuracy, we got you. We created the 6ixShooter Academy. A one-stop basketball training program to help elevate your game and become an unstoppable shooter with coach Seth McCoy a.k.a 6ixShooter. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
