Three Tips to Perfect the Packline Defense in Basketball

• By Grant Young

The packline defense strategy has been one of basketball’s most effective ways of winning games on the defensive side of the ball for decades. 

For those who aren't aware, packline defense is a defensive strategy in basketball that focuses on protecting the area close to the basket. It involves clogging the paint with defenders to prevent easy scoring opportunities inside. The defenders collapse into the key to help with penetration and discourage opponents from driving to the basket. The packline defense is known for forcing opponents to take outside shots and limiting high-percentage scoring chances in the paint.

The packline defense has proven to be effective for countless means for multiple reasons:

1. It limits dribble penetration and discourages opponents from driving to the basket by clogging the paint with defenders. This makes it difficult for the opposing team to score easy baskets near the rim. 

2. It forces opponents to take outside shots, which are generally lower-percentage scoring opportunities compared to shots in the paint (especially at the game’s amateur levels). 

3. By packing the defense inside, teams using the packline defense can also effectively help and recover to contest perimeter shots. 

Despite these clear benefits when done correctly, the packline defense can also prove disastrous for coaches and teams that attempt to employ it without understanding the crucial cogs in its wheel, so to speak. This is why having a defensive whiz like Chris Mack illustrating some crucial tips and tricks when instituting this defense can be a life (and game) saver. 

Coach Mack is the new men's basketball head coach at the College of Charleston.  Mack, whose teams have participated in the NCAA Tournament in nine of his 12 seasons as a head coach, guided Louisville to a 24-7 record and a 15-5 ACC mark in 2019-2020. 

Before joining Louisville, Mack spent nine seasons as the head coach at Xavier, guiding the Musketeers to eight NCAA Tournament appearances, including reaching the Sweet 16 on four occasions. 

Coach Mack’s ‘Packline Defense Philosophy’ course goes into the basic concepts and principles behind the packline Defense, reviewing philosophy, basic positioning, and adjustments all coaches should know. 

Packline Rules and Dribble Penetration

Coach Mack suggests taping the line of where he wants his packline defense to operate within (at around 16-17 feet from the basket) during practice each day so that his players get a visual representation of where they should be located. 

The basic packline defensive rule for players who aren’t guarding the ball is that if your man is off the ball, you should always have two feet inside that packline. 

While there are exceptions to this (such as when dealing with ball screens and chasing a cutter), the general sentiment is that the defense wants to be as closely compacted as possible within that packline without it hindering their mobility outward. 

“I think nothing beats defenses more than dribble penetration,” Coach Mack says. If you feel the same way (or want to limit dribble penetration as much as possible), the packline defense is the perfect fit for your team. 

Coach Mack believes this style of defense is especially effective in the modern game because players have never been better at ball handling and attacking the paint than they are right now. While the same can be said for shooting, an open three-point shot is always going to be made at a significantly lower percentage than a layup or a free throw. 

Closeouts

Since your off-ball defenders are so far away from perimeter players on offense within the packline, knowing how to execute a quick and effective closeout might be the most important aspect of this defense for coaches to understand. 

Coach Mack generally teaches two high hands on a closeout, keeping elbows bent so that the players are more reactive and remain in an athletic position in case the player tries to jump fake and dribble past them. In addition to this, Coach Mack stresses short and choppy steps while keeping the stance as square to the basketball as possible (and not open, in other words). 

The reason Coach Mack stresses high hands is because:

1. To discourage the open rhythm three (which is when many offenses will rely on when playing against the packline defense). 

2. To disrupt vision, because having low hands because the offensive player can easily see and pass the ball into the post.

But he is willing to adapt to the high hands strategy when working with players who aren’t as athletic because having their hands high will likely make them susceptible to getting beat off of the dribble. 

Once the three-point shot is taken away, the closeout defender wants to be as disruptive to the basketball as possible, potentially knocking the ball away or creating a steal. 

Closest Man to the Basketball

Coach Mack explains that after any made shot, he expects his players to get back onto their own man. But on a missed shot, there should be some sort of rules and guidelines both players and coaches can abide by so there are no blown assignments that result in easy baskets for the other team. 

In this case, Coach Mack’s rules are that whichever player is closest to the man with the basketball has to declare it and stop it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a power forward or the point guard, whoever is closest to the ball should be the one who stops the initial transition. Then once play slows down and transition is halted, the players can switch to their correct man. 

This frees up the guards and whoever is first back on transition defense to guard the players who are streaking along the wings or down the middle of the court in transition, expecting a pass.