Depends on the D you show. I'm pretty sure you know very well which regulars you play have good long pulls. I guess you're unfamiliar with a standard post D, or love to race, or just don't like it. That D protects the two posts and middle split against a quick pull (from 4 secs or less to a rolling quickset)? It adjusts as the match goes along, protecting outside the posts more and more as the opposing forward warms up. One can usually then switch over to showing a partial crossover (near or far 2bar player over the far post, but the goalplayer is the ultimate long hole defender) and switching randomly?
I know it takes steel bearings to do this if you're used to racing from a standard claw shutting down the straight and the middle half the time. You might actually have to stop looking at the set from the opposing forward, just keeping track of where the ball is and if it's moving. This prevents the natural tendency of even a decent "spread" of motion covering the long equally, the removal of your focus from covering your D holes to the opponent's bar often results, sometimes histerically, in your "spread" getting tighter (shortening or concentrating on the holes inside the posts) without your knowing it. Keep looking hard at the names on mailboxes as you're driving and you will unconsciously start moving towards them, on the road.
You might also suffer from the normal tendency of slowing down your usual shuffle or player figure motion, after a certain number of seconds ... timing this with a friend, and snapping your attention back to restarting or keeping the motion steady could solve your problem. That's the worst tell, where the defender basically stops DEFENDING after a certain time period. Most good shooters know or sense this "quiet" time with the defender, even when that defender's moving, not some particular tell, but just a bunch of signals that say the "snap" muscles on the defender's arms and hands are in neutral, giving just that split second to get a smooth release... the immediate reaction of even an alert defender in this "idling" mode can often end in crossed signals, jumping too far, or conflict that leads to a "freeze"... oops... there it went.
Best thing I've found for all these common ailments is to have a philosophy in defending which holes, what motion you will use, and keeping at it, but really seriously, even for pickup or "garbage time" shots. Not really a sense of urgency philosophy, but just never never never having your body relax, even mentally, until that ball's in your possession. When you have no philosophy to snap back to, or dictating every defensive motion you do, once that forward "gits ya", it's pretty much over...
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