Topic: Beating the 5-bar defense

[kayko2000]

I've been working a little more on my passing recently because I feel like it's slipped a little - starting to get blocked more and more.  With practice at home, I've got my stick passing down pretty good.  Mostly clean, fast passes with no opposing D.  But I'm absolutely certain when it comes down to playing in games, unless against rookies or lazy defenses, I'm going to get blocked.

But how do you beat a better defense?

If I do a brush series, I can throw in more fakes to make the D think I'm brushing up when I actually brush down, and vice versa.  But with the stick, I feel like I can't really fake as much.  Sometimes I use quick tic tacs and pass up along the wall - works against lazy defenses.  What I'm aiming for is to be able to watch the defense more carefully, and wall pass when I see the defense pull away.  But often, the 5-bar D is moving too fast to catch timing and for me to execute my pass in a split-second.

Sorry, this is a poorly-constructed and worded question. But what are some strategies to beating a good 5-bar D?

[kayko2000]

I should add that the stick pass I'm primarily working on now is the standing stick (a la Pappas), with some fakes thrown in poorly imitating Johnny Horton.  I can execute the passes on my own timing, but I can't make the correlation between executing the pass and watching the defense move.  Thanks.

[Anderson]

I've been working a lot on my 5 bar too, specifically a stick pass as well. First I've found that I have to get the short lane pass down in order to start confusing the defense. On top of that, it is MOST important to get that pass to look the same as your wall pass. I've got a long way to go with that, but I was able to get some success tonight using the wall. If you find that others are chasing your wall pass too much, let it bounce off the wall and hit the lane. Still, it will be best to make my pass more crisp, accurate in terms of positioning, lane versus wall, etc.

[deadbarfoos]

watch your "tells" ,mix it up, pass at different times, use a variety of passes that require the 5D to "move" just to block it (noone can be everywhere at once) ,mix "stick" with "brush"
if youre being raced ,then disquise the take off ,(IE,,,, do a tic tac before you run to the wall/lane or whatever ,or a small bumping of the ball before you go wall/lane, etc....)
add some "runner" passes to the mix

watch some Inside foos videos

i learned some of Rico's 5bar moves and they work just about most of the time for me,
as well as Pappas's stick pass ,or Zamora's brush , plus Todd's/Gummeson/Mares to name a few,.,

[Old Meister]

Yeah, Gummy's double clutch wall is a good one.

[ComebackKid]

Yeah, Gummy's double clutch wall is a good one.

Just a little. 2 World Championchips and 2 World Cups in the last 4 tears ain't bad at all!