Last week, I have watched three close high school basketball games in the local area and in each one free throws determined the outcome. When it comes to the end of game, free throw shots, more often than not, determine the final outcome. But, shooting foul shots at the end of the game are different than shooting free throws in practice for two reasons: 1) the players are fatigued, and 2) they shoot them in pressure situations.
Let me first recount the game situations:
Game 1 - High School Varsity Boys: The visiting team calls a timeout with 36 seconds left in the game with the home team is leading by 5 points and in a double bonus situation (i.e., every visiting team foul is two shoots for the home team). After the timeout, the visitors quickly score. Home ahead by 3. The home team inbounds the ball against a full court press and is immediately fouled. Both free throws are missed. The visitors score and call timeout. Home up by 1 with 21 seconds. The home team inbounds the ball and is quickly fouled. Both free throws are missed and the visitors score another 2 point basket. Visitors up by 1 with 1.3 seconds left. The home team inbounds the ball and miss a 3 point shot at the buzzer. Visitors win by 1 since the home team went 0-4 from the foul line in the last 36 seconds.
Game 2 - High School Varsity Girls: The home team calls a timeout with 2:26 left in the game ahead by 4 points with both team in a bonus situation (i.e., every foul puts the player on the foul line to shoot 1 and 1 - you make the first free throw then you get a second attempt, if you miss the first free throw then the ball is live). The home team inbounds the balls, deliberately runs their offence, and passes the ball out of bounds. Visitor ball with 1:46 left on the clock. The visitor's bring the ball into front court, run the offense, and are fouled on a drive to the basket with 1:46 left in the game. The visitors miss the front end of the 1 and 1. In the next minute plus of the game, the visitors outscore the home team by two points - home by 2 with 1.8 seconds left and home has to inbound the ball under the visitors basket. The visiting team steals inbound pass and a visiting player is fouled in the act of shooting as time expires. Down by two points the visiting team must make two free throws to tie game. The shooter misses the first foul shot and the game is over. Home wins because the visitors shoot 0-3 from the foul line in the last 2 minutes.
Game 3 - Freshman Boys: At half-time the visiting team leads by 2 points. During the second half, the visiting team makes 9 out of 11 free throws and win the game by 12 points. In the second half the lead is expanded by 10 points with 9 of those points coming from the foul line.
How does a coach and player prepare themselves for end of the game foul shots?
After a conditioning exercise [1] and before the water break, I would pair players together to shoot 10 free throws each on the baskets around the gym. Out of the combined 20 free throws the player pair needed to make a pre-specified percentage (for 5th thru 8th grade it is 50%, for high school players it is 60%). The first player shoots 5 free throws, the second player shoots 5 free throws, then the first player shoots another 5 free throws, and finally the second player shoots the final 5 free throws. If the pair failed to make equal to or more than the specified percentage, then the pair get the opportunity to participate in another conditioning exercise and try the free throw drill again. It should be noted that I put a mercy limit of running the free throw drill 3 times. What I discovered is that without a mercy limit, the player's became discouraged and the drill became counter productive.
Why does this work?
Fatigue and pressure are the two elements that a coach wants to reproduce to replicate an end of game free throw situation.
- Fatigue is a weariness or exhaustion from labor that causes a temporary loss of power to respond that is induced in a sensory receptor or motor end organ by continued stimulation. A good 5 to 10 minutes of heart rate elevation, constant muscle movement, and extended heavy breathing will create a 36 to 40 minute game worth of fatigue.
- Pressure situation are created by elevating a player's stress level through mental tension resulting from factors that alter a player's equilibrium. Stress can be created through controlled peer pressure of letting a teammate down. This is the reason behind pairing the players together. If one player makes less than half of their free throws, they did not carry their portion of the burden. Young athlete's get stressed as they are concerned that they will not produce at the required level.
By creating a stressfully fatigued environment a coach can replicate the end of game foul shooting situation. Through the creation of this environment regularly during practice, the player's develop a inner confidence in themselves and their abilities that translates into end of the game situation .... and more team wins.
[1] I tried many different types of conditioning exercise but the one I found worked best before the free throw drill was football. The players enjoy the game and are motivated to work hard to win for bragging rights of being victorious. It also reinforces many types of passing and receiving drills, turning to face the basket (or up court), and screening and cutting drills. If the teams are evenly matched, a game to 5 points will provide about 10 minutes of player heart rate elevation and the players usually do not realize they are being conditioned or polishing their passing and defensive skills.
The basketball variant of North American football: The baselines under the basket are the end zones. If a player passes the ball to their teammate past the baseline that team receives one points. The defensive team works to intercept the pass or knock the ball away from the offense. Unlike regular football, a player cannot run with the ball (that would be traveling). The basketball can only move up the floor by one team member passing to another. Every player on the team must touch the ball before that team can score.
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