How To Become Better At Basketball Game [8 Essential Steps]

Last Updated on March 22, 2023 by

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A lot of discipline is needed to be good at basketball. What can really make a huge difference between you and others is how you spend time in court. High school players sometimes overlook a couple of major technical issues or others thinking they won’t affect them. That’s a crime really, and you have to earn your right rather than expecting it to be given.

How to become better at basketball in 2 months? Yeah, two months is quite a bit of time to prepare for you. Let’s assume you are too good a player to keep you on the bench. Why don’t you work on some basics, raise your basketball IQ, which will definitely make you a far better player than ever before?

Nevertheless, let's start with the proceedings:

Step 1: Find Out Your Weakness

First and foremost, find the biggest strength and weakness of your game. These are the two areas where you need to dedicate more than 70% of your practice hours to prosper. Try to turn your weakness into a strength to achieve what you’re exactly looking for.

Step 2: Improve Your Fitness Level

Fitness is a significant factor for an elite athlete. Training is an integral part of their daily routine. Thus that won’t just develop your strength as a sportsperson but also improve your skill and boost your confidence level. If your fitness level is excellent, you shall be able to move faster with tremendous athleticism compared to your opponents. Even when you are not as fast as other players, you shall be able to outplay them through your stamina.

That is a great advantage because you can get back onto your position very quickly or run on fast breaks. 2-3 km jogging and small sprints is really effective to increase your stamina and speed. Train on tracks, sprint straightway and then do the jog turn shall help you to accustomed to the various speeds of basketball. If this seems a bit difficult, you can even sprint the turns and do jog straightway as well.

Step 3: Improve the Footwork

If your opponent is bigger and faster than you, improved footwork might just be enough to give you the edge over them. Footwork shall get you in a superior body position where you can puzzle the defender with the combination of pump fake, crossover, spin or drives etc. so, the importance of great footwork here in this game can’t be ignored at all.

Step 4: Become A Good Defender

Great court awareness, superb athleticism, and a gung ho attitude must be a good defender. To become better at defense in basketball, improve your team’s communication because when you’re defending, you must know how to play team defense. Even you must know how to lock down anyone in your zone, so the opponent's shooting percentage falls down incredibly.

Zonal and man both markings are important indeed. Understanding your roles and switching gears while defending can win you games, which should be your priority. Because most often a great piece of defending leads to stealing the ball from the opponent. By doing so, attacking mindset or offensive options are gone so that the probability of your team winning the match is high.

Step 5: Improve Shooting Technics

Try to box out your challenger to get possession of the ball. More than size or athleticism, some decent practice needs to be applied here to get a rebound when a shot is missed. If you are not that tall, you can use this technique to its great effect.

Besides shooting by yourself, you can win games too for your team by setting up a screen for the shooters.

Step 6: Passing Strategy

After passing the ball, straightway try to cut on a route to the hoop or another open space. Do not think that you do not have the ball in your hand, and so no foot movement is required. NBA players with high IQ do make free movement even without the balls. They always look to find open spots as well.

Step 7: Do Some Warm Up

Do layups and shooting before the game so accuracy is increased. Before the match stretch your muscles to avoid any possibilities of injuries.

Do not just stick to any particular position. Try to cover the full basketball court. Because a versatile player is someone to whom a coach always looks upon.

Step 8: Practice And Follow the Rules & Regulations 

Try to play 1 on 1, 2 on 2, 3 on 3, etc. this shall put you in a different match situation and challenge you ultimately. You can discover a various facets of your games too.

If you truly want to take your game to the next level, you must follow all these basketball tips and pathways. This basketball game is all about a combination of the three important factors. You have to be flexible, agile, and speedy to become an all round player from a bench warmer.

So, practice as hard as you can, develop your skills, and you shall reach the peak of your game irrespective of the physical advantage or god-gifted talent you have.

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