In Your Opinion...Defense or Offense

[Hoggy]

Just to change the flavor a little bit and see if the old school and new generations agree on what wins ball games and makes a good team....great.

I know some will say that unless you score...you can't win and to a degree I concur, but I am a firm believer that a good defense will beat a great offense any day of the week.

I was always taught that only one player can shoot at a time while it takes all five to play defense at the same time. You can rest on offense, but you better be giving it your all on the defensive end of the court.

What do you think?

[The Bathtub Legend]

It takes a balanced combination of the two. Doesn't matter how many times you force the other team to turn it over if you cannot convert on the transition. And vice versa. You can score all night but if you don't ever get a defensive stop you're not going to win ball games. End of discussion. You can argue this topic all night and the bottom line is they are both equally important.

[the hit king]

defense, defense, defense, wins championships. there will come a night when offensively you couldnt make a basket if you were sitting on top of the rim. but with great defense which has to be a constant every game, you can stay close enough to your opponent that at the end of the game you might have a chance to win it.

[The Bathtub Legend]

A team can score 100 points in a ballgame, but still lose.

A team can play defense against the other team and prevent the other team from scoring. Our team can tie the other team, but our team can't lose the game.

Defense wins championships.

There is no tie in Basketball?
Bottom line is, if you cannot do both, you cannot win games. Neither is more important than the other. It takes both aspects to win a game. I believe that coaches tell their team that defense is more important to motivate them to actually play defense. Everyone would rather play offense so a little motivation is usually required to get teams into the mind set of wanting to play solid defense. I think that is why everyone claims defense to be more important, they have heard an intelligent coach say it at one time or another to motivate his team. It comes down to the simple fact that you have to stop the other team while also scoring baskets of your own. Neither single aspect will win games.

[dimedrop4]

DEFENSE IS THE WAY TO WIN.

[my2cents]

The bottom line is, you only need 1 point to win the game. That's not much offense, is it?

[TripleDouble]

The bottom line is, you only need 1 point to win the game. That's not much offense, is it?

Great Post! Short and to the point.

[sparky]

a balance is optimal.

[datchillicav]

You need players who can score and a TEAM that can defend. A great defensive team is tough to beat. That is what McClain hung their hat on with Van Metre for about 20 years. Too be elite though you need a PTP'er(such as Dante Jackson, or Anthony Hitchens) combined with a team full of guys committed to defense.

When you can only have one or the other though, I choose defense 100 times out of 100.
One of my favorite quotes of all time is..."If we score, we may win. If they don't score, we can't lose."
...I can't remember who said that though.

[The Ghost of Swanker]

Defense. when we won the D4 title in 06, they were the best defensive team i saw all year, went to every game too.

[Tucker]

I think it goes without saying that you have to score points to win,but without a DOUBT you have to play DEFENSE and REBOUND if you are going to have a winning basketball team...You have to sell your kids on the idea that defense will win for them and then make that defense a big part of your offensive scheme.When kids see that they can score off of their defense it gets more players involved in scoring where as one particular kid may not contribute offensively but can when he becomes a strong defensive player he can contribute..Then you can put 4 or hopefully 5 kids in double figures in scoring because a couple are doing so thru their defense it will make you a more complete team and make it much more difficult for the other team to defend you....Any kid that has the ability to play on the next level had better have the will to play defense or he won't make it..

[G.W.A.]

From a player and fan perspective, the best defense is a good offense. Coaches may not agree with this, unless your john dieblers dad.

[gametime]

MOST COACHES HAVE TO TEACH DEFENSE,MOST KIDS PLAYING IN HIGH SCHOOL KNOW HOW TO SCORE BUT DONT PLAY D. AND A GOOD DEFENSE WILL CAUSE TURN OVERS AND FAST BREAK LAYUPS, AND THEIR YOUR OFFENSE

[my2cents]

From a player and fan perspective, the best defense is a good offense. Coaches may not agree with this, unless your john dieblers dad.

That's funny because for years I have always heard "The best offense is a good defense". As I said above, one point wins the game, the rest is just showboating.

[Slickrick301]

You're Team has to have good Defense to win game's. The Defense will or could cause turn over's which later on can become 2 or 3 point's or just a fast break. You have to Have DEFENSE unless you have 5 micheal Jordan's on the court. But we all know that won't happen.. DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSE!!!!!1

[my2cents]

Why do you think the crowd always chants "DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE" instead of " OFFENSE, OFFENSE, OFFENSE"

[Philos_Finest]

Defense is more important but you do need to score. IMO, it's about a 60-40 split.

[The Ghost of Swanker]

In 2004, Nick Aldridge's sophomore season, a little team called Holgate arrived at the Final Four with a reputation for winning based solely on defense.

After shutting down South Webster in the semi-finals, they won the state championship beating Maria Stein Marion Local 40-32!

You just brought back bad memories. "3...2...1... swoosh"
SW would have won that game if they made their free throws.

I'd say 70-30 D>O

[jeep80]

In 2004, Nick Aldridge's sophomore season, a little team called Holgate arrived at the Final Four with a reputation for winning based solely on defense.

After shutting down South Webster in the semi-finals, they won the state championship beating Maria Stein Marion Local 40-32!

Here is the box score from that game:

HOLGATE- 10 5 11 14 - 40
MSML------- 4 4 8 16 - 32

Holgate had more than twice as many turnovers 15-7, but outrebounded their opponents 34-16. MSML only scored 2 fast break points, and of their 32 point "outburst," nearly a third came off turnovers.

In Holgate's case, however, their Offense truly WAS their Defense. They played a slow ball control offense. Never shooting unless they had a lay-up or wide open shot. That kept the other team from having the ball to score and frustrated teams to the point where they would make mistakes on defense and commit fouls from frustration. They did play good defense, but when you limit the other teams touches, it can have the same effect as having a great defense. Can't score if you don't have the ball!

[pbuck]

D that's the one thing you can hang your hat on night in night out..... but u can run your offense to perfection & still miss shots..... D is more reliable IMO