Draw an imaginary arc about 16 feet (roughly 5 metres) from the rim, a couple of feet inside the three-point line. One defender guards the ball. The other four keep at least one foot inside that line at all times, no matter where their own man stands. That is the whole rule.
The system is Dick Bennett’s, and it has been run at every level since.
Why coaches use it
It turns help defense into a position instead of a decision. A young player does not have to judge when to help, because he is already standing where help is needed. That makes it one of the few team defenses you can teach in a week and still trust in March.
It walls off the paint. Drives meet a body before they meet the rim, post entries are contested by somebody who never left, and a team that wants to score at the basket has to do it over four sets of feet.
It also protects a slow team. Nobody has to stay in front of anyone at the arc, because nobody is guarding anybody at the arc.
Be clear about what it gives away: the catch-and-shoot three, by design. A pack line team accepts a lower-value shot going up more often rather than a layup going up sometimes.
How to attack it
- Shoot the shot it offers. One-more passes into a rhythm three are the intended counter, and you need shooters who will take them without hesitating.
- Screen on the ball. The pack line concedes the perimeter, so screen where a defender actually is. Ball screens force the one defender who is out there to fight.
- Use the space above the line. Handoffs and pin-downs at the top, as in Chicago, work against a defense that lives below them.
- Rebound it. Four defenders inside the arc are four defenders who still have to find a body when the shot goes up, and often they have not.