Screening vs Guarding

[BktBallRef]

Originally posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.
Example of a screen by a defensive player:

Team B is playing a 2-3 zone defense. Team A has control of the ball in its front court. A1 runs along the endline going from one corner to the other corner. As A1 running from one corner to the other corner, B4, who is playing the middle position of the three backline defenders takes a step backwards just as A1 gets to him. Contact occurs between A1 and B4. B4 was not guarding A1, but he was attempting to set a screen against A1. B4 is not facing A1. B4 did not A1 time and distance. Therefore, B4 is guilty of a blocking foul.


I have seen this type of defensive maneuver many times. I have called it many times. One coach in an AAU girls tournament did not like and continued to have his players do it. We must have called that foul eight times in the first half before the players finally learned not to do it.

That's not a screen, that's blocking. If it was a screen, you wouldn't have called a foul, would you? Blocking is NOT screening.