ball sprints out and defends the pass to the corner. The last defender left that was previously triple teaming stays at the free throw line to deny the post and the defender playing on the opposite side of the lane drops under the basket. The defender now denying the pass to the high post now has to deny passes to the high post, wing and cross court. It is critical that the players denying passes to the high post and wing in this situation are your quickest players. Advantages and disadvantages The amoeba defense is a gambling defense; if used correctly it can lead to many fast breaks and easy layups, although if beaten the defense almost always leads to an uncontested layup or open shot. When used in cooperation with the man-to-man defense it can disrupt any offense and lead to many scoring streaks. Since the defense was developed, many high school and college teams such as Mississippi have been very successful when using the defense in combination with other defenses. The defense is seen more in younger play because professional athletes are much faster and much better shooters. The amoeba defense is a gambling defense so there may be cases in which the other team may be given easy opportunities to score. When anticipating a pass a defender may miss an interception in some cases leaving the defender wide open for a shot. In the case that a triple team occurs, if a pass is made an offensive player may be left wide open for a shot if the defender does not close out quickly enough. The defense packs into the middle of the lane so when playing a better shooting team it may be a smarter choice to stick to a man-to-man or zone defense. References External links Pitt memories of the 1973-74 Amoeba Sources Webster, F. Basketball's amoeba defense: complete multiple system. West Nyack, N.Y.: Parker Pub. Co., 1984. Print. Basketball terminology