Exactly. I often talk about the level of strength and stamina it takes to play lock-down defense. It’s the most intense, exhausting, gut-checking basketball skill of all, and very few players possess all the qualities it takes to do it consistently — at ANY level of the sport, amateur or professional.
Lock-down defenders have to maintain a consistently active defensive stance — arms out and active, knees bent without standing flat-footed, always wound and ready to make quick movements in any direction while maintaining intense focus on the player being guarded. This type of active stance is 100% effective, but it’s so hard to do that players won’t do it.
The perfect active stance faaaar more quickly gets the heart rate up, and after just a short time the legs can start burning pretty bad. That said, it’s obvious why there are so few lock-down defenders. That ish is HARD! If anyone doubts my word, just try it — stand like this in your living room, arms moving and waving, knees deeply bent, on the toes. You WILL get tired quickly.
Anyway, if Kellie could convince one of her players to have the guts to dig deep enough to push through the pain and breathlessness to do it, this team would be golden. We just need one woman who’s got enough stamina to shut down every opponents’ best scorer. Easy peazy! lol