What does 212 zone mean on basketball?

Answer 1

Think of how the number 5 looks on a die (one dice) X...............X

........X

X...............X That's what the 2-1-2 zone looks like. You have two players at the baseline, two players at the top of the key, and one player in the paint playing a zone defense. It is easy to transition into a 2-3 or 3-2 zone, the player in the middle either moves up (3-2) or back (2-3).