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Gladwell uses the basketball strategy known as the full-court press to represent the kind of creative approach underdogs should adopt in order to maximize their chances of defeating more powerful opponents. As a defensive technique, the press makes it especially difficult for even talented teams to advance with the ball to the other end of the court, thereby interfering with their ability to score points. In this way, it gives relatively unskilled teams (like Vivek Ranadivé’s) a better chance of winning against otherwise unbeatable opponents. The full-court press is an incredibly successful strategy, but not everyone embraces it. This, Gladwell argues, is because it requires extremely hard work, since teams have to be in extraordinarily good physical shape to successfully use such a cardiovascular approach. Therefore, only teams who are genuinely desperate are generally willing to adopt this tactic, which reinforces the idea that certain challenges and disadvantages can lead to extremely successful, innovative strategies. That more teams don’t use it also comes to stand for society’s unwillingness to embrace alternative approaches even when it’s clear that those approaches are undeniably beneficial.
The Full-Court Press Quotes in David and Goliath
The David and Goliath quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Full-Court Press. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1: Vivek Ranadivé
Quotes
Yet the puzzle of the press is that it has never become popular. […The Fordham coach] never used the full-court press the same way again. And the UMass coach, […] who was humbled in his own gym by a bunch of street kids—did he learn from his defeat and use the press himself the next time he had a team of underdogs? He did not. Many people in the world of basketball don’t really believe in the press because it’s not perfect: it can be beaten by a well-coached team with adept ball handlers and astute passers. Even Ranadivé readily admitted as much. All an opposing team had to do to beat Redwood City was press back. […] The press was the best chance the underdog had of beating Goliath. Logically, every team that comes in as an underdog should play that way, shouldn’t they? So why don’t they?
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The Full-Court Press Symbol Timeline in David and Goliath
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Full-Court Press appears in David and Goliath. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Vivek Ranadivé
Ranadivé decides to coach his team to play what’s known as the full-court press , in which the defensive team puts pressure on the offensive team right away, making...
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Ranadivé’s team isn’t the only one in history to have embraced the full-court press . In 1971, Gladwell notes, the Fordham University Rams adopted the same strategy against the...
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...isn’t a particularly unique story, since there are a number of similar tales about the full-court press in basketball. However, the strategy has never caught on. In fact, the Fordham coach didn’t...
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...desert. Similarly, Ranadivé’s team has to be in impeccable cardiovascular shape to successfully execute the full-court press . It’s easier, then, to go along with convention, even if this doesn’t set underdogs...
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...at the upset taking place before his eyes. It was clear to him that the full-court press was solely responsible for Fordham’s success, so he incorporated it into his approach when he...
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Gladwell calls attention to the fact that not all coaches adopt the full-court press even though Rick Pitino teaches it to them. This demonstrates that not everyone is willing...
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...call unfair fouls against her. Unsure of what else to do, Ranadivé calls off the full-court press , ultimately costing them the game by forcing them to play basketball “the way basketball...
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