Pound the ball to the ground.  The reason is the harder you dribble, the longer the ball is in your hand. It is much more difficult for a defender to steal the ball if the ball is in your hand. While practicing, over pound, this way, when in games it becomes second nature and you will have a better chance of not getting the ball stolen. This technique also helps in giving you a faster dribble.

Use finger pads of hands. This gives you the best control of the ball. Envision shooting your dribble.

Keep your head up. You want to see the defense and your teammates. Practice keeping your head up during practice, you will look down occasionally, don’t worry about it. But try to keep your head up as much as possible.

Move basket to basket. Don’t move sideline to sideline. Advancing causes the defense to back up, retreating creates a bit of space. Moving side to side allows the defense to shuffle and that is how most teams practice defense.

Have a variety of moves. Practice different ways of getting around defensive players. Crossovers, between the legs, spin, in and out, and combos. We never know who we will be matched up against or how a game will play out. So have variety of moves as well as a counter move for your go to moves.

Move opposite direction of defender. If they come at you, go at them. If they retreat, you retreat. If they move left, you go left.

Use as minimal dribbles as possible. The more you dribble, the more likely you are to lose the ball. It is simple, use your dribble to get to the basket or get to the position you desire to be.

Use a variety of speeds while dribbling. You do not want to go 100% all the time while dribbling. Changing speeds is one of the most important weapons a ball handler can use.