Defense to Fast Break

The easiest way to have a successful fast break attack is to play good defense that causes steals or defensive rebounds.  “A steal” by the defense usually creates a “numbers” situation that allows a team to get a break-away (easy dunk or a lay-up).  A defensive rebound is another way that may create a “numbers” situation leading to an easy score.  However, if your defense is always taking the ball out of the net and looking for Secondary Breaks, they will find very few easy scoring opportunities.

A pressure defense will create more turnovers than a passive one.  The pressure can come on the half-court with pass denials and ball pressure, or with half-court traps and surprise changes in defense.  Some teams might best be suited for full-court pressure in the form of a man to man or a zone press.  A coach should choose whatever defensive pressure he believes will work best with his personnel.  Generally, the quicker your team is the more of the court you can expect to cover and cause problems for an opponent.

“Surprise and Change” is another tactic that often works well during the course of a game.  Suddenly switching from a straight man to man defense to a run and jump trapping defense can catch opponents off-guard and cause turnovers.  The traps are best initiated along the sidelines, so that escape passes are confined to only one direction.    Another form of Surprise and Change can be a sudden full court press initiated after a time out, a made free throw, or a backcourt dead ball, pass-in situation.

In the final analysis, the best way to cause an opponent problems is to play solid, half-court defense that forces poor shot attempts and limits the opponent to only one shot per possession.  Crash the boards with all five defenders and make sure that your team has possession before anyone takes off on the fast break.