Stopping a Fast Break

How do you stop the opponent from running their fast break successfully?  I’m talking about a team that runs on every possession and attempts to score 100 points every game, like Paul Westhead’s system when he was at Loyola-Marymount.

Coach Larry Jackson

Dear Coach Jackson,

I am sure you are aware that you don’t necessarily have to walk the ball up the court to create problems for this team.  It is more a question of making them play at a tempo with which they are uncomfortable.  There is however, no question you must play disciplined in terms of your set offense and take care of the ball or you will accelerate their game tempo through poor shot selection or turnovers.

The first thing you can do to slow the break is to hit the offensive boards hard and get a large number of put backs.  Also patience to get high percentage shots will reduce the number of break opportunities your fast breaking opponent will get from missed shots.  There is less court distance to cover off a missed shot than a made shot.  These two things you can stress to your team.  Now let me get give you a few more complex ideas.

I have been a big fan of Los Angeles Lakers Coach Del Harris’s approach for a number of years in terms of slowing down fast breaking teams.  He preaches what he calls a 2-2-1 offensive rebounding plan.  In this plan the two closest players (usually the 4 and 5 man) hit the boards hard and have what he calls “front” or “inside” position responsibilities in the 2-2-1 rebounding plan.   It is not uncommon for the 2 or 3 to shoot the ball in most offenses and follow their shot.  It is a natural for the shooter to go to what he calls a “middle” position.  The other non-shooting guard or forward becomes the other “middle” position of the 2-2-1 scheme.  Finally your point guard is the deep man or safety, a common responsibility for the point in most transition defenses.  If the point gets caught up the court, 2 can take the deep safety position, and one fills a middle role.  The theory behind the 2-2-1 rebounding position is that is creates better long rebounding position for your offense which can deter fast breaking teams by putting rebound pressure on the defensive team, but also puts your team in good defensive positions to better execute transition to their defensive responsibilities.

The smaller of your two middle men will then have the responsibility to come up and pressure the outlet pass to the first receiver on a made or missed shot and slow down dribble advancement of the ball up the court.  This player, called the “outlet defender” shouldn’t necessarily try to steal the ball, only contain advancement of the ball.

It is less difficult to slow the inbounds pass on a made shot than to stop transition off a missed shot.  The front or inside player closest to the rebounder should come up and pressure the rebounder so the rebounder cannot turn their outside shoulder to make the outlet pass.  Coach Harris calls this guy the “jammer”.  The other inside or front man has the hardest job; he must sprint back as fast as possible to defend the basket at the far end of the court.  Call this player the “long sprinter”.  This is the hardest job of all the players and the player who will need the most reminding to get back to their responsibility.  The second “middle” man normally the 3 player will also sprint back to the basket deep to defend.  Their first job is to stop any long distance pass down the court.  He is called the “short sprinter” or “release man”.  As soon as the short sprinter is back, this releases the point guard to move over and defend the sideline triangle.  The point guard then discourages or delays any sideline pass as their teammates rotate back maintaining the 2-2-1 formation.  When the “long sprinter” gets back to the basket, 3 or the “short sprinter” is then released to come up to pressure any pass or dribble to the middle.  The initial “jammer” remains in the front court to assist the “outlet defender” by helping to contain the offensive outlet man from dribbling through the defensive pressure.  

This transition defensive plan is quite eloquent as well because it allows you to easily go from offensive rebounding responsibilities to any number of press defenses without changing your basic offense to defense transition responsibilities.

In all of this remember the purpose of this transition defense plan is to contain the tempo not stop it.  You just want to delay rapid forward progress of the ball to allow your remaining defenders to get back into position to initiate your half court defense.

Coach Harris tactic stresses that you first defend the basket, then contain the ball, pressure the up-court sideline passes, jam any diagonal or middle penetration with trailing defenders, and discourage reversal of the ball from side to side or penetration.

In teaching such a system remind your players that their first priority isn’t to get back and cover their man assignment in the half court defense, but to concentrate on stopping advancement of the ball up the court.  Once you have contained the advancement and slowed the offense players can match up to their defensive half-court responsibilities when it is safe to do so.

One final point is that it takes defensive discipline to play this type of transition defense.  If you have players breaking down in their assignments your other players will get frustrated.  You must spend a significant amount of practice time teaching your players how to get to their offensive rebounding assignments and then transition to their fast break defense responsibilities.


Thanks for Asking the Coach