Push smart to win with the fast break. (Basketball).

MOST SUCCESSFUL COACHES will push the ball on every possession to create high-percentage scoring opportunities. To beat the opponents down court, they will pass first and speed-dribble second. If the shot is not there, they will shift to their half-court offense. At no point will they force their passes and shots.

We prefer to work for layups and shots in the paint, but also encourage taking the open jumper in transition, as it may turn out to be the best shot we get in the entire possession. ("Step up, shoot with confidence, and knock it down!")

Fast-Break Skills

Running at full speed with or without the ball requires jump-stopping, not only to avoid traveling but to get under control and be in a position to make meaningful plays. Whether your team needs five days or five weeks, the fundamental of jump-stopping must be mastered by every player for the transition offense to be rim at peak efficiency.

Court awareness in terms of reading and extending the defense will accentuate scoring, opportunities. "Reverse vision"--first looking long (or directly under the offensive basket) and then short--akin to reading from right to left instead of left to right.

Question: When we have the ball in our backcourt with a teammate open under our basket, why may we fail to see him? Because of a tendency to look short first instead of long, we miss the open player, the defense recovers and an easy layup has disappeared.

Players have to learn where to look with the ball and where to run without the ball. These skills must be taught in practice. Proper repetition will yield successful and consistent execution.

Running on every possession also requires the right approach in practice. The commitment to conditioning is necessary for any team, but downright imperative in pushing the ball. The coaching staff must instill a full-speed mindset in every player by executing every drill and scrimmage at full intensity, moving to and setting up quickly through all segments of practice.

Repetition in every phase of transition basketball is the only way to learn this aspect of the game. Never criticize your players for failing to perform any skill that you have neither taught them nor given them ample practice to master.

A lack of time is no excuse. You can become proficient in this area by allocating as little as 10 minutes a day in practice.

Full-Court One-on-One

The simplest but perhaps most troublesome open-court opportunity is the one-on- zero and one-on-one break. The transition lay-up is not a "gimme," particularly at the high school level. We need fundamentally sound players, proficient in both the speed dribble and the ability to finish a lay-up with either hand off the correct foot.

These mechanics can be established by extensive repetition of lay-ups in practice, including 5 or 6 full court lay-ups in 30 seconds as an individual or 100 consecutive full-court lay-ups as a group. These are challenging but achievable goals for the team.

Next, you can throw in a defender to make the equation more complex and increase the potential for miscues. With a trailing defender, younger players will tend to slow down out of fear of getting the shot blocked. Ironically, this tentative reaction will actually increase the probability of a mistake.

If the speed dribble alone will not lead to an open shot, the reverse lay-up will allow the offensive player to continue toward the basket at full speed, knowing that the defender will have great difficulty in deflecting the shot.

Critical teaching point in the footwork on the shot: Plant under the rim and explode vertically, rather than allow the momentum to carry you away from the rim.

A weak reverse lay-up will often produce an easy blocked shot for the defense. More advanced players can be challenged by having them work on this shot with their weak hand.

With the defender up ahead, the ball-handler must avoid two pitfalls: committing an offensive foul while driving for the layup or making an ineffective move while attempting to improvise. What the ball-handler in transition must do is either pull up off the jump-stop and shoot the eight-foot bank shot or cross over on the dribble and finish with the. opposite hand (i.e., dribble down the right side and finish with the left hand).

Important details for the shooter: (1) jump-stop outside the lane to avoid a three-second violation on the pull-up jumper; (2) protect the layup attempt by keeping the body between the ball and the defender on the shot after the crossover dribble.

This shot essentially becomes a "baby hook." Like the reverse layup, a vertical explosion makes for a stronger finish.

Diag. 1 illustrates the drill for the two-on-zero full-court moves. The players set up in two lines under each basket (passers X) and in two more lines at the hash marks on the same sides (receivers O). Each of the X's under the basket has a ball.

The drill begins with the first X tossing the ball high off the backboard, ripping down the rebound, pivoting to the outside, and making a crisp outlet pass.

The receiver (O) pushes the ball with the outside hand and executes the designated move: layup, pull-up jumper, reverse lay-up or crossover move.

After every player has had 'one opportunity to-attempt the shot at both ends, the players or coaches can call for a change to the next move in the series.

The shooter shoots the same shot at both ends, while the rebounder (X) trails the outlet pass with the responsibility for rebounding the miss or inbounding the ball after a made shot without allowing the ball to touch the floor.

The same tandem returns upcourt for a second shot, after which each player moves 'to the back of the opposite line, switching positions (Diag. 2). If your system allows for shooting 3's off the break, these can be added to the drill.

Teaching point: Maintain attention to detail as the offense accelerates; the brain has to stay in third gear while the body shifts to fifth.

The trailer must be sure to clear the backboard on the made basket by stepping to the side of the glass to allow room for the long pass and to also take care to set up a full three feet behind the end line to avoid a line violation on the inbounds pass.

Two-on-One Break.

Spacing is essential. Extending the lone defender by using the foul-line extended will simplify the reads and produce more scores and fewer turnovers.

The learning curve should start with the two-on-zero and progress with the addition of the defender. Both offensive players in the tandem should strive for 15-to-18 foot spacing and minimize dribbling in order to advance the ball upcourt as quickly as possible.

In any fast-break situation where the offensive team "has numbers" or an advantage via fewer defenders, there must be a sense of urgency to capitalize quickly and efficiently before the remaining defenders recover.

The moment of truth arrives on the last pass before the ball crosses the foul-line extended area of the court. The pass should be caught off the jump-stop by 0, who looks for the defender (X) in one of three positions. If X is...

1. Playing the other offensive player, drive for the lay-up (Diag. 3).

2. Playing the ball, bounce pass for the lay-up (Diag. 4).

3. Floating in the middle, go over the top with either a lob pass or the open jump shot (Diag. 5).

If we make one more pass below the foul-line extended area other than the bounce pass for a lay-up, we will have over-passed and not only missed out on. an easy scoring opportunity but also risked loss of the ball altogether with a turnover.

I also believe that a forced shot equals a turnover. If the O takes a shot in the two-on-one break with a hand in his face, it means his teammate was open for a lay-up. So a forced shot equals a turnover.

Finally, if the jump shot is open, we want to shoot with confidence, remembering that the second offensive player has excellent position to rebound a missed shot. We encourage our players, when uncertain, to pause and take one more second to read, forcing the defender to commit before we make a decision on what to do with the ball.

Three-on-Two Break

As in the two-on-one, proper spacing begins with the ball-handler pushing the ball down the middle of the floor and stopping just above the foul line. Our rule is for the player in the middle to cross the foul line with the ball only if the wide-open lay-up is there.

We start the three-player break with three-on-zero, working up to three-on-one and then three-on-two. The player in the middle tosses the ball high off the backboard and rebounds. He can then outlet the ball to either 2 or 3, positioned at opposite hashmarks in the backcourt.

Nothing unusual so far, although we will add a player from the next group in the three-on-zero drill to pressure the rebounder on the outlet pass.

As the ball is pushed up the middle, we obviously want both wings to stay wide, running just inside the sideline until they reach the foul-line extended, then cutting on the diagonal to the rim.

Although this is standard stuff for an experienced coach, we all have the challenge of quality control in both practices and games. We must diligently monitor the details to ensure consistent execution.

As we conclude the three-player break, we look to pass no more than three times before a shot--a bounce pass to either wing for the lay-up, a bounce pass followed by a reversal pass to the elbow for a shot or a skip pass to the weak-side wing for a shot, or a bounce pass to the wing followed by a reversal pass to the point followed by a reversal pass to the other wing for a shot.

After passing the ball, the player in the middle must come to the ball-side elbow with knees bent and hands up, ready to shoot quickly if open (Diag. 6). If the ball is reversed from the middle, one to two dribbles will be needed to create a better passing lane before swinging the ball to the other side.

These options can be taught by running a three-on- zero drill with the coach designating which option is open before the shot.

To ensure good passes and shots in the three-on-two break, each player must read the floor. In a three-on-two, someone is always open; we simply look for the open pass and the open shot.

Poor execution in either the two-on-one or the three-on-two will result in a double penalty for the offense: a turnover or forced (and usually missed) jump shot, both depriving the offenders of a better scoring opportunity while creating a similar fast-break opportunity for the opposing team.

A blown three-on-two break will often lead to a successful four-on-three break going the other way. These four-point swings are critical in turning the momentum and deciding the outcome of close games.

Once we have taught the proper execution of all fast-break situations, we must strive to acknowledge both positive and negative plays. On days when execution gets sloppy, nothing can snap a team out of a funk like a few wind sprints. In the end, we don't need spectacular plays; only simple, fundamentally sound execution.

3-on-2, 2-on-1

After enough repetition in both situations, we can combine the two in one simple drill. We start (Diag. 7) with three lines of O's outside the near baseline--one line in the middle and one line in each corner. Each O in the middle line has a basketball. Two defenders (X) are stationed under the opposite basket.

The drill is started with 1, 2 and 3 stepping onto the court and 2 and 3 proceeding to the hash mark on their side for the outlet pass. 1, in the middle, tosses the ball off the board, rips the ball down, and outlets it to 2 or 3. Diag. 7 shows him passing to 3.

I have learned the hard way that someone on the coaching staff must monitor the defensive side of the ball on all fast-break drills. Otherwise, the defensive execution will become sloppy and fail to fully challenge the offense.

The three-on-two break concludes at the other end with either a made basket, a turnover, or a change of possession in transition (e.g., a defensive rebound or steal). The two defensive players convert to offense, taking care to inbound the ball properly when necessary (e.g., after a score).

The last of the three offensive players to handle the ball before the change of possession (3) assumes responsibility for getting back on defense, creating a two-on-one break coming back up court, again playing until the possession concludes.

The next three players in each line initiate the next three-on-two break back downcourt against the two players remaining from the previous offensive possession.

To emphasize jump-stopping when catching the pass and looking upcourt to pass before dribbling, the two and three player fast-break drills can be run without use of the dribble and with or without the defense.

The ability to dribble can be added incrementally, first only below the foul-line extended to dribble after the catch in order to take the ball to the basket for a lay-up, next in the frontcourt only, and finally all over the court.

Five-Player Transition Offense

Pushing the ball on every possession keeps the onus on the defense and allows our offense to look for easy scores on every possession: after a made basket, a made free throw, a turnover, even out of a timeout.

All we need is for one of the five defenders to lapse a few times over the course of a game and we have given ourselves a winning edge.

A five-player "secondary break" depends on a quick inbounds pass, hence the emphasis in all of the previous drills on taking the ball out of the net after a made basket.

With the use of a numbered system, our 4 will inbound the ball to 1, who will look to catch the ball as deep as possible in line with the ball between half-court and the foul- line extended (see Diag. 8).

4 and 5 should be considered interchangeable. If 5 is much closer to the ball after a score, the two players should switch positions for that possession in order to advance the ball upcourt as quickly as possible.

Our 2 and 3 move to the half-court line three to five feet inside the sideline, with 2 always on the right and 3 on the left. If this distinction is not made and adhered to, we would end up with both in the same lane, bogging down our transition offense. If 2 and 3 have different dominant hands (i.e., 2 is a lefty and 3 is not), we'd have each of them play to his strong hand by switching sides.

Our 5 moves to the middle of the floor and sprints in this lane to the top of the offensive circle, waiting for the ball to enter the frontcourt.

Once we have declared ball side by passing or dribbling the ball to either side of the three-point line, 5 will immediately flash to the ball-side block, looking for a post-up opportunity. If 5 will simply run the floor on every possession, he will give us the opportunity for easy scores every game.

Player 1, after receiving the inbounds pass from 4, looks to pass to either 2 or 3 at half-court. If neither is open, 1 will push the ball hard with a speed dribble to the three-point line. If 2 or 3 receives the second pass from 1, he will also push the ball, with 1 filling a lane on the same side.

Finally, 4 always runs opposite 1, with 1, 2, 3, and 4 filling their designated lanes, as shown in Diag. 8. We finish the secondary break with ball-reversal, looking for 5 in the paint on each catch (Diag. 9).

Once we have fully reversed the ball, 4 will dive to the block and 5 will flash to the high post, with 1 sliding to the middle of the floor (Diag. 10). We are now in position to run any offense against man or zone defense.

There is no need to set up or reset our offense, and we may find an easy scoring opportunity as the opposing team finishes its transition from full-court to half-court defense.

It's true that defense wins games. I remind my team of this every day. But, unlike football, baseball, hockey, or soccer, you have to score more than a few times to come out on top in basketball.

Whatever your offense, whoever your opponent, if you run the break properly and "push smart," your team will have the winning edge. You will convert more of the high-percentage opportunities you need to beat your easiest opponents on an off-night and your toughest opponents at their best.