The break may force the defenders to play a slow and deliberate style of basketball that will affect their own game adversely. Through a fear of being caught up floor, rebounders may drop off the offensive backboard too soon, to the advantage of the fast-breaking team. Conversely, they may stay too long, in an effort to slow down a break. Another positive psychological factor is that running the fast break effectively invariably leads to better defense on the part of the fast- breaking team. A successful break stimulates the players' aggressive defensive play so that they come up with many more loose balls' violations, and aggressive rebounds.
Kids shoot well today.
In order to capitalize on this talent, the offense should get down floor more quickly than the defense. Another important advantage of the fast break is that it makes every player a potential scorer. The mediocre scorer, who would get no more than half a dozen scoring opportunities a game when running patterns, can pick up two, three, or four easy baskets a game if he hustles on the fast break. Lastly, the fast break adds to the game, making it more colorful, interesting, and fast moving - the kind of game spectators prefer. Second, the Sideline Fast Break does not follow the lanes shown here.