The fast break is one of the most exciting parts of basketball, whether it’s dunks, pull up threes, or slick passes you want to see, they all make their most frequent appearances when you’re out running and gunning. And while you can often get breaks off of steals or missed shots, learning how to run a secondary break off of made or missed baskets can make your job as a coach on offense much easier.

That’s because if you can push the ball up the floor, even if there are five defenders back, if you attack right away, they still haven’t had a chance to set and get into proper position, and you can often find openings that wouldn’t be there had you just walked the ball up the floor.

That’s why I love the secondary fast break. It’s a simple play where you try and get an early easy shot, and if it isn’t there, you simply pull the ball out and run your normal offense.

Secondary Break: Trailing Big Pick and Roll

A pick and roll on the break is great, because it not only forces players to move more than they want to, but it forces them to think before they want to. Whether it’s a hedge, a double, or just fighting over the screen, it’s going to be much more difficult for teams to get their on-ball and help rotations down properly if they’ve only been on defense for a couple of seconds.

Regardless of what play you’re running, you’ll want to setup your secondary break this way: with your wings out at the side line at the foul line extended, your point guard at one elbow and your center at the other.

Now as soon as the ball is passed to the point, both wings and the center will take off down the floor, staying in their lanes – except for the center. He’s going to do a rim-run. This is a sprint down right to the front of the basket, and an attempt at a seal down there.

The point guard can either head man the ball or just bring it up himself, and the power forward is going to come up the other side of the court as the point guard.

Once the power forward gets ahead of the point, he’s going to come back and set a pick, which the point guard will misdirect away from, and then use. The power forward will roll, and the center will slide to the block or the Russian corner to spot  up for a jumper.

And if there’s nothing there – oh well! Pull it out and run your normal offense. You’ve made the defense work a little bit harder than they want to, and maybe next time they might not be so lucky.

Coaches: Are you looking for more offensive tips? Check out our complete archive of basketball plays, including tutorials for 1-4 Offense, 5 Out Offense, Quick Hitters and Inbounds Plays.