the.com/fast break

means A quick offensive sprint down the court before the defense can get set up, usually sparked by a steal, rebound, or turnover.

from A straightforward compound from basketball's own working vocabulary, not borrowed from elsewhere — 'fast' plus 'break,' as in a 'break' for the basket, a sudden opening in the defense's structure. The term tracks the sport's own history: early basketball (invented in the 1890s) was slow and positional, and as the game sped up through the 20th century — especially with faster dribbling, better conditioning, and rule changes like the shot clock in the pros — 'breaking' fast became its own named strategy, distinct enough to need a phrase.