One of the best things you can say about an athlete, or a team, is that he, she or they is/are alert.
There are some wonderful examples of this in sports history. Consider Larry Bird stealing the ball against Detroit and Isaiah Thomas and then hitting Dennis Johnson for a layup in 1987 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Consider Keith Gatlin at Maryland inbounding the ball off the backside of UNC’s Kenny Smith and getting a layup as time wound down - in the Dean Dome, no less. Consider Mike Krzyzewski changing the call at the last second vs.