I think the sports analogy would be passing the ball back and forth in front of the goal instead of shooting. Nearly every time, an athlete with the ball in front of an open goal will take the shot themselves instead of passing. Even in a 2v1 situation, passing is a huge risk and taking the shot has a high likelihood of scoring, so you only want to pass if the defender is leaving your teammate open (usually they split the difference, so it's complicated). Too many passes in a 2v1 guarantees that more defenders will show up and you lose your advantage.