Jump shot (basketball)

Common card · No. 476536

In basketball (and derivatives like netball), a player may attempt to score a basket by leaping straight into the air, the elbow of the shooting hand cocked, ball in hand above the head, and launching the ball in a high arc towards the basket for a jump shot (colloquially, a jumper). Although early critics thought the leap might lead to indecision in the air, the jump shot replaced the earlier, less quickly released set shot, and eventually transformed the game because it is the easiest shot to make from a distance and more difficult for a defender to block. Variations on the simple jump shot include the "turnaround jumper" (facing away from the basket, then jumping and spinning towards it, shooting the ball in mid-air); the "fadeaway" (jumping away from the basket to create space); and the "leaning jumper" (jumping towards the basket to move away from a trailing defender). With the "hook shot," a player is turned sideways with the shooting arm away from the basket outstretched so that...

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