Another of my favourite sport when I was in Secondary school. Almost every week, my hostel friends and I would play basketball. Usually, we go by teams of Nation; however, since there weren't enough Taiwanese to form a team, Hong Kong will merge with Taiwan to play against the against PRC, Thai, Vietnameses and Indonesians. I have to say that we generally played quite well, as we had the "twin towers", two junior boys who were both around 2m tall, but the Indonesians jumped the highest!!!
Anyway, back to the NBA playoffs. It has been playing for awhile now and the Lakers are not as brilliant as many might have expected. I'm no fan of any teams, I just want to see some great basketball, so if you are also interested, I guess you can catch the match on Saturday mornings on TVB Pearl.
Time for some common terms used by the NBA commentators, taken and adapted from the resource links at the bottom of this entry:
VIOLATIONS:
Travelling -- the person with the ball is moving both feet without dribbling the ball.
Double (dribbling) -- the person dribbled once, stop and held the ball, and then dribbled again.
Backcourt Violation -- when a player with the ball crosses the half way line and then back to his own court again.
Goaltending -- when the player attempt a shot and the ball is blocked by the opponent player while the ball is on its downward flight to the basket, that is, has already reached its top point in the air and is coming down.
Foul-Out -- when a player has committed enough fouls to be sent off.
Free Throw -- a kind of compensation for suffering from a foul, a chance to shoot from the free-throw line.
And-one -- when a player is fouled during a shot attempt and is awarded with a 1 point free-throw.
SHOOTING
Jump shot -- attempt a shot when one is jumping.
Layup -- jumping from below the basket, laying the ball up near the basket
Slamdunk/ Slam / Dunk -- to put the ball into the basket by slamming the ball in with one or both arms
Goes for 3 / from downtown -- to attempt to shoot from the 3 point line
Air ball -- when the ball hit nothing at a shot attempt
Brick -- a bad shot
Alley-oop -- a player pass the ball high and over the basket and another player receives it in mid-air and performs a dunk.
Fadeaway -- a jump shot while the player is jumping backwards away from the basket
Hook-shot -- a player with the ball swings the arm in the path of the shape of hook and so the ball gently leaves the hand and heads for the basket.
GAME PLAY
Pick and roll / Screen and roll -- one player blocking the opponent player, acting as a screen for the teammate with the ball and then roll around the opponent to receive the ball.
Double team -- defending one opponent player using two players.
Full-court press -- the defense team apply man-to-man or zone defense for the entire length of the court.
DRIBBLING
Crossover -- to move the ball from left to right or vice versa.
Picture resources:
http://paperthoughts.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/allen-iverson-picture-5.jpg
Suggested reading:
