Jump shot (basketball) in the context of "Marcin Gortat"

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players each (excluding subs), opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately 9.4 inches (24 cm) in diameter) through the defender's hoop (a basket 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter mounted 10 feet (3.05 m) high to a backboard at each end of the court). Teams alternate between offense, when they attempt to score, and defense, when they try to prevent the opposing side from scoring. A field goal is worth two points, unless made from behind the three-point line, when it is worth three. After a foul, timed play stops and the player fouled or designated to shoot a technical foul is given one, two or three one-point free throws. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but if regulation play expires with the score tied, an additional period of play (overtime) is mandated. However, if the additional period still results in a tied score, yet another additional period is mandated. This goes on until the score is not tied anymore.

Players advance the ball by bouncing it while walking or running (dribbling) or by passing it to a teammate, both of which require considerable skill. On offense, players may use a variety of shots – the layup, the jump shot, or a dunk; on defense, they may steal the ball from a dribbler, intercept passes, or block shots; either offense or defense may collect a rebound, that is, a missed shot that bounces from rim or backboard. It is a violation to lift or drag one's pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling.

A layup in basketball is a two-point shot attempt made by leaping from below, "laying" the ball up near the basket, and using one hand to bounce it off the backboard and into the basket. The motion and one-handed reach distinguish it from a jump shot. The layup is considered the most basic shot in basketball. When doing a layup, the player lifts the outside foot, or the foot away from the basket.

An undefended layup is usually a high percentage shot. The main obstacle is getting near the rim and avoiding blocks by taller defenders who usually stand near the basket. Common layup strategies are to create spaces, release the ball from a different spot, or use alternate hands. A player able to reach over the rim might choose to perform a more spectacular and higher percentage slam dunk (dropping or throwing the ball from above the rim) instead.

A backboard shattering (also known as backboard breaking or backboard smash) is an accident or stunt in basketball. It occurs when a player performs a slam dunk with sufficient force to shatter or otherwise destroy the tempered glass of the backboard, often causing the hoop to break off as well. Games are usually canceled or delayed and it incurs a foul for the offending player and costs of cleanup and replacement. Shattering a backboard can be dangerous, sending various small pieces of the backboard glass flying, potentially injuring players, sideline press personnel, referees, or spectators. In the National Basketball Association (NBA), shattering a backboard during a game is penalized with a "non-unsportsmanlike" technical foul and a possible fine towards the player. The player may not be ejected, nor shall the foul count towards a player's total towards either ejection or suspension. The referee also has latitude to waive off the foul, if it is determined the shattering was accidental due to a defect in the backboard or its structure, the board was broken during a rebound of the ball from a jump shot, or if the player had no intentions to dunk with force.

Throughout the history of basketball there have always been athletes with the size and strength to slam dunk the ball through the rim. However, the first recorded NBA player to shatter a backboard, Chuck Connors (who would become far more famous as an actor), did not do so with a dunk. When playing for the Boston Celtics in 1946, Connors took a set shot during pregame warmups, hitting the front of the rim. Because an arena worker had failed to place a protective piece between the rim and backboard, the backboard shattered. All-star power forward Gus Johnson of the Baltimore Bullets became famous as a backboard breaker in the NBA, shattering three during his career in the 1960s and early 1970s. In the American Basketball Association (ABA), Charlie Hentz shattered two backboards in the same game on November 6, 1970, resulting in the game being canceled. An invention by Arthur Ehrat to create the breakaway rim with a spring on it led to the return of the dunk in college basketball.

Wardell Stephen Curry II (/ˈstɛfən/ STEF-ən; born March 14, 1988), also known as Steph Curry (/ˈstɛf/ STEF), is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he plays as a point guard. Nicknamed "Chef Curry", he is widely regarded as the greatest shooter in basketball history and is credited with revolutionizing the game by popularizing the three-point shot across all levels of basketball.

He is a four-time NBA champion, a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), an NBA Finals MVP, and a two-time NBA All-Star Game MVP. He is also a two-time NBA scoring champion, an eleven-time NBA All-Star, and an eleven-time All-NBA Team selection (including four on the First Team). Internationally, he has won two gold medals at the FIBA World Cup and a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics as part of the U.S. national team.

A fadeaway, or fall-away, in basketball is a jump shot taken while jumping backwards, away from the basket. The goal is to create space between the shooter and the defender, making the shot much harder to block. The shooter must have very good accuracy, much higher than when releasing a regular jump shot, and must use more strength to counteract the backwards momentum in a relatively short amount of time. Because the movement is away from the basket, the shooter also has less chance to grab their own rebound.

Because the shooting percentage is lower in fadeaway due to the difficulty of the shot and because it is harder for the shooter to get their own rebound, many coaches and players believe it is one of the worst shots in the game to take. Biomechanically, fadeaway shots are worse because the player's center of mass is moving backward, which causes the release angle of the ball to vary more than a static jump shot. The ideal release angle for shooting a basketball is between 45 and 55 degrees, while fadeaways have an average release angle of 59. Once mastered, however, it is one of the hardest methods of shooting for defenders to block. The threat of a fadeaway forces a defender to jump into the shooter, and with a pump fake, the shooter can easily get a foul on the defender.

In basketball, a hook shot is a play where the offensive player, usually turned perpendicular to the basket, gently throws the ball using a sweeping motion of the arm farther from the basket in an upward arc with a follow-through which ends over their head. Unlike the jump shot, it is performed with only one hand; the other arm is often used to create space between the shooter and the defensive player. The shot is quite difficult to block, but only a small number of players have mastered it more than a few feet from the basket.

The hook shot was reportedly performed for the first time during official games in Eurobasket 1937 by Pranas Talzūnas, a member of the eventual champions, the Lithuania basketball team. Former Harlem Globetrotter Goose Tatum is often credited with inventing the hook shot; he even shot them without looking at the basket. The hook shot later became a staple of many players in the National Basketball Association (NBA), including stars such as George Mikan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Vlade Divac, Wilt Chamberlain and Yao Ming.

In the study of learning and memory, varied practice (also known as variable practice or mixed practice) refers to the use of a training schedule that includes frequent changes of task so that the performer is constantly confronting novel instantiations of the to-be-learned information.

The varied practice approach focuses on the distribution of practice in time, the organization of activities to be practiced (blocked vs. random), and the interleaving of information or content to highlight distinctions that facilitate learning. For example, a varied practice approach to learning to shoot a basketball might involve a sequence of ten mid-range jump shots, followed by ten layups, followed by ten free throws, followed by ten three-pointers, with the entire cycle repeating ten times. This contrasts with traditional approaches in which the learner is encouraged to focus on mastering a particular aspect or subset of the relevant information before moving on to new problems (e.g., focusing on free throws before moving to three-pointers). With varied practice, the learner is exposed to multiple versions of the problem even early in training.