The NBA season tips off on Tuesday, October 22 with the reigning champions the Boston Celtics due to receive their championship rings before taking on the New York Knicks. Following fresh on the heels of such an exciting and exhilarating season, there are sure to be plenty of new fans tuning into the game.
If you yourself are gearing up for your first season of NBA viewing and have found the terminology and jargon surrounding the game more than confusing, fear not. Firstly you’re not alone, all of us have been there and secondly, we’ve got you covered!
Below we have listed some of the most commonly used phrases and terminology in the NBA that newer fans struggle with starting off with slang terms that you can often hear commentators and pundits saying.
Against the Spread
This is a term that comes from sports, but you’re just as likely to see it when perusing the NBA odds as you are to hear it when you’re tuning into the big game. Essentially when you hear this team it means that the favourite is winning, but not by as much as they should be.
Air Ball
A bad shot. One that doesn’t hit the backboard or the rim and literally just sails through the air. When this happens you’ll hear the opposition fans mockingly chanting “AIR BALL, AIR BALL, AIR BALL!”
YOUTUBE EMBED:
(Enjoy some truly dreadful air ball shots.)
And One
This is when a player scores after being fouled, because not only do they get the points from the original shot but they also get one free throw from the foul.
Ankle Breaker
A piece of skill so good or tricky that it not only embarrasses the opponent but threatens to break their ankle too as they’re pulled one way and then the other.
Board
When a player scores from a rebound.
Buzzer Beater
Even if you haven’t watched basketball before, you’ve undoubtedly heard of this term used to describe a successful shot that is made just before time runs out and the buzzer sounds.
Catch a Body
When a player clips an opponents with their trailing legs as they hit a dunk.
YOUTUBE EMBED:
(Some truly insane examples.)
Dime
An assist.
Facial
Dunking right in the face of an opponent.
Flop
Playacting to gain a foul.
Foul Trouble
When a player is sailing close to the wind in terms of their foul limit.
Garbage Time
The final knockings of a game that is dead and buried already. The equivalent of when a soccer team passes the ball amongst themselves in the final 15 of a game because they’re already 5 nil up.
Hack
A foul.
Posterized
A deeply American term here. This one describes when a player gets dunked on so spectacularly, so humiliatingly that they’ll be worrying after that the moment of their shame will be immortalised on a poster.
YOUTUBE EMBED:
(Some epic posterizing moments.)
Swish
A shot that goes through the net so smoothly and cleanly that it doesn’t hit the backboard or the rim on the way in and makes a nice little swish noise. Others sometimes refer to these as nothing but the net shots or splash shots because of how the net bounces after the ball passes through.
Now you know some slang, here are some more technical terms that you might not know to finish things up.
Back Court: This refers to the two guards, the equivalent of the defense.
The Bench: Substitute players.
Free Throw: Uncontested shot awarded to a player after they’ve been fouled.
Front Court: The two offensive players and the center.
Jump Shot: Does what it says on the tin, a shot on the jump.
Layup: When a player scores after laying the ball up against the backboard and then dunking it in.
Inbounder: The player who throws the ball back into play after a stoppage
Sixth Man: The go-to substitute.
Slam Dunk: The most famous scoring term used to describe a particularly aggressive or striking dunk.
Three Pointer: A shot from behind the arc on the pitch that registers as three points, sometimes referred to as a shot from “downtown”.
Are there any more terms that you would like explained? If so leave them in the comments section below and we’ll do our best to get back to you.
