Basketball Unit: Basketball vocabulary

Glossary of basketball terms

Pass: Pase

Chest Pass: Pase de pecho

Bounce Pass: Pase picado

Overhead Pass: Pase por encima de la cabeza

Free-throw: Tiro libre

Hook Shot: Gancho

To convert: Anotar un tiro libre

Three-Point Shot: Tiro de 3

Shot to the rim/basket: tiro al aro/canasta

Inside shot: Tiro interior

Bank Shot: Tiro a tablero

Jump Shot: Tiro en suspensión

Lay-up: Entrada a canasta/bandeja tocando el tablero

Rebound: Rebote

Double dribble: dobles

Foul: Falta

Technical Fouls: Falta técnica

Walking: Pasos

Rim: Aro

Backboard: Tablero

Court: Pista

The basketball court

Pay attention to some basic rules you should know:

• Walking/Traveling. Taking more than 'a step and a half' without dribbling the ball is traveling. Moving your pivot foot once you've stopped dribbling is traveling.

• Double Dribble. Dribbling the ball with both hands on the ball at the same time or picking up the dribble and then dribbling again is a double dribble.

• Carrying/palming. When a player dribbles the ball with his hand too far to the side of or, sometimes, even under the ball.

• Held ball. Occasionally, two or more opposing players will gain possession of the ball at the same time. In order to avoid a prolonged and/or violent tussle, the referee stops the action and awards the ball to one team or the other on a rotating basis.

• Backcourt. Once the offense has brought the ball across the mid-court line, they cannot go back across the line during possession. If they do, the ball is awarded to the other team to pass inbounds.