Alley-oop (basketball)

Alley-oop (basketball)

An alley-oop in basketball is an offensive play in which one player throws the ball near the basket to a teammate who jumps, catches the ball in mid air and immediately scores a basket, usually with a slam dunk. The alley-oop combines elements of teamwork, pinpoint passing, timing, and dunking.

History of the alley-oop

Al Tucker and his brother Gerald at Oklahoma Baptist University are sometimes credited with being the first to use the alley-oop in the mid-1960s.citation | last = Andrieson | first = David | title = Sonics ushered Seattle into the big time 40 years ago Saturday | newspaper=The Seattle Post-Intelligencer | year=2007 |date = October 13, 2007 | url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketball/335376_originals13.html] Others credit David Thompson as the first player to execute the classic alley-oop play while at North Carolina State University, with his teammates Monte Towe and Tim Stoddard performing the necessary lob passes. NCSU's Thompson popularized the play during the early 1970s, exploiting his 44-inch vertical leap to make the above-the-rim play a recurring staple in the Wolfpack's offensive attack.citation | last = Posnanski | first = Joe | title = Get ready for alley-oop game between KU and Memphis | newspaper=The Kansas City Star | year=2008 |date = April 6, 2008 | url=http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/564174-p2.html] Because dunking was illegal in college basketball at that time, upon catching the pass, Thompson would simply drop the ball through the hoop - never dunking one until the final play of the final home game of his career. During the 1990s NBA stars turned the alley-oop into the game's ultimate quick strike weapon. North Carolina State also won a national championship on what could be considered the most famous alley-oop of all time against the University of Houston. With time running out and the score tied in the 1983 championship game in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dereck Whittenburg shot short of the rim, which effectively functioned as a pass to Lorenzo Charles, who caught the ball and stuffed it through the net to win the title.

Examples

Normally, an alley-oop involves having a player other than the dunker throw the ball into mid-air. The play can be difficult to execute during a game because it requires unspoken communication between the passer and the recipient of the pass. A player charging toward the basket may point upward, signaling that he is ready to receive an alley-oop. The passer must be able to anticipate the recipient's movement toward the basket and then time the pass appropriately.

On occasion, the passer will throw the alley-oop off of the backboard to a trailing recipient for the dunk. This is often a more difficult alley-oop to complete, and it tends to occur outside of officially-sanctioned basketball games, in which the downside of a missed dunk is lower. The move is often used in slam-dunk contests. For example, at the 2005 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Steve Nash used the soccer move of a to place the ball in the air near the rim for teammate Amaré Stoudemire to catch and jam.

Rarely, the dunker himself will throw the ball, often bouncing it off the floor or backboard. During the flow of a normal game, this is difficult to accomplish without either committing a traveling violation, or simply creating the needless risk of a turnover. Consequently, this move tends to be restricted to slam-dunk contests.

An Alley-oop is often combined with other tricks, such as a tomahawk, or a 360° spin. Many halftime shows feature trick slam dunks, which involve spins, flips and alley oops.

Origin of the term

The term "alley-oop" is derived from the French term "allez-oup", the cry of a circus acrobat about to leap. [http://www.bartleby.com/61/7/A0210750.html] The term "Alley Oop" was first used in the 1950s by the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL to describe a high arcing pass to wide receiver R.C. Owens,who would outleap smaller cornerbacks for touchdown receptions ("The Catch", the famous Dwight Clark touchdown reception from Joe Montana by which the 49ers gained entry into their first Super Bowl was also an "Alley Oop" pass) and later became more well-known from its use in basketball. The play was called "Alley Oop" after the comic strip caveman.

In popular culture

In the 2008 film "Semi-Pro", protagonist Jackie Moon invents the alley-oop after being knocked unconscious and speaking with his deceased mother in a depiction of Heaven.

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Alley oop — de Ben Wallace con asistencia de Rasheed Wallace, de los Detroit Pistons en 2005. Un alley oop en baloncesto es una jugada de ataque en la que un jugador lanza la pelota cerca de la canasta para que un compañero salte, capture el balón en el aire …   Wikipedia Español

  • alley-oop — [al΄ē o͞op′] interj. [< Fr allez (imper. of aller, to go), used as interj. of encouragement, surprise, exhortation + oop < ?] used as an exclamation accompanying the act of lifting, rising, etc. n. Basketball a high, lobbed pass to a… …   English World dictionary

  • Alley oop — Rasheed Wallace (#36) von den Detroit Pistons passt den Ball zu Ben Wallace Der Alley oop ist ein Basketball Bewegungsablauf, bei dem Spieler A Spieler B den Ball zuwirft und dieser den Ball während des Sprungs in der Luft fängt und noch in der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • alley-oop — exclamation used to encourage or draw attention to an acrobatic feat. noun (also alley oop pass) Basketball a high pass caught by a leaping teammate who tries to dunk the ball before landing. Origin early 20th cent.: perh. from Fr. allez! go on!… …   English new terms dictionary

  • alley-oop — ˌalēˈüp, ˌaliˈyüp noun Etymology: alteration (influenced by alley (I)) of earlier allez oop, cry of a circus acrobat about to leap, probably from French allez, 2d person plural imperative of aller to go + English oop, alteration of up : a… …   Useful english dictionary

  • alley-oop — noun Etymology: alteration of allez oop, cry of a circus acrobat about to leap, probably from French allez, 2d person plural imperative of aller to go + English oop, perhaps alteration of up Date: 1967 a basketball play in which a leaping player… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • alley-oop — /æli ˈup/ (say alee oohp), /æli ˈʊp/ (say alee oop) Colloquial –interjection 1. (an exclamation of encouragement, exhortation, etc., preceding some vigorous action or forceful effort.) –noun 2. Basketball a pass made by one player to another who… …  

  • alley-oop — /al ee oohp /, interj. 1. (used as a shout of encouragement, exhortation, or the like, esp. when coordinating efforts to lift a heavy object.) n. 2. Basketball. a quick score play in which a high, arching pass is made to a teammate close to the… …   Universalium

  • Basketball moves — are generally individual actions used by players in basketball to pass by defenders to gain access to the basket or to get a clean pass to a teammate. Contents 1 Dribbling 1.1 Crossover dribble 1.2 Between the legs …   Wikipedia

  • OOP — Die Abkürzung OOP steht für: Objektorientierte Programmierung, ein Programmierparadigma Out of print, Bezeichnung für Medien, die nicht mehr hergestellt werden Siehe auch: Alley oop, Bewegungsablauf im Basketball …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”