Girl’s Guide to Key Basketball Maneuvers: Dribbling, Passing, Rebounds, Assists & Steals

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Before you can really understand the game of basketball, there are a lot of key terms that you need to know. We’ve covered a lot of them in “Girl’s Guide to Basketball Basics” and “He Shoots, He Scores: Types of Basketball Shots” Now we are going to go over the key basketball maneuvers like dribbling, passing, and rebounds Most of them are much easier to learn than Football Basics and Terms….. but not all of them! But don’t worry, we are saving the more advanced terms like “pick and roll” and “screens” for another post!

Now, just because the terms are easier to learn and understand, that doesn’t mean the maneuvers are less complex than football or require less accuracy and precision than baseball. In fact, basketball skills require split-second precision and accuracy, physical strength and endurance, mental preparedness and complex strategic planning. I’ve added a great series of videos to the definitions to illustrate the maneuvers—and the intricacy involved in becoming a master at them.

KEY BASKETBALL MANEUVERS/TERMS

Advance the ball: means bringing the basketball up the court with the intent to score a basket. This can be done by

Illustration of basketball player dribbling the ball

Dribbling the ball (player bounces the ball continouslywhile walking/running up the court)
Passing the ball (player throws ball down the court to another player)

Dribbling moves:

*If a player moves his feet, he MUST dribble the ball with him. He is not allowed to move both feet without bouncing hte ball on the ground.

Crossover (commonly used phrase: Killer Crossover): switches the dribbling hand back and forth from left to right to confuse defenders, and allow the player to go left or right at a moments notice. Colloquially known as “the ankle breakers” because when the defender tries to quickly adjust to the fake-out move, they often slip, fall, or twist their ankles.
Low/control: keeping the ball very low to the ground, helps to protect against other players stealing the ball.
Speed: great when no one is around and it’s a wide open court. Used to advance the ball quickly.

For more on dribbling, especially the crossover, check out this post. Also, check out Stiletto Sports Guide to the Killer Crossover coming soon. There you will find an in-depth video detailing crossovers and other amazing moves!

Types of Passing

I’m not going into too much detail here because the names are kinda self-explanatory!

Bounce Pass: Player bounces ball to other player…
Chest Pass: Player throws ball from chest height, without bouncing, to another player
Overhead Pass: Player throws ball from over his head to other player…
baseball pass: Player throws the ball way down the court to the receiving player
Behind-the-back: Player throws the ball— you guessed it—Behind his back, to the other player.
no-look pass: This one is kinda cool. It doesn’t mean he closes his eye while passing. It means the player is looking at one spot, and casually throws the ball to a player in a different spot. Get it? He is not looking where the pass is intended.

Assist or Assisted Shot: An assist occurs when a player passes his teammate the ball and the teammate immediately scored. Meaning, Player 1 assisted in Player 2’s core.

Here is a fantastic video that showcases all types of passing from bouncing to no-looks, and they all feature awesome assists!

Block or Blocked Shot: There is a big difference between blocking and a blocked shot in basketball. But on the stats sheet, a blocked shot does say just “blocks.”

A blocked shot is exactly what it sounds like: right after a player shoots the ball, the ball is deflected or “blocked” by a defender. They are incredible to watch because the defender basically says “Oh no you don’t, not in my house!” to the shooter (By the way, Not In My House really is a common phrase for blocks)

There are very strict rules about this though.

The Defender may not make contact with the shooter. He may only touch the ball
The blocked shot must occur on the upward arc. When shooting, the ball naturally arcs up first and then gravity pulls the ball downward. That means, if the ball is on its way down towards the basket and it’s batted away, the basket will still count. This is called goaltending which we will cover in the Fouls & Violations section.

Rebounds: If a shot was not made, and does not fly out of bounds, the ball is still live, meaning there is an opportunity for the players to retrieve the ball.

If an offensive player grabs the ball, it’s an offensive rebound
If a defensive player grabs the ball, it’s a defensive rebound.

Steals: When one player snatches or taps the ball away from the other team Usually leads to a “fast break”

Fast break: when the offense has an opportunity to break away from the defenders and the court is wide open for them to score. Usually happens after a steal or a block when the offense suddenly has to become defense and is scrambling.

In Transition: Often heard in a fast-break situation or after a steal, rebound or blocked shot because the defenders suddenly transition to an offensive position. Basketball is a transitional sport, meaning the players quickly change from a defensive role (guarding) to an offensive, or scoring, role.

Pivot: You’ll notice the players almost fidgeting when they have the ball and they are guarded really closely. This is because they already picked up one foot, and if they pick up the other without putting the ball on the floor (dribble) they will get a violation. They don’t want to run the risk of putting the ball down (potential steal risk) so they are pivoting that stationary foot to see who is open to pass to.

Drive: when a player makes a run towards the basket, usually moving through “the paint/lane.” While driving, players tend to lean their shoulders into the movement as a way of blocking potential defenders from stopping them.

Boxing-out: This occurs underneath the basket and is a defensive strategy to prevent a team from rebounding after a missed shot.

Post Up: To “post up” means the player has a prime shooting position around the basket. It’s used mostly when the defender is smaller in height and strength to the player “posting up” to shoot.

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Don’t forget to check out “He Shoots, He Scores: Types of Basketball Shots” and “Girl’s Guide to Basketball Players and Positions” which will give more insight into the game. Coming next will be “The Pick & Roll and Other Advanced Terms” as well as “Basketball’s Defensive Strategies” and “Common Basketball Rules, Fouls, Violations and Penalties”

As always, if you have any questions feel free to leave me a comment below or shoot me a tweet on Twitter @StilettoSportsJ

About the author: Jennifer Taglione is the owner of this fabulous website Stiletto Sports. Despite writing well over 500 posts, she still maintains that she is not a sports writer! She is however a huge fan of Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Mark Sanchez, the Celtics, and totally kicks butt on March Madness brackets! Connect with her by following her on Twitter @StilettoSportsJ and subscribing to her weekly newsletter. For more info check out the About the Editor page!