The toughest shot in basketball
Do you know what the most missed shot in basketball is?
Think, think, and think.
You might not believe it, but the most missed shot in basketball is not the 3-pointer, it is neither the mid-range, nor it is the free throw. In fact, it is the lay-up. Isn’t it interesting?
The lay-up essentially is the highest percentage shot a player can possibly take in basketball, yet it is the most missed shot. With most of the missed lay-up shots, the best thing a basketball player can do is, recite the famous poem by T. H. Palmer:
Once or twice, though you should fail,
If you would at last prevail,
Try, try again
If you find your task is hard,
Time will bring you your reward,
Try, try again
The poem surely makes you reflect. However, why is the lay-up missed so much?
Well the answer is very simple. Since it is easy to perform a lay-up, players fail to take time to work on carrying out an essential lay-up. At the end of the day, they cost their teams priceless wins and lower their potential points-per-game statistics.
After declaring the lay-up as the most difficult basketball shot, it is essential to provide you with some simple tips that can help you master this fundamental skill.
Live low and watch your game grow
While carrying out a layup, you must always play the game from low to high. The short cuts towards achieving a goal always result in low output. By playing low, you can control and balance your body and by the end, you will be a strong finisher around the
basket. The only time you should be high is when you are exploding to the hoop and delivering your shot to score two points for your team.
Keep yourself in between the defender and the ball
A good rule of thumb when finishing around the hoop is to hold the ball strong above your hip like Lamar Odom (an American professional basketball forward for the Los Angeles Lakers) does so you can protect the ball, absorb the contact, and finish strongly.
Backfire to the hoop and fully boost yourself to the cup
Whether you finish off one or two legs on your layups, you must be explosive. Enhance both take-offs because it will provide you more scoring options when you need to make a quick decision around the basket. Practice driving your knee up like a rocket ship
and flare up to the hoop by fully extending your hand to the basket, taking full advantage of your height and physique. By the time you become an artful finisher, you will be able to get your defender on your back and can extend yourself to the basket and
get the bucket for your team.
Have an overhand or underhand layup with soft touch
One of the main reasons why players have trouble making lay-ups is because they have no touch. No matter if you are going 100 miles per hour to the hoop, the main thing is that you must be able to accomplish an overhand or underhand lay-up with a soft touch.
Peter "Pistol Pete" Press Maravich, who made basketball history as the most spectacular college scorer ever, used to say if you can float the ball up off the top of backboard, not even the great and well heighted players like, Wilt Chamberlain or Michael
Jordan "Air Jordan" can grab it.
If it is good enough for a remarkable player like Pistol Pete, it is good enough to add to your game.
Try to be able to execute a lay-up in one dribble from the 3-point line
Try to get your shot off quickly before the defense can react because they can get to the hoop in one dribble. Getting to the hoop in one dribble is a great skill and takes great timing and confidence, but it is easier then you might think.
To make it possible you have to work on taking explosive strides of left–right-left, and on the right side of the basket explosively stride right-left-right.
After this skill is mastered without a dribble, add a dribble and work on creating a complete separation and finishing strong. If you can master this, you are on your way to become an all-star Most Valuable Player (MVP) of basketball.
The master plan is ready, now what you have to do is, remember that you have a choice to get better, finish strong and become a sound basketball player. You do not have to only practice, but when game time comes and you have to make the shot. So by keeping
all these tips in your mind, do not just work hard, work smart, and go out and dominate the court. Rock the basketball court with the provided tips.
Tags: