Here is a glossary of the words I commonly use in writing The tabs on the Playoff reports. This should help you understand some of the slang I use and maybe get a little bit of an insight into exactly what I'm seeing when i describe a play. I grouped the words together by similarities rather than alphabetized. If you noticed any words missing that you think I should have includied and/or have any questions about the definitions I provided, I'd be interested in hearing them. patricia A tabulation for the tabs Free Throws 2 of 2, 1 of 2, 0 of 2, 3 of 3, 3 of ... - makes _ of _ free throws. freebies - free throws. makes/misses both - makes/misses the two free throws. makes/misses the extra - makes/misses the free throw to complete/miss a three point (possibly the rare 4 point) play; was fouled and got the continuation. makes/misses the gift - makes/misses the free throw after a technical foul on the other team. Shots gets 2 - somehow makes a basket. gets 2 inside - makes a basket while in the paint. jumper - some elevation while shooting (maybe a little, maybe a lot). lay up - catch all for anything close to the basket, often uses the glass. banker - uses the glass. baseliner - shoots while near the baseline, i.e. parallel to the backboard. turn around - gets (or has) the ball with his back to the basket and spins and then shoots - one motion. set shot - shoots with both feet on the ground. hook - a one handed shot with the player's body between the ball and the basket with the ball released above the shoulders. jump hook - jumps while shooting the hook. sweeping hook - lots of arm motion, normally brings the ball from the hip to shoot. drop in - hands above the rim, but not really a dunk. face up - gets the ball facing the basket and shoots. put back - shot made close to the basket immediately after an offensive rebound. one-hander - catch all for a one handed shot, normally a push shot. finger roll - one hand under the ball and rolls the ball off the fingers and in. scoop shot - while the hand is under the ball, tosses it up and in. floater - similar to a scoop shot, but normally released a lot higher and with a higher arc. 15/18/20/...-footer - shooting __ distance from the basket. 3 - a three point shot. Descriptive Shots long jumper/baseliner/... - 19 to 23 feet from the basket. long jumper (foot/feet/toe on the line) - almost a 3-pointer. short jumper/baseliner/... - 6 to 14 feet from the basket. pull up jumper/15-footer/... - was dribbling towards the basket and all of the sudden stops and shots. running one-hander/hook/... - shoots while driving to the basket or across the paint. nifty ball control - swings the ball around in the air with one hand (faking the other player) before dropping it in; difficult to describe but neat to watch. rainbow - a high arcing shot; means I was very impressed with it. high kiss off the glass - banked it in high off the backboard. Dunks dunks - with the ball in one or two hands above the rim, guides the ball through the basket; the ball does not leave the player's hand(s) until it has entered the cylinder (basket). jams - a dunk; I use this term most often to describe a dunk. slams - a dunk, usually with power. soft dunk/jam/... - not very impressive or much power. powers it home - dunks with enough power to hear it clearly, impressive. Missed Shots misses - catch all for any shot that doesn't go in. misses badly - an ugly shoot that didn't even come close to going in. rattles out - bounces around inside the rim before popping out. bricks - hits the part of the rim closest to the shooter. airballs - falls short of the part of the rim closest to the shooter. over shoots - airballs by going past the rim. Made Shots gets - catch all for how the shot went in. For jumpers, normally means it didn't go in cleanly (i.e. hit enough of the inside of the rim that it might have bounced out). nails - goes in pretty good, or just trying to vary the verbs. drains - a clean shot. swishes - touches nothing but the bottom of the net. buries - a beautiful, clean shot; means I was very impressed with it. rattles in - hits the inside of the rim more than once before dropping through. rolls around and in - rolls around the top of the rim before dropping through. rolls in - rolls off the back of the rim and then in. bounces in - bounces off the rim and in. tips in - player touches the missed shot as it is coming off the rim so that it goes in. taps in - similar to a tip, but normally with more force and/or with the ball a little farther away from the rim. Blocks blocks - the defensive player prevents a score by getting a hand on the ball as the offensive player attempts to shoot or right after the player shoots. swats - the defensive player blocks the ball after the ball has left the offensive player's hands and the ball travels some distance after the block. Steals/Turnovers player steals - the individual player was the main cause of the steal. team steals - two or more players caused the steal or I didn't catch who the player responsible was. intercepts - steals a pass made by the other team. strips - takes the ball away from a player (ball was in the player's hands). turnover - player or team was responsible for the team losing possession. If I feel the player/team was more responsible for the team losing possession than the player who is credited with the steal, I list it as a turnover. fumbles - player loses control of the ball (may or may not results in a turnover). Descriptors/Misc open - the defender wasn't close enough to affect the shot. wide open - all alone with no one near by. easy - close to the basket with few or no defenders. ahead - long length pass, at least half court. coast to coast - player takes the ball from one end of the court to the other for the lay up/jam/... without passing to anyone else. takes it all the way - player takes it from some distance in for the lay up/jam/... inside - in the paint near the basket. into - player outside the paint passes into a player near the basket. dishes - a short pass/hand off to a player near the basket. drives - with the ball, dribbles from 12 feet or more out in towards the basket. cuts - drives to the basket without the ball. give and go - player passes to another player then cuts to the basket and the other player passes back to the cutter for the lay up/jam/... pick and roll - a player sets a screen for the player with the ball then goes towards the basket and the player with the ball passes to him for the lay up/jam/... flies - leaves the ground with some distance from the basket for the rebound or the slam. skies - leaves the ground with a lot of elevation some distance from the basket to go for the rebound or the slam. spins in - turns while driving. spins baseline - while posting up parallel to the backboard, spins towards the baseline to get past the defender for the lay up/jam/... steps in - as the defender runs at the shooter, dribble steps in a foot or two to cause the defender to fly past him. pseudo-something - not really the something, but similar to it or I can't think of any other way to describe it. Misc T - a technical foul. Illegal D - illegal defense and a technical foul. I don't list the first illegal D (which is a warning, no technical foul). scuffle - some pushing between players and/or some trash talking. jawing - trash talking. sloppy bball - the ball and/or players are rolling around on the ground with no one really controlling; poor passes but the team still retains possession; and/or some sequence of events that make you go "blech!" . and , - ending with a period means that some time (little or lot) passes between that play and the next. Bunching two or more plays together with commas means that little or no time occurred between them - fast action. Personal Emphasis pretty - I liked it. (I probably said something aloud when I saw it). Oh, ... - impressive, different, deserving emphasis. Oh man, ... - very impressive. Oh wow, ... - you should have seen this! Oh my gosh! - look for it on the highlight film. (I probably went bonkers.)