hook shot

{{Short description|Basketball play}}

{{for multi|the cricket shot|Batting (cricket)#Pull and hook|the rappel item|Grappling hook}}

File:Kent Benson attempts a hook shot over Ken Ferdinand.jpg attempting a hook shot for the Indiana Hoosiers in 1977]]

File:RichardMasonRocca.JPG attempting a hook shot for Eldo Napoli in 2006]]

In basketball, a hook shot is a play where the offensive player, usually turned perpendicular to the basket, gently throws the ball using a sweeping motion of the arm farther from the basket in an upward arc with a follow-through which ends over his head. Unlike the jump shot, it is performed with only one hand; the other arm is often used to create space between the shooter and the defensive player. The shot is quite difficult to block, but only a small number of players have mastered it more than a few feet from the basket.

The hook shot was reportedly performed for the first time during official games in Eurobasket 1937 by Pranas Talzūnas, a member of the eventual champions, the Lithuania basketball team.{{cite web |title=Pranas Konstantinas Talzūnas |url=https://www.lse.lt/biografija/pranas-talzunas/ |website=Lietuvos sporto enciklopedija |access-date=7 July 2024 |language=lt}} Former Harlem Globetrotter Goose Tatum is often credited with inventing the hook shot; he even shot them without looking at the basket.{{cite web|last=Robertson|first=Oscar|title=Coronation for Basketball's Clown Prince|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/sports/basketball/coronation-for-harlem-globetrotters-clown-prince-reece-tatum.html?_r=0|work=New York Times|access-date=4 October 2012|date=6 August 2011}} The hook shot later became a staple of many players in the National Basketball Association (NBA), including stars such as George Mikan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Vlade Divac, Wilt Chamberlain and Yao Ming.

In FIBA games, hook shots were a favored skill for centers before slam dunks became more popular, mostly because of the relative difficulty of blocking such shots.

==Skyhook==

NBA's Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer George Mikan developed a devastating hook shot while playing for DePaul University in the mid-1940s, as did Jerry Lucas playing for Ohio State 15 years later.

The hook shot became a trademark of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the National Basketball Association's second-place all-time leading scorer, who was proficient at the shot at a much greater distance from the basket than most players. The greater distance and resulting higher arc on the shot led to the name skyhook, which was coined during Abdul-Jabbar's tenure with the Milwaukee Bucks by the team's radio announcer, Eddie Doucette, who stated "that hook was so high that it was coming out of the sky".{{Cite web |url=http://www.nba.com/features/doucette_070523.html |title=NBA.com - Legendary Broadcaster of the Week: Eddie Doucette, Milwaukee Bucks |website=NBA.com |access-date=2010-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105142107/http://www.nba.com/features/doucette_070523.html |archive-date=2012-11-05 |url-status=dead }} The skyhook was almost never blocked, and it was accomplished by only a few players known for their extreme height like Wilt Chamberlain and Manute Bol.

Magic Johnson used a similar shooting technique during the 1987 NBA Finals, which he called his "baby hook" in deference to teammate Abdul-Jabbar.{{cite web|publisher=NBA Encyclopedia: Playoff Edition|title=Magic Maneuvers Lakers Past Celtics|url=http://www.nba.com/history/finals/19861987.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622091755/http://www.nba.com/history/finals/19861987.html |archive-date=June 22, 2011}}