Own The Court! Use These Basketball Tips Today!

Practice is the most crucial key to improving your skills. You shouldn’t be practicing things you do wrong, and follow good advice from experienced teachers. This text helps you the right way to play basketball.

Make sure that you’re dribbling the ball correctly. Avoid using your palm while dribbling. Instead, use your fingertips. This way you’ll have a lot more control over the ball. Dribble along the side of the body, not immediately in front of it, and keep the bounce to the waist level or below. You should always be looking up instead of at the ground.

TIP! Practice your layups a lot. 80% of all shots in a game are usually layups.

Learn how to hit a free throw. Practice often using the following method. Start with the basketball right in front of your face. Keep your eyes on the goal and visualize the ball going into the hoop. Then shoot! Shoot the ball with the trajectory you imagined.

You need to keep your balance when you shoot. You have seen how pros shoot a basket from thirty feet away and fall out of bounds, but these shots aren’t going to be based on fundamentals. You need to be balanced properly if you’re going to be making shots, and over time this will lead to consistently making baskets.

Would you like to completely fool the opposing team, making them look silly? Consider the back pass. Use your dominant hand to palm the basketball. Then, move the ball so it is behind your back. The last step is to flick your wrist in the direction you want the ball to land. Doing this will trick your opponent.

TIP! If you have a kid wanting to play basketball in high school, be certain that they are properly training their core muscles. That means their hips, lower back and abs.

Make sure that you practice your layups whenever possible.Layups sometimes wind up being 4 out of the shots taken during a game. When you are practicing, then jump and shoot smoothly. This method will teach you to improve your jumps and then shoot.

Bounce Pass

Never have your back to the ball so that you’re ready for anything in a basketball game. This can help you to avoid surprises by fast passes, help you keep an eye on the rest of the court, and allow you to spot potential turnovers. Also, you need to stay aware of areas which might open up and give you an easy basket.

TIP! Spreading the fingers is something you have to do to handle the ball right. This keeps it under control.

Learn how to throw a bounce pass. A useful bounce pass that’s good is going to end up hitting the receiving player near their waist. A useful tip is to have the ball bounce at about 3/4 of the distance that the recipient. There are other factors you have to think about too, though.

Free throws require as much mental as physical skill. Stay relaxed and vigilant to improve your ability to make free throws.

You must know your opponent in order to be tough on defense. Watch replays and follow scouting reports. Keep track of which players are right hand dominant and which are left hand dominant. Studying your opponent is one of the best ways to be able to win the game. When you are prepared, you play better defense.

TIP! If you’ve developed somewhat of a shooting slump, focus on your shoulders. When the shoulders are wrongly positioned, your shot is unlikely to succeed.

Don’t pump too much iron if you want to be good as a jump shooter. Muscle strength is great for any position in basketball, but it is actually possible to have excessive amounts for playing on the perimeter. Some pro shooting guards made their arms so big that it started decreasing their own field goal percentage.

Never have your back to the ball so that you’re ready for what’s coming. This will make you aware of the court and you won’t be surprised when turnover potentials come up or quick passes. Keep an eye open for areas that are open.

A good way to see yourself playing is to have someone record your games. This way, you have the opportunity to go through your play at a later time and see your mistakes. Be honest in your assessment but not overly critical. You can learn a lot by watching your plays instead of just trying to remember what you did.

The key to ball control is to spread your fingers. This makes sure that it won’t escape away from your grip. Don’t let your palms touch the ball either.

Pay attention to your shoulders if you’re starting to slump when you shoot. If your shoulders aren’t correct, your shot is not going to go in. Your shoulders need to be squared towards the hoop. You want your dominant shoulder in perfect alignment with the rim.

You need to work on your forearms and your hands to handle the ball more efficiently. Exercises that involve strengthening the wrist are especially helpful for dribbling. One thing that is important to remember is that it is difficult to be static and be a scorer. The best way to get into the flow of the game is to be in motion.

TIP! Prevent the opposing team from stealing the ball by dribbling hard. When you dribble hard, the ball bounces back to your hand faster.

Passing between the legs is something that helps when you are being closely guarded.You can practice this maneuver by stepping forward or backwards as you bounce the ball real hard in-between your legs. Mastering this move can give you a significant advantage.

Regardless of your ability, by using the advice above you are sure to see improvement. Start out with a single tip and expand upon each idea as you progress. You will notice an improvement along the way. You can improve your game in every way, just like professional.

Stay low when you play defense. Staying low will help you to be a more swift opponent when you mirror the man standing in your path. Keep yourself in proper defensive stance at all times. If you break form in an attempt to shot block, return to the proper form as soon as you can.