basketball

[Victor Steinbok]

I was also going to add "weak side", which showed up in the same
article. But "back door" is good, as is "fall asleep on" (but the latter
has been mentioned here). I heard the same comments at the end of the game.

As for sniper, I specifically excluded good foul shooters and post-up
players. The reference is not merely to someone who makes a high
percentage of shots, but shoots from some distance. Pierce and Allen are
snipers, Garnett and Rondo are not (Rondo's percentage is just too low).
But I also have been reading and hearing "sniper" in hockey and soccer.
Baseball, cricket, rugby and American football don't really qualify.
Maybe lacrosse, field hockey and water polo...

     VS-)

On 5/17/2012 11:15 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> One or two more, from Reggie Miller, color commentator for last night's Lakers-Thunder playoff game (and Hall of Fame player in his own right), on Steve Blake's last-second wide-open (missed) shot, the crucial moment in the game:
>
> "Well, really Russell Westbrook fell asleep on Steve Blake, thought that he was going back door and away and underneath the rim", instead of going into the corner for a wide-open shot that, fortunately for Westbrook and his team, bounced off the rim.  While "back door" has itself long been a term of art in basketball (and other sports), my interest is in "fall asleep on", which I've noticed a number of times during the playoffs,  alluding to a defensive player who is lax in his coverage responsibilities.  I suspect it might also occur in football, if a defensive back falls asleep on a receiver who then gets open for a catch (whether the catch is successful or, as here, not).
>
>
>> The Celtics' sniper has lost his mark, and it's killing them.
>>
> I've mostly heard it used for deadly long-range (2-point or, more usually, 3-point) shooters.  I've never heard it used for effective foul shooters, although players with good percentages from the free throw line (or, if you prefer, "charity stripe") tend to be effective long-range shooters from the floor as well.  (Is that sense of "(the) floor" recorded, in which there's a minimal distinction with "(the) line"?)
>
> LH

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