Portal:Basketball/Selected article/June, 2007
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A hook shot is an offensive basketball maneuver in which a player, usually in a position perpendicular to the basket and most often situated in the key, gently throws the ball with a sweeping motion of his arm in an upward arc with a follow-through which ends over his head. Unlike the jump shot, it is shot with only one hand; the non-shooting arm is typically used to create space between the shooter and the player defending him. In view of the height achieved by the shooter and the released ball, the hook shot is exceedingly difficult to block or alter, but while dribbled and controlled in preparation for the shot, the ball is susceptible to being stolen from behind. The hook shot was most prominently practiced by seven-feet-tall center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the all-time leading scorer in the National Basketball Association, whose shot, because of the height at which it was released, was styled as the sky hook; because the shot was released at the top of Abdul-Jabbar's arm arc, an attempted block was likely to result in a goaltending infraction.
