Did you know that even a so-called slow baseball player can get from home plate to first base in about four seconds? (The fast ones do it in three and a half.) That might seem like an insignificant fact for basketball players, except that the distance from home plate to first base is farther than the distance from basket to basket on a full-sized basketball court. A court is 94 feet long from baseline to baseline; the bases are 90 feet apart in a baseball diamond.
Are you beginning to guess the point of all this? Game after game, a player with the ball in the backcourt throws up a 60-foot shot because there are only three or four seconds left. Do these players not know that you merely need to get the ball out of your hands before the buzzer sounds in order for the shot to count? Or is it that they think baseball players are a lot faster than basketball players? Would they take the ball upcourt and maneuver for a better shot if they could wear spikes?
Whatever the reason they have for “jacking up” a 60-footer with four seconds left, don’t you do it. Take the ball upcourt on a full-speed sprint, and get yourself a chance to shoot a shot that you really might make. Plan on shooting with a second left, or less.
If you aren’t sure that you can do this, go to a court one day, and take a friend with a watch. Start at the free throw line in the backcourt, and have him count off the seconds, 5…4…3…2…1…. You will be surprised how far you can go, how you even have time to stutter-step and fake and still get to the other end for a good shot. Do this just one day, and you should never again fill the air with a throw at the basket with three seconds left—that is, unless you decide to stop for a sandwich before shooting.
From Dick’s book Stuff
