Slang Basketball Terms

From Hoopedia

Basketball is a living game, changing all the time. The language of basketball changes, too.

Hack-a-Shaq--a colloquial rhyme that comes from the term "to hack," common basketball slang meaning to commit a personal foul, and Shaq, being O'Neal's nickname. Famously used to hinder the scoring ability of Shaquille O'Neal, a notoriously poor free throw shooter. See Hack-a-Shaq for more detail.

Posterize--verb; to embarrass an opponent or rival by dunking over him, or by taking advantage of a lapse on his part. For example, a player may attempt to block a dunk but fail (due to the defensive play of his opponent, or a player dunks flamboyantly over an opposing player. Ex.: In his "Dunk of Death," (right) Vince Carter posterized French center Frédéric Weis.

Trillion--noun; a stat line in which a player enters the game for one minute, and fails to do anything that results in a statistical entry. Ex.:

Player	Pos	Min	FG	FGA	FT	FTA	O Reb	D Reb	T Reb	Assts	Stls	Blks	PF	Pts
Bush	G	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

In this game, "Bush collected a Trillion."

Shut down--verb/noun; In street ball, when a team or player does something so good (handle, play or dunk), it makes the audience go crazy and the game gets put on hold while everyone gets over it, and often ends with the player throwing the ball into the stands. Ex:. "That is a shut down!'" "I just shut them down!" - Special reference to 50 aka The Shutdown King.