Basketball Shot Physics

Over the years, science has come to play a big part in sports all around the world. Whether an athlete is shooting a ball, or even just running up and down a playing field, there comes in factors of science determining the outcome. The game of basketball features projectile motions and collisions, energy and momentum, and much more. By studying the physics behind a basketball shot, one can develop insight into the shooting conditions most likely to result in a successful shot. This paper will focus on the physics behind the most fundamental shot in all of basketball, the lay up, and the backspin on a jump shot.

The first incorporation of physics into basketball will be explained using the principle of inertia. A characteristic of the principle

of inertia is that if an object is initially fixed with respect to a moving reference frame and is suddenly released, the object will continue to move with an identical velocity as the reference frame at the instant it is released. In the sport of basketball, this situation is shown during shots taken while on the move. The most common shot taken on the move in basketball is the lay up. A lay up is a shot attempt taken from under the basket while one arm is extended to lay the ball in off the backboard or directly into the net. When a player makes it past the defense and dribbles towards the basket going at full speed for a lay up, he shoots the ball from a few feet away from the basket while still running. Some players over push their shots towards the basket, and it results in the ball going over the rim or bouncing off the backboard with too much speed. This is what occurs when one fails to take inertia into account of their shot. More than likely, a player shooting a lay up is already in motion making their way to the basket. When a player adds force onto the ball, they are adding on to the velocity that the ball already has from the player’s movement towards the basket. The correct way for the shot to be taken is for the player to shoot the ball vertical to his body when he is a few feet from the basket. By softly releasing the ball vertically a few feet away from the basket, the player is allowing the velocity that is already carrying the ball from his running motion to soar its way into the basket.
An important part of shooting a basketball is the usage of the fingertips to shoot the ball rather than using the palm of one’s hand.