Basketball Techniques

Lessons

Senior 4 · Physical Education

Basketball Techniques

3 lessons

Lesson 1 of 3

Reception and passing

25 min

Half of every pass is the catch

Coaches count turnovers, the times a team loses the ball without a shot, and a large share of them are not bad passes at all but bad catches: the ball bounces off stiff fingers, or the receiver catches it and then steps illegally. In Senior 1 you learned the chest, bounce and overhead passes, and in Senior 2 and 3 you used them in attacking tactics. Senior 4 refines both halves of the pass: how to receive the ball so that you stop legally and can shoot, pass or dribble at once, and how to choose and deliver the right pass under the FIBA Official Basketball Rules 2026.

Definition

Reception: catching and securing the ball so that the next action (shot, pass or dribble) can follow at once.

Target hand: an open hand held up where the receiver wants the ball, on the side away from the defender.

Soft hands: catching with the fingers spread and the elbows bending as the ball arrives, so the hands "give" and absorb its speed.

Jump stop: receiving the ball and landing on both feet at the same moment; either foot may then be the pivot foot. Stride stop: landing one foot and then the other; the first foot down is the pivot foot.

Pivot foot: the foot that must stay at its point of contact with the floor while a player holding the ball steps with the other foot (FIBA Article 25).

Triple-threat position: knees bent, ball held firmly at the hip of the shooting side, eyes on the basket, ready to shoot, pass or dribble.

Turnover: losing possession without taking a shot, for example by a bad pass, a fumble or a violation.

Receiving the ball in six steps

Step	What you do	Why
1. Get open	Move away from your defender's shadow, often with a quick change of direction (a V-cut).	A pass can only go into space the defender cannot reach.
2. Show a target	Hands up, fingers spread, thumbs almost touching (a "W" shape) at chest height, or one target hand on the side away from the defender.	Tells the passer exactly where to aim.
3. Meet the ball	Step towards the pass instead of waiting for it.	Shortens the pass, so a defender has less time to step in front.
4. Watch it in, give with it	Eyes on the ball until it is in the hands; elbows bend as the ball arrives.	Soft hands reduce the force on the fingers and stop the ball bouncing out.
5. Stop legally	Land in a jump stop or a stride stop.	Sets a legal pivot foot so you do not travel.
6. Triple threat	Ball to the hip, knees bent, eyes on the basket.	The defender must respect the shot, the pass and the drive.

What the rules allow after the catch (FIBA 2026, Articles 25 and 27, summarised):

A player who catches the ball while standing may lift one foot; the other becomes the pivot foot, and it may not leave the floor before the ball leaves the hand to start a dribble.
A player who catches the ball while moving, or at the end of a dribble, may take two steps to stop, pass or shoot. The first step is the first foot (or both feet) to touch the floor after gaining control of the ball.
Landing on both feet together allows either foot to be the pivot foot; landing on one foot makes that foot the pivot foot.
A closely guarded player (an active defender within 1 m) must pass, shoot or dribble within 5 seconds.

Worked example

Worked example 1: why soft hands work. A size 7 ball has a mass of about 0.6 kg (FIBA allows 580–620 g). It arrives at $8\,\mathrm{m\,s^{-1}}$ and is stopped. By Newton's second law the average force on the hands is

F = \frac{m\,\Delta v}{\Delta t}

Stiff fingers stop it in $\Delta t = 0.04\,\mathrm{s}$ : $F = \frac{0.6 \times 8}{0.04} = 120\,\mathrm{N}$ .
Soft hands, with the elbows giving, stop it in $\Delta t = 0.12\,\mathrm{s}$ : $F = \frac{0.6 \times 8}{0.12} = 40\,\mathrm{N}$ .

Tripling the stopping time cuts the average force to a third. A smaller force means the ball is less likely to bounce out of the hands and the fingers are less likely to be jammed. The stopping times are illustrative; the physics is the same for any catch.

Choosing the pass

Pass	Technique	Use it when	Weakness
Chest pass	Ball at the chest, thumbs behind it; step to the target, extend the arms and turn the thumbs down.	A short or medium pass with no defender in the line.	Easy to read if the passer stares at the target.
Bounce pass	Same push as the chest pass, aimed at the floor about two-thirds of the way to the receiver.	A defender has the hands up; passing to a cutter near the basket.	Slower than a chest pass, so not for long distances.
Overhead pass	Ball above the forehead, elbows slightly bent; snap the wrists forward without bringing the ball behind the head.	Passing over a defender, an outlet pass after a rebound, a pass into the post.	Taking the ball behind the head slows the pass and invites a steal.
One-hand push pass	From the triple-threat position, step past the defender and push the ball with one hand.	Getting the ball past a defender's hip without a big wind-up.	Needs a strong, accurate wrist.
Baseball pass	One hand behind the ball at the ear, step and throw like a ball in cricket or baseball.	A long pass to a team-mate breaking away on a fast break.	Hard to control; it can curve if thrown off-centre.

Whatever the pass, aim at the receiver's target hand, pass to where the receiver is going rather than where he or she is, and do not stare at the target: look at the basket or at another player and pass with your peripheral vision.

Worked example

Worked example 2: why long, slow passes are dangerous. A chest pass travels about $6\,\mathrm{m}$ at a horizontal speed of about $8\,\mathrm{m\,s^{-1}}$ ; a high lob across the court travels $12\,\mathrm{m}$ at about $6\,\mathrm{m\,s^{-1}}$ . A defender can close in at about $3\,\mathrm{m\,s^{-1}}$ . (All speeds illustrative.)

Time in the air: chest pass $t = \frac{6}{8} = 0.75\,\mathrm{s}$ ; lob $t = \frac{12}{6} = 2.0\,\mathrm{s}$ .
Distance the defender covers meanwhile: $3 \times 0.75 = 2.25\,\mathrm{m}$ against $3 \times 2.0 = 6.0\,\mathrm{m}$ .

The lob gives the defence almost three times as long to recover or intercept. Good teams move the ball with short, fast passes and keep the long pass for the moment a team-mate is clearly free, as on a fast break.

Video: "Tips, Skills, and Drills: Passing", USA Basketball. As you watch, check each pass against the teaching points in the table: where the ball starts, where the passer steps, and how the receiver shows a target.

Tip

"See it, meet it, give with it." See the ball into your hands, step to meet the pass, and let your elbows give as it arrives. Then stop on two counts and get into triple threat.

Warning

Common mistakes. Waiting for the ball instead of meeting it. Catching with the fingers pointing at the ball (the commonest cause of a jammed finger). Catching and then shuffling the feet (travelling). Looking at the target before every pass, so the defender reads it. Throwing a high lob across the court.

Safety. If a finger is jammed, stop playing it. A cold pack wrapped in a cloth for no more than 10 minutes at a time eases pain and swelling; never put ice straight on the skin. Do not pull a bent or deformed finger straight: support it and send the player to a health worker.

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Practice

List the six steps of receiving a pass, in order.
Explain the difference between a jump stop and a stride stop, and say which foot may pivot after each.
A ball of mass 0.6 kg arrives at 10 m s⁻¹. Calculate the average force on the hands if it is stopped in 0.05 s, and again in 0.15 s.
A defender with both hands raised stands between you and a team-mate 4.5 m away. Which pass would you choose, and where would you aim it?
Your centre has just taken a defensive rebound and a guard is sprinting clear up the court. Name two passes that could start the fast break and say which is safer.
A pass travels 9 m at 6 m s⁻¹ while a defender closes at 3 m s⁻¹. How far does the defender move before the ball arrives?
A player catches the ball while running, lands on the left foot, then the right, then the left again before passing. Has she travelled? Explain using the rule.
A coach says: "Our turnovers come from bad passing, so we will practise only passing." Evaluate this plan.

Show answersHide answers

Get open; show a target; meet the ball; watch it in and give with it; stop legally; get into triple threat.
In a jump stop both feet land together, so either foot may be the pivot foot. In a stride stop one foot lands first, and that first foot is the pivot foot.
F = 0.6 × 10 ÷ 0.05 = 120 N; F = 0.6 × 10 ÷ 0.15 = 40 N.
A bounce pass, aimed at the floor about two-thirds of the way, that is about 3 m from you, so it rises to the receiver's waist under the defender's raised hands.
An overhead outlet pass or a baseball pass. The overhead pass is safer over a short distance because it is easier to control; the baseball pass reaches further.
Time = 9 ÷ 6 = 1.5 s; distance = 3 × 1.5 = 4.5 m.
Yes. After catching on the move she may take two steps: left (one), right (two). Touching the floor a third time while still holding the ball is travelling.
Only partly sound: many turnovers come from poor catches and illegal footwork after the catch, and from receivers who do not get open. The plan should also train receiving, stopping legally and moving to get open, then measure turnovers again.

Quick check

A ball of mass 0.6 kg arrives at 8 m/s. Which catch puts the smallest average force on the fingers?

Remember

Receiving: get open, show a target, meet the ball, give with it, stop legally, triple threat.
Soft hands lengthen the stopping time: $F = \frac{m\,\Delta v}{\Delta t}$ , so a longer $\Delta t$ means a smaller force.
After a catch on the move you have two steps; a jump stop lets either foot pivot; a closely guarded player has 5 seconds.
Choose the pass for the situation: chest for a clear line, bounce under raised hands (about two-thirds of the way), overhead over a defender, baseball for a long break-away pass.

Sources and credits

Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA), Official Basketball Rules 2026 (version 1.1, July 2026, valid from 1 October 2026): Articles 24, 25 and 27 summarised, not copied.
FIBA, Official Basketball Rules 2026: Basketball Equipment: the mass of a size 7 ball.
Pass (basketball), Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0: the types of pass. Adapted by Ganzaa.
British Red Cross, Strains and sprains: the 10-minute limit for a cold pack.
Photo: South Sudan vs Rwanda during AfroBasket 2017 qualification, Ebbfed, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Video: "Tips, Skills, and Drills: Passing", USA Basketball, embedded from YouTube.
Bounce-pass diagram, tables, worked examples, practice and quick check: written by Ganzaa. Speeds and stopping times are illustrative.

This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1Half of every pass is the catch

2Receiving the ball in six steps

3Choosing the pass

Half of every pass is the catch

Receiving the ball in six steps

Choosing the pass