Terence Nesbit wrote:
 >
 >
 > Terence Nesbit wrote:
 >
 >> Does science apply to the game of basketball?  In particular, to jump
 >> shots and lay-ups?
 >>
 >> My reason for asking!  I am trying to figure out why a dribble could
 >> suddenly not bounce as high, with all things being equal;  and why a
 >> shot could alter rotation, glide from the basket to the left or right;
 >> fall from one's hand, to the left or right, or upwards (off of the
 >> finger tips), or down into the palm or lower; and how can a shot
 >> suddenly spin downwards, or slow its revolution, or curve at the end
 >> of its arc.
 >>
 >> My theory:  I believe that the ball is being affected by something
 >> that can alter its mass/weight.  I can not figure out what it is, and
 >> I am not sure what could trigger the adjustments, but it would have to
 >> be some type of external control.  But this has to be the case, at
 >> least from my personal experience.  Why do I feel this is so?  After
 >> playing basketball for 23 years, I have taken a lot of shots.  I have
 >> shot to the left or right, and I knew that from the time I released
 >> the ball.  I have shot high, and been able to adjust the next time I
 >> touched the ball.  The same can be said for any other shot that I have
 >> missed.  I have had a turn around three point shot that I have hit at
 >> an extremely high rate, but suddenly I could not hit it if my life
 >> depended on it.  I feel the ball shifting in my hand at the point of
 >> release (I have sensitive hands, and I have been able to shift the
 >> ball in my hand for a long time when the need arose).
 >>
 >> Thoughts?
 >>
 >> Terence Nesbit
 >> Valparaiso, IN
 >>
 >
 > Also, I have felt the ball become extremely heavy when I have delayed my
 > shot, but only sometimes.  All of this is only sometimes, but I have
 > missed twenty shots in a row after hitting a few at a decent clip.  I
 > have also had to push the ball extremely hard in order to shoot
 > sometimes.  It seems warped (but that isn't odd as a lot of things do).
 >
Of course, for this to occur, for a shot to be altered illegally, the
shooter would have to be watched.  By a person playing in the same game, or
by some other party.