1. Breaker
   Hallelujah
2. Longshot
   Buzzer beater

A buzzer beater does just what it says, it beats the buzzer. You take the shot before the clock runs out and, ideally, it goes in the basket after time has run out. Some people will call it the same thing if it goes in just before the buzzer, too.

1. Dime
   Nickle
2. Quarter
   Penny

You could call it an assist, but it's more colorful to say you dropped a dime. Why do they call it a dime? It might be because phone calls used to cost a dime at a payphone, so you were doing someone a solid if you dropped them a dime.

1. Splash Brothers
   Twin Towers
2. Double Dragons
   Bucket Bros

Technically speaking, any two players who are just killing it at jump shots could be called the Splash Brothers; but let's be honest, it's really meant just for Thompson and Curry and their incredible skills.

1. Hitting the hole
   Flying
2. Making it rain
   Breaking the boards

You don't need to be a weatherman to make it rain. This is a bit of a showboat way to refer to a team's dominance on the court. If you're making every shot you're taking, you're making it rain, and that's a good thing.

1. Breaking ankles
   Breaking boards
2. Breaking bad
   Breaking eggs

Breaking ankles is what happens when someone falls or stumbles trying to keep up with someone on offense dribbling, usually a crossover, in a way that sets them off balance. Allen Iverson was especially skilled at this.

1. Reject
   Box out
2. Hack
   Slash

You can box out your opponent by basically blocking them away from a potential rebound. Since no one sits still in basketball, you need to be on your toes to pull this off with arms and legs wide. The bigger the wingspan, the better the box out.

1. The ball
   Shoes
2. The net
   3 pointers

When someone references the rock, they're talking about the ball. You can use it pretty much synonymously as in "toss me the rock, I would really like to score some points for a change of pace" or "protect the rock, we're down by two!"

1. Backyardigan
   Rumrunner
2. Bricklayer
   Buster

It makes sense that if someone keeps throwing bricks, they have to be a bricklayer. Not to name names, but players like Andre Roberson and Iman Shumpert are kind of known for this habit.

1. Flop
   Brick
2. Snack
   Hat

Brick makes sense as a term for a massively failed shot because have you ever tried to throw a brick? They're not very aerodynamic at all. And they hit pretty hard. It's just a fun way to let people know you messed up pretty hard.

1. Kid Flash
   Basket hanger
2. Shifter
   Glass cleaner

A glass cleaner is anyone who has proven themselves to be a boss at rebounding. Why the name? Backboards are made of glass, so someone who excels at rebounds is constantly swiping the ball off the glass.

1. Slick
   Wisher
2. Sky
   Prayer

Both "Hail Mary" and "Prayer" evoke the same imagery of turning to a higher power for help. In basketball, you're throwing a prayer when you're chucking that ball from a truly unreasonable distance on the off chance it might work out for you.

1. Pump fake
   Running the gamut
2. Emptying the bench
   Full court press

You're emptying the bench when you swap the entire team of starters for whoever else is on the bench. Why would you do that? When the game is winding up and you're either so far ahead that it doesn't matter or so far behind that it doesn't matter and you want to give your all-stars a rest.

1. Swisher
   Pump fake
2. Rope-a-dope
   Whirly

They call it a pump fake when you're all geared up for the shot and then you don't actually take it. When it came to pros, few players could ever match Dwyane Wade when it came to pulling off an artfully crafted and utterly convincing pump fake.

1. Fadeaway
   Hook shot
2. Hops
   Wrister

A fadeaway isn't just a shot that looks cool, it's a shot that has a purpose. Well, all shots have a purpose, but the point of a fadeaway is to put distance between you and the person defending you so they have less chance of blocking the shot.

1. Hazard
   Hack
2. Flop
   Split

Someone who flops is just the worst kind of person. In all of NBA history, there have been some terrible ones, but it's possible the worst ever was Vlade Divac who'd flop if someone looked at him funny. Of course, LeBron James also had the nickname LeFlop.

1. Pass fake
   Whack-a-mole
2. Trip-flip
   Hack-a-Shaq

Hack-a-Shaq is an insult directed at Shaquille O'Neal, who was pretty well known for being bad at free throws. When you foul the worst player, you're hoping they miss their free throws and your team has a better chance of getting the ball and turning the game around.

1. Hang time
   Flight time
2. Sky time
   Run time

Everyone wants a good hang time, but not every player can pull it off. While it seems like some players can absolutely fly, Michael Jordan's record hang time was actually only 0.92 seconds. Of course, the average person barely gets 0.5, so that's pretty good.

1. Hopper
   Stumper
2. Crudler
   Granny shot

This might be considered offensive to grandmothers, but the idea behind a granny shot is that you're shooting underhand rather than overhand. This happens pretty rarely in professional basketball, but every once in a while, it'll pop up in a desperation play to beat the clock.

1. Getting stuffed
   Hitting bread
2. Posting up
   Clapping back

This one dates back a few years, but it's still relevant in the game. When you smack that ball out of someone's hand to deny them they're getting stuffed. If you time it right, this can be incredibly dramatic and spectacular to watch.

1. Jacks
   Hops
2. Trips
   Knuckles

You can say someone has hops if they have exceptionally good jumping skills. Michael Jordan was pretty much the king of hops, the man had a 48-inch vertical jump, which is pretty much the best in NBA history.

1. Setting 'em off
   Breaking the bank
2. Throwing low bones
   Putting 'em on skates

You're putting 'em on skates if you cross your defender bad enough to knock them backwards. Why? Because they're stumbling back like an uncoordinated person on skates. It's impressive, but be careful of fouls!

1. A foul at the buzzer
   An unnecessary foul
2. A blatant foul
   A double foul

This is in no way an official term, but a ticky tack foul is what happens when a ref calls a foul for light contact or for no contact at all that in no way disrupts play. It's a foul that no one else agrees with.

1. Alley oop
   Layup
2. Buzzer beater
   Windmill dunk

There isn't a lot of mystery behind the windmill dunk. As its name suggests, you need to spin your arm like a windmill to make it work. Dominique Wilkins is generally credited with rocking the first windmill dunk in 1984.

1. Nope!
   Snubbed!
2. Rejected!
   Ended!

This might be one of the most old-school slang terms in all of sports that has moved well beyond basketball. When you block someone, especially when you do it in a dramatic fashion, they just got rejected.

1. Hookshot
   Layup
2. Alley oop
   Windmill dunk

An alley oop is a pretty classic maneuver in basketball that dates back to around the 1950s or so. K.C. Jones and Bill Russell were famous for pulling off the maneuver, and Wilt Chamberlain had his fair share of good ones, even when he was in college.

1. D up
   Kick it out
2. Full court
   Press

Your team needs to D up if there's no D, and that means defense. It's usually something said in frustration when it seems like you have no D and the other team is just making you look like amateurs.

1. Floater
   Wedgie
2. Crabbed
   Sticker

Mot of us know a wedgie as an old school high school-style prank involving the uncomfortable yanking of underpants, but it's also what you call a wedged ball. You could just say "wedged ball" but how is that funny? Also, if you're wondering, it becomes a jump ball after it gets stuck.

1. Hang time
   Double tap
2. Spin
   Euro step

The Euro step is a fake-out move. You dribble, step one way, then step in the opposite direction to off balance your opponent. It's not considered traveling provided you only take those two steps. This makes a good set-up for a layup.

1. An ugly shot
   A foul
2. A bad player
   A ref who makes bad calls

A hack in basketball is a foul. The use of the term is pretty organic and intuitive. You could say something like "I was about to take the shot, when this guy just hacked me right in the throat." No one wants t be hacked, but at least you get some free throws out of the deal.

1. All ball
   Airball
2. Runner
   Brick

An airball is a ball that is well-acquainted with the air. It's when you miss everything, not just the net but the rim and the backboard as well. Essentially, it's about the worst kind of miss you can make. You want to avoid this at all costs.

1. Rock
   Flop
2. Hack
   All ball

All ball is a pretty generic defense to a foul. What you're saying is that you never touched the person you're accused of fouling, all you did was smack the ball out of their hands. So you got all ball but none of the other player. This may work but probably not.

1. Long bomb
   Hook shot
2. Baseball pass
   Windmill dunk

You know how you throw a baseball? Do that but with a basketball, and it's a baseball pass. It's a full power sort of pass that usually has to cover a good distance. You'd only do it in a pinch when you're running low on time?

1. When the ball misses the rim
   When the ball hits the rim
2. When the ball gets stuck behind the rim
   When you shoot from right under the basket

A rimshot is more than just a drumming term. When the ball hits the rim, that's a rimshot. No matter what else happens, it goes in, or it misses, doesn't matter. You just need that contact to call it a rimshot. Pretty simple!

1. Stutter
   Twitch
2. Wonk
   Wiggle

You have some wiggle if you can weave in and out of defenders. There's a player who's known as "Mr. Wiggle," but you may not have heard of him. It's Khoa Tran of the VBA, the Vietnam Basketball Association.

1. Amoeba defense
   2-3 zone defense
2. Draw in the defense
   Beat the defender

Amoeba defense is meant to wear down the offense, and it was developed in the 1970s by Fran Webster of the Pittsburgh Panthers. It's supposed to be set up like a diamond with the fastest defenders at the top of the key and your biggest defender under the basket.