jump ball
nounDefinition of jump ball
: a method of putting a basketball into play by tossing it into the air between two opponents who jump up and attempt to tap the ball to a teammate
also
: a ball put into play in this manner
Examples of jump ball in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
At 6-foot-7 and up to 270 pounds, Spann-Ford has been channeling his high school basketball days by winning jump balls in the corner of the end zone during preseason camp. — Andy Greder, Twin Cities, "Gophers’ tight end production was nonexistent in 2018, but that could quickly change," 15 Aug. 2019 The Chicagoan sweated his way through overseeing some drills and tossed the jump ball to begin a scrimmage, the winners of which get to sit courtside with him Sunday at the Sky-Fever WNBA game at Wintrust Arena. — K.c. Johnson, chicagotribune.com, "Anthony Davis calls Chicago ‘the Mecca of basketball.’ As for playing for the Bulls someday? ‘I’d definitely consider it’," 18 July 2019 Like, some of those cuts in the open field are like a crossover, and some of those jump balls in the end zone are like going up for a rebound. — Dane Mizutani, Twin Cities, "Vikings hopeful Dillon Mitchell still learning from ‘Uncle Penny’ Hardaway," 12 July 2019 The ball could be out of bounds or in a different spot or even be ruled a jump ball. — Jake Fischer, SI.com, "Coach's Challenges Are Coming: Is the NBA Ready?," 10 July 2019 Receiver Braxton Miller didn’t get the kind of separation that Arcega-Whiteside had gotten earlier, but the decision to throw a jump ball there wasn’t necessarily a bad one. — Jeff Mclane, https://www.inquirer.com, "Eagles Practice Observations: J.J. Arcega-Whiteside shines in the red zone; Sidney Jones caps solid OTAs with an INT; Malik Jackson arrives," 5 June 2019 Sirmon also threw the offense’s only interception of the day, a jump ball in the end zone that defensive back Dustin Bush ripped away from wide receiver David Pritchard. — Mike Vorel, The Seattle Times, "Observations from the UW Huskies’ sixth practice of spring football," 12 Apr. 2019 In Game 4, Stephenson used similar moves to tie up LeBron for a jump ball and throw Jeff Green to the ground, resulting in a foul. — Ted Crow, cleveland.com, "Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Indiana Pacers' Lance Stephenson's grappling: Crowquill," 25 Apr. 2018 Magic players and coaches thought Mack had forced a jump ball. — Josh Robbins, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Magic lose heartbreaker to Cavaliers 104-103," 19 Jan. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'jump ball.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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