Learn the power layup: two-footed take-off, protecting the ball and finishing through contact. With rules on fouls and charges, landing and milestones.
The power layup is a layup in which you jump off both feet, hold the ball high and finish through contact. It is not a show move but the tool when a defender blocks your path and an easy layup is not enough.
The honest answer to “May I just run through?”: no. You have to protect the ball, but you may not extend your arms or push away to create space. The rulebook requires: the attacker may not cause contact with a defender in a legal guarding position by pushing off with the arms or by spreading legs or arms during or immediately after the shot [1]. Whoever does so commits an offensive foul.
And the defender? If a shooter is fouled in the act of shooting, he is awarded free throws; if the shot from the two-point zone goes in, it counts and he gets one free throw in addition [1]. That is the famous “and-one”.
The power layup is not a test of strength but a protective movement: you are high and stable before the contact comes.
A player with the ball has his own space (cylinder): limited at the front by feet, bent knees and arms holding the ball above the hips [1]. The defender may not illegally enter this space. But you may not stretch out to gain more space [1]. Milestone: You explain where your cylinder ends.
The power layup begins with a jump stop: both feet land at the same time, hips low, ball in both hands in front of the chest. Mind the step rule: if you then jump off both feet, neither foot may return before release [1]. Milestone: Ten clean jump stops in front of the basket.
Jump vertically and explosively off both feet. In two-footed running jumps (not the power layup itself), the jump height of 21 basketball players was positively related to approach speed and upward impulse [2]. If you come from a run, take as much tempo as you can control. Milestone: Ten jumps, the ball stays above the head, you land stable.
Hold the ball high with both hands until the defender arrives, then finish with your usual shooting hand. On jump shots, professionals released the ball faster and higher against an opponent [3]. That is a transfer from the jump shot to the layup, but it works as a hint: under pressure you go faster and higher. Milestone: With a pad in your partner's hand: five finishes over the pad.
With a pad or coach: the partner gives contact from the side, you stay stable in the air and finish the shot. If the defender has a legal position and you cause the contact, it is your foul [1]. If you meet a defender in the no-charge semi-circle under the basket, contact by a jumping attacker is not called as an offensive foul unless he illegally uses hands, arms, legs or body [1]. Milestone: Five finishes with light contact, the ball stays controlled.
The power layup seeks contact. The most common injury mechanism in basketball is player contact (42.9 % of injuries), ankles (25.8 %) and knees (15.5 %) are the most common body regions [4]. Landings from a jump were the most common situation in a video analysis of 31 cruciate ligament tears in the NBA (14 of 31) [5]. Landing on another player's foot was the leading cause (55 %) in 445 videos of ankle injuries [6]. So practise first without contact, then with a pad and only then with an opponent. This guide explains and motivates; it does not replace supervised training or a coach.
Do not demand the contact, use it. You finish high and under your own power, the defender brings the contact. This is coaching experience. Whoever forces contact risks the offensive foul.
The normal layup jumps off one foot and is built for speed. The power layup jumps off both feet from a standstill or stop and prioritises stability and protecting the ball. It is slower but sturdier against contact.
No. Pushing off with the arms or spreading arms and legs to gain space is a foul by the attacker [1]. You may protect the ball but not force space.
Yes, if you are fouled in the act of shooting. On a made shot from the two-point zone the basket counts and you get one free throw in addition; on a miss two free throws (three from the three-point zone) [1].
Start without contact, then with a pad, then with a partner. Warm-up programmes cut ankle and knee injuries in adolescents by 36 % [7]. Always land on both feet and bend the knees.
By protecting the ball without stretching out: arms and legs stay in your own space, you do not push or spread to gain room [1]. If you meet a defender in the semi-circle under the basket, contact by a jumping attacker usually does not count as an offensive foul [1].
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