Have you ever wondered what “alley-oop” means? In the English sense of the term, it does not mean anything, but it is in fact a sentence pronounced by the French acrobats which gave birth to this term. A look back at the history of this gesture unlike any other.
In the 70s, a good little player by the sweet name of David Thompson is in the process of blowing up everything at university. And to break everything, he often receives a pass in the air before putting it in the basket without touching the ground. Good on the other hand, forbidden to dunk, because yes at the time, dunking in university was forbidden (thanks Lew Alcindor). But what can we call this new technical gesture? The alley-oop was born. The word comes from our good old beloved country: France. Cock-a-doodle Doo ! Break out the champagne, wave your beret and be proud. In effect, the term comes from the world of the circus, and more precisely from the acrobats who had as a signal when they caught themselves in the air: “Allez hop”. Thompson’s move being aesthetically comparable (within the limits of basketball of course) to the prowess of these acrobats, the word go has been Americanized to become alley, hence the alley-oop. Nice as a story, no?
Do you know where “alley-oop” got its name?
So glad we got to air this from @JalenRose and @KendrickPerkins on NBA Today. I certainly learned something new! pic.twitter.com/6kpXyuGALy
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) February 22, 2022
Since the 1990s, the alley-oop has become an essential gesture in the NBA and has even become a devastating weapon for some duos. So ask Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp what the alley-oop means to them, or Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin. Some have even made this gesture the soul of their team. When we talk about Lob City, it’s not to say that the inhabitants of Los Angeles have big earlobes, but to evoke the passes in the air from Chris Paul to Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Team which has also surely offered us one of the dirtiest alley-oops in history with the killing of Brandon Knight by Dede. Basic enough in the 70s, the gesture gradually became stylized to become one of the most spectacular moves in the sport. Tracy McGrady for example is the precursor of the alley-oop with the board, he who needed absolutely no one to do it except his talent. We’ve just come out of All-Star Weekend, and it’s no coincidence that at the Slam Dunk Contest, many go on an auto alley-oop. They know that this gesture raises crowds (not too many for the SDC 2022 but in short, let’s move on) and fascinate by its spectacular side. Even during the All-Star Game, it’s 58 alley-oops per minute to put on the show, and it works. So we say thank you to the French circus for having inspired the Ricans, because to call it “catch the ball in the air and put it in the bucket” would have sounded much worse.
Well yes, the name alley-oop comes straight from us thanks to acrobats in circuses. Surely one of the most beautiful French heritages having been exported to the United States, with the Statue of Liberty and our national Tony P.
Text source: ESPN
