英和和英

名詞

airball (plural airballs)

1. (basketball) A shot that misses the backboard, rim and net entirely.

   As soon as the shot left his hands, the spectators could see it was going to be an airball.

   • 1990 March 4, David Levine, “COLLEGE BASKETBALL; Fordham Defeats Iona to Advance”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 25 May 2015:

     Johnson also could have tied the game, at 66-66 with 14 seconds left. But his jump shot was an airball. From that scramble Lopez emerged with the first of his key foul shots.

   • 2021 April 13, Bill Oram, “Remembering Kobe Bryant’s final game: Five years later, five untold stories about the Lakers legend’s 60-point night”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 30 November 2024:

     Bryant’s path to becoming a champion, after all, began with a series of infamous misses: his playoff airballs as a rookie against Utah. Clarkson sees those airballs as a metaphor for Bryant’s clunky start against the Jazz two decades later.

2. (slang) An unfunny joke or remark.

動詞

airball (third-person singular simple present airballs, present participle airballing, simple past and past participle airballed)

1. (basketball, transitive) To throw an airball.
   • 2022 August 8, Jared Weiss, “Jayson Tatum opens up on lessons from Celtics’ finals loss, Kevin Durant trade”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 8 December 2025:

     Tatum struggled with fatigue through the final two rounds of the postseason and was exhausted to the point he was airballing shots by the time the Warriors were closing out the championship.

   • 2024 January 23, Zach Harper and Shams Charania, “Joel Embiid’s 70-point NBA welcome to Victor Wembanyama. Plus, Shams on Heat-Hornets trade”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 8 December 2025:

     The Timberwolves lost 128-125 when KAT airballed a falling 30-footer at the buzzer.

2. (slang) To make an awfully unfunny joke or remark.

Further reading

• Charlotte Observer - 26th anniversary of the airball chant
• Slate - Invention of the "air ball" chant

アナグラム

• Barilla, barilla