winning hoop / rounds of horse

Question

Hello.What do winning hoop and rounds of horse mean, in the basketball context?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

The 'hoop' refers to the basket. A 'winning hoop' is the final shot through the basket that wins the game.

As regards 'horse', this is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variations_of_basketball

H-O-R-S-E

A common, less athletic game for smaller groups of players is H-O-R-S-E (pronounced as "horse"; occasionally other words are used but the game is identical). The game may be played with as few as 2 people, and as many as desired. The only skill required is shooting; no player is allowed to defend.

The object is to not accrue the five letters in the word HORSE. With 2 players competing, player #1 is allowed to shoot from anywhere on the court and, if he makes the shot, then player #2 must duplicate the same shot from the same position. If player #2 misses, he receives the first "letter" from the word "horse" (in this case - an "H"). However, if player #1 misses his original shot; then player #2 is now free to shoot from anywhere on the court and, hopefully, force player #1 to try and duplicate his made shots. A player is knocked out of the game once he has enough letters to spell out the word "horse."

The game is essentially the same with 3 or more players but the rules may vary slightly. In some cases, all players must make the same shot as the first player or receive a letter, until the turn returns to the first player. Although in a much more common form, a miss by the second (or any subsequent) player still results in a letter for that player, but the court then becomes open again and the next player immediately following the player who misses is allowed to shoot from anywhere he wants. In some variants, control of the ball will cycle indefinitely until one player gets a letter. In these variants, the person who made the original shot could wind up with a letter.

Often, the shots in H-O-R-S-E are trick shots that are rarely, if ever, taken in a real game; although unlikely, if the shot succeeds, the opponent is much more likely to miss and therefore receive a letter. Elaborate routines and "call" shots, such as "off the backboard" or "left-handed hook shot," are frequently allowed, and the shooter's actions must be followed exactly for the next player's shot to be considered good.

Clive

Gatekeeper · Answer

"Winning hoop" is probably more likely to be seen in the context of "game-winning hoop", but nevertheless, it simply means the final goal (or point) that won the game for the team.

HORSE is a basketball game (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_%28game%29#H-O-R-S-E ), and each time the first player is up to shoot again is considered a new round.

winning hoop / rounds of horse

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