Turnovers are something you want to avoid in basketball. A turnover occurs when you lose the ball to the other team because you broke a rule or physically lost control of the ball through a bad pass or dribble that sent the ball out of bounds or into the opponent's hands. To move the ball up and down the court, you have to avoid turnovers while dribbling and passing the ball.
Dribbling
When you travel the court with possession of the ball, you must dribble the ball by bouncing it. In a proper dribble, you keep one hand atop the ball, but do not palm it, meaning you do not hold the ball with the hand, freezing it from the dribble. Palming, also known as carrying the ball, results in a turnover, as does starting and stopping the dribble and "traveling" by moving both feet without dribbling. The only time you can move without dribbling is in a pivot where you keep one foot in place while you move the other foot in any direction.
Dribbling Tips
Generally, you want to look ahead and keep the ball to your side as you dribble so you can travel the court more easily and eye your next move, whether it's driving to the basket or passing to a teammate. Keep the ball close to your body in controlled bounces to make it harder for your opponent to steal the ball. For added dexterity, practice dribbling on your off hand. This allows you the freedom to switch from side to side to keep the ball away from your opponents.
Passing
You can't always have the ball. Success usually relies on a team working together on plays that call for passing the ball until it reaches a player who can take the open shot. You can pass the ball in three ways. With a chest pass, you want to thrust the ball with two hands from your chest straight to your teammate's chest. In an overhead pass, you throw the ball overhead, reaching your arms behind your head and then forward for momentum. With a bounce pass, you pass the ball so it bounces one time on the floor about two-thirds of the way to the intended player. If you bounce the ball correctly, your teammate should catch it at about waist height.
Passing Tips
Effective passing really relies on knowing your teammates and where they will be on the court. Your goal is to pass the ball to a teammate without looking him in the eye so you don't tip off the other team. To do this, you need vision of the court to see who is open. Your passes should be clean and fast, but not with so much force that they are hard to catch. When you're double-teamed, with two opponents defending you, an overhead pass may be your only option because you will not have the space for a chest or bounce pass. You can also pass the ball behind the back and through the legs.
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