The first few shots, over the backboard, the kneeling 3-pointer, seemed plausible. Doubt crept in as the fullcourt jumpers swished in a little too easy. By the time Larry Bird and Michael Jordan started calling bank off the scoreboard and through windows, well, there wasn't much question the shots were made in the editing room, not on the court.
WHOA!
 Video: Watch Kansas State's Denis Clemente make an unbelievable shot (trust us) in a game of H-O-R-S-E against a teammate. |
Denis Clemente's shot, the one that generated 5,000 views in one day on YouTube? Believe it.
Off the scoreboard, off the floor, nothing but net all real.
No director, no Big Mac on the line, no post-production splicing.
Just two Kansas State players engaged in a game of H-O-R-S-E, one with a video camera rolling, the other pulling off the kind of shot that should have been worth at least an H-O.
"I just started laughing," Kansas State coach Frank Martin said of seeing the video. "I couldn't believe it. But, coming from him, I wasn't surprised."
Here's how it went down: Playing H-O-R-S-E with teammate Victor Ojeleye, Clemente got a running start from behind the baseline, heaved the ball to the scoreboard 50 feet above, then watched it carom back, bounce off the Bramlage Coliseum floor and drop through the net. Swish!
The video version was actually the second time Clemente made the off-the-scoreboard shot. He needed just two tries the first go-round. Once the camera was rolling, it took about 30 minutes.
| "It's not an easy shot. I don't think I can do it again." |
| — Denis Clemente |
"It's not an easy shot," Clemente said. "I don't think I can do it again."
Kids have been trying outlandish shots almost since Dr. Naismith first tacked that peach basket to a pole. Off the house, off the tree, with a baseball bat, with their foot — they've tried it all.
Difference is, now it can be seen outside the backyard and the local YMCA. The Internet validates those you-won't-believe-what-I-did shots, digital proof instead of word-of-mouth.
Certainly, fakes are out there. LeBron James effortlessly hitting jumpers from 80 feet and beyond in a commercial isn't real, no matter what your friends say.
But the Web is dotted with videos of real trick shots, from grainy YouTube clips of kids in parks to sites devoted entirely to off-the-whatever hoops. One group of Alabama teens even landed a commercial deal with a national hotel chain after someone at an advertising agency saw their trick shots on YouTube.
