Basketball MemesRefers to terms originating from basketball, used to describe or poke fun at people or things related to the sport.
Basketball memes are not only used within the field of basketball but are also applied in other contexts where appropriate, with some terms evolving to have additional meanings.
Basketball Terminology
Hitting the Iron (Bricking)
In basketball, it refers to missing shots repeatedly or the ball bouncing off the rim; in football (soccer), it refers to a shot hitting the goalpost or crossbar.
Airball
Refers to a shot that misses the backboard, the rim, and the net entirely. Performing this under unforced circumstances indicates a very low skill level or a serious issue with the player's shooting mentality or state.
Eating Hot Pot (Getting Blocked)
Refers to being blocked during a shot or layup.
Eating a Radish (Jammed Finger)
Refers to a finger being struck by the ball.
Rain of Ones
A sarcastic term for a specific team or player receiving a large number of free throws due to referee bias.
The Battle of Mt. Tenno
In the field of basketball, this specifically refers to Game 5 of an NBA playoff series when the overall score is tied 2:2. Since whoever wins this game will reach match point first, both sides value this game second only to Game 7, hence it is called the "Battle of Mount Tenno."
Game 7
Originally a tennis term, in basketball it specifically refers to the seventh game of an NBA playoff series—a true do-or-die battle where one game decides the outcome; the winner advances and the loser goes home.
Eighth Seed Miracle
Refers to the eighth-seeded[1]team in the first round of the NBA playoffs defeating the regular-season first-seeded team in a series. Since the best-of-seven series format has reduced accidental factors to a minimum, the Eighth Seed Miracle is even more precious. There have been six Eighth Seed Miracles in history: the Nuggets defeating the SuperSonics in '94, the Knicks defeating the Heat in '99 (the format changed to best-of-seven after '03), the Warriors defeating the Mavericks in '07, the Grizzlies defeating the Spurs in '11, the 76ers defeating the Bulls in '12, and the Heat defeating the Bucks in '23.
In the NBA, this specifically refers to a team intentionally losing a large number of games to achieve a very poor record in order to obtain the first overall pick or a high draft pick in the current year's draft. Even though the league has equalized the odds of the bottom three teams getting the first overall pick to curb this situation, tanking remains a strategic choice for some teams.
The most typical case is the Spurs in the 1996-1997 season. Despite having David Robinson and having reached the Western Conference Semifinals the previous season, they tanked frantically to get Tim Duncan, eventually winning the first overall pick as desired and selecting Duncan. Duncan led the Spurs to five NBA championships over the next 19 seasons.
Northern Expedition
Originated from League of Legends tournaments, specifically referring to the journey of a team in the lower-middle of the standings working hard to return to the top of the league. Based on the logic of "North is up, South is down," the higher a team is on the standings, the further "North" they are.
Due to the poor performance of the Clippers after trading for Harden early in the 2023-24 season, ranking 11th in the West with a 3-5 record, the term "Northern Expedition" was subsequently introduced to the basketball circle by Clippers fans. However, the Clippers later found a suitable team-building system, went on an 11-game winning streak followed by a 5-game winning streak, and quickly rose to 4th in the West, completing the Northern Expedition. Meanwhile, as the three high-traffic teams—the Suns, Lakers, and Warriors—all experienced fluctuations in performance and hovered on the edge of the playoffs, the term "Northern Expedition" was constantly mentioned among the three fan bases.
Related to Chinese Basketball
Poland's Best Center
In the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup group stage, China faced Poland. With 7.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter, China led by one point and had possession. Normally, China would have won the game by simply inbounding the ball to a teammate, but Zhou Qi made a shocking turnover by passing the ball to a Polish player. Poland immediately counterattacked and drew a foul, making one of two free throws to force overtime, where Poland defeated China. Zhou Qi bore undeniable responsibility for this loss, which indirectly led to the Chinese men's 5x5 basketball team essentially missing the Tokyo Olympics.[2]After the game, many fans joked that Zhou Qi was a Polish player, and someone even changed Zhou Qi's wiki entry to "Polish basketball player".It's ridiculous that the review even approved it.Fans then joked that Zhou Qi surpassed Lewandowski to become Poland's number one center.
Incidentally, in 2023, the Chinese men's team made it back to the FIBA World Cup yet again, and Zhou Qi played a major role.
RNM, add more money
Lychee Guy Yi Jianlian
Originating from the Hupu CBA community, it was used for teasing for a period of time.Yi JianlianInexplicablyDarkening skin tone[3], combined with the fact that his hometown is famous for producing lychees, led to the saying "Ah Lian turned dark because he went to pick lychees," and Yi Jianlian earned the nickname "Lychee Guy."
A slight smile wins back the head coach's trust
From Sina editor GudaPrime Minister, original post: Yi Jianlian just smiled slightly; he has won back the head coach's trust[4]。
Space Yi / Emperor Yi
Originally a derogatory nickname for Yi Jianlian, which led to memes like "ABCDE, EDCBA" and "Chew Doublemint, relax, play only two minutes a quarter; drink Mengniu, drink Yili, three points and two rebounds for Space Yi." However, as time passed, Yi Jianlian's skills and mentality matured, and netizens' behavior improved, the derogatory tone of the name faded, and some new fans even use it as a compliment for Yi Jianlian.
Invite him to drink Lafite
From Yi Jianlian. It originated when Yi Jianlian was fouled by Shen Zijie while attacking the basket, but the referee didn't call it, so Yi expressed his dissatisfaction with the referee. Original quote: "That's a dangerous move! OK OK, fine, if you want to call it like that, fine, I can pull him until he's crippledI'll invite him to drink Lafite”.
I opened the sky with one punch, transforming into a dragon
The original lyrics are from Jay Chou's "Dragon Fist." During the 2010 brawl between the Chinese and Brazilian men's basketball teams, it was used to describe the protagonist Zhu FangyuThe man with the character "Ri" written on his chest. During the game, the Brazilian team used many dirty tactics, first knocking over Zhang Qingpeng, who was carried off injured. China's head coach Bob Donewald Jr. slammed the scorer's table in protest, setting the stage for the brawl. Later, during a Chinese possession, Zhu Fangyu felt he was hit from behind, so he knocked the opponent down, triggering the mass fight. In the chaos, Zhu Fangyu singled out a Brazilian player near center court, landing solid punches and a knee strike. A photo of Zhu boxing was captured and captioned "I opened the sky with one punch, transforming into a dragon,"describing the grit of the national team players, including Zhu Fangyu, and the dirty tactics of their opponents. Afterward, the Brazilian team withdrew, the national team organized an intra-squad scrimmage on the spot and gave spectators full refunds the next day. Zhu Fangyu, Su Wei, and others were fined by the Chinese Basketball Association.
Little Li's Flying Dagger
Originates from Li Nan. This meme has two meanings: first, it describes Li Nan's accurate three-pointers, as he could always step up at critical moments of a game to deliver a fatal blow; second, it comes from the fight between the Chinese and Lebanese teams during the second stage of the group stage of the 21st Asian Basketball Championship on July 23, 2001. At that time, Li Nan was outside the court using tape to wrap his injury. In the heat of the moment, Li Nan joined the fight,And so these scissors became a lethal weapon。
Ribs Flyer
Describes players who look thin and weak but are very tough in actual combat. In the Chinese men's basketball team, it can describe Du FengGod Duand Yi Li.
989 University
Refers to Guangdong University of Technology. In the 2023 CUBA finals, Guangdong University of Technology defeated Tsinghua University with a score of 87:83, winning the first CUBA championship in school history and shattering the Tsinghua dynasty. As China's top academic institution, Tsinghua University has great appeal and thus recruited the country's top basketball players, while GDUT is only a first-tier university, making the championship won by GDUT extremely valuable. Also, because GDUT's interior player Chen Guohao gave up joining Tsinghua or Peking University to stay at GDUT to repay his coach's kindness, this championship became even more legendary. Furthermore, because Tsinghua's high threshold for ordinary people makes it difficult for them to gain the empathy and support of the general public, GDUT's victory received immense popularity. Therefore, GDUT is called the 985+4=989 University.
Team Memes
One Bang and the Rockets Disbanded / One Shot Broke Up the Rockets
Danuel House Jr. was originally a role player for the Rockets. Later, due to his personal character and multiple outstanding performances in the Rockets' forward position, he was called "House Superstar" or "House Ultra-Superstar," and became an important forward player for the Rockets in the latter part of the 2019-20 season. Due to the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the NBA league, after suspending the season on March 12, chose to, in a closed campus located in Orlando (also known as the奥兰多泡泡) conduct the remaining regular season games and the playoffs. But at the same time, to prevent the rapid spread of the pandemic within the Orlando campus, the NBA adopted a series of regulations restricting people other than players, coaches, and staff from entering the campus. House wasIt's a case of not being able to control his lower halfviolated the bubble's epidemic prevention regulations and was investigated by the NBA league[5], after which veteran teammate Tyson Chandler tried to take the fall but failed[6], ultimately House was suspended and would not play for the Rockets for the remainder of the season; after being suspended, House left the bubble[7]. This news caused an uproar. Some believe it was precisely House's absence that created a gap in the Rockets' forward line, leading to their early elimination and going home to "go fishing." After this incident, Rockets fans' attitudes toward House ranged from love-hate to indifference, but they basically all poked fun at House'ssuspected solicitation of prostitutionbehavior. Later, amidst the jokes of the vastimaginativeand witty Hupu netizens, House earned the nickname "Korean superstar Park Chang-ho
At the same time, some Rockets fansand onlookersbelieved this was a sign that the Rockets' morale was beginning to crumble. Combined with the Rockets' previous experience of being eliminated and going fishing early, this incident is also known as the"One hookup broke up the Rockets"claim.In reality, a role player couldn't change much; what truly caused the Rockets' morale to crumble was their terrible record, and Harden had already expressed his dissatisfaction with the Rockets multiple times.
The Three Great Illusions of Texas
Refers toThe Mavericks are weak, the Rockets are strong, and the Spurs are old. The three teams involved in this phrase are all from Texas. However, the Mavericks (who changed their Chinese name) now consistently make the playoffs, the Rockets haven't made the playoffs since Harden left, and the Spurs entered a rebuilding phase after the GDP trio retired...
"We have no rivals in the West"
At the end of 2022, Grizzlies player Ja Morant was asked in an interview which teams they had to overcome on the road to a championship. Morant answered the Celtics. When the reporter asked, "No one in the West?" Morant replied, "I'm fine in the West." This phrase was later circulated as "We have no rivals in the West."
As Morant "wished," during the 2023 trade deadline, Kyrie Irving suddenly submitted a trade request to the Nets without warning, moving to the Mavericks to team up with Luka Dončić, shocking the basketball world. Kevin Durant also submitted a trade request after that, moving to the Suns to join Chris Paul and Devin Booker, forming a Big Three. The Lakers also significantly bolstered their roster while trading away Russell Westbrook. Based on the existing star landscape in the West, the "Wild West" returned, and the situation became a total mess. Ultimately, despite qualifying for the playoffs as the second seed in the West, the Grizzlies were almost entirely lost in the postseason. Combined with widespread injuries led by Morant, they were eventually eliminated 2-4 in the first round by the seventh-seeded Lakers. In the elimination Game 6, they were blown out in three quarters and suffered a 40-point defeat.
Looking back, Morant's single sentence triggered a turmoil that changed the landscape of the league.
Player Memes
58
In the first round of the 2009 NBA Playoffs, Game 4 of the series between the Nuggets and the Hornets,Chris PaulThe Hornets, led by Paul, suffered a crushing 58-point defeat at home, with the opponent's bench outscoring them by 20 points in the final quarter, setting a record for the largest margin of defeat in playoff history. Since then, "58 points" has become a meme and a benchmark for blowout victories, brought up whenever a massive win occurs. On the Hupu community, the number 58 is now essentially linked to Chris Paul himself, spawning many related memes and emojis (see below).Paul gained a new nickname: "58 Cannon"
This meme is considered a "black meme" by some Chris Paul fans; please use it with caution under news or posts regarding Paul's positive stats or records!!
However, this hasn't stopped Hupu's official accounts from using the meme, leading some Paul fans to voice their dissatisfaction with Hupu's operations.
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Possible official score manipulation -
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Paul sitting on the bench looking dejected during the "58 Tragedy" -
Sitting on the bench but photoshopped with a smiling face -
The Green Formula
During the 2018-19 season, in a game between the Warriors and the Clippers, Draymond Green and Kevin Durant got into an argument over on-court performance, which escalated into a shouting match. After a series of expletives, Green uttered the classic line:
| “ | We were already champions before you came | ” |
As a veteran of the Warriors dynasty and a defensive anchor/offensive spark plug, Green indeed had the standing to say this. The remark was extremely hurtful to Durant, who had joined as a free agent, and it indirectly led to Durant leaving for Brooklyn and criticizing the Warriors players publicly on several occasions. For a few years, the meme's popularity waned as the Warriors struggled. However, in the 2021-22 season, the Warriors rose again as title contenders, and the "Green Formula" resurfaced as fans discussed the possibility of the formula "closing the loop." Ultimately, the Warriors' core four (Curry, Thompson, Green, Iguodala) won their fourth NBA championship, while Durant achieved little in those years, officially completing the Green Formula loop:
| “ | We were already champions before you came
We are still champions after you left You left us and you don't have a championship |
” |
Coincidentally, this plot also appeared in the 2022 Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf movie.[8]Later, the strongest super-complete version of the Green Formula also appeared in the football world.
Before you joined our team, we—had never lost!!!!
9 points
In the finals of the 2020 All-Star Dunk Contest, Aaron Gordon performed a two-handed dunk over the 2.29-meter-tall Tacko Fall. Dwyane Wade, as a judge, gave a score of 9, but earlier, another player, Jones, completed a double-clutch dunk with lower difficulty than Gordon's, and Wade gave it a 10. Because of this one-point difference, Jones won the Dunk Contest championship. Wade was heavily criticized after the game, and Gordon himself held a grudge over the incident.
Afterward, when high-difficulty dunks appear in games or highlights, some fans post "9 points" in the bullet chat to mock Wade's controversial move at the time. Three years later, Gordon faced the Heat, who had unexpectedly reached the finals, and won 4-1, getting his revenge on Wade.
The future is yours
From Spurs legend Tim Duncan. In the 2007 Finals, LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 4-0 sweep by the San Antonio Spurs led by the GDP trio. After the game, Duncan encouraged the then-young James with "The future is yours." Later, James was defeated and lost championships to teams like the Mavericks led by Nowitzki, the Spurs led by Duncan, and the Warriors, making this a classic quote.
Ma Long and Fan Zhendong: I'm familiar with this[9]
You know / The Decision I
During the 2010 off-season, after repeatedly failing to lead the Cavaliers to a championship, LeBron James decided to leave. Finally, on July 9, 2010, James announced his signing with the Miami Heat through a nationally televised special on ESPN called "The Decision." This choice was dubbed "The Decision I" by fans. James announced his decision by saying: "This fall, I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat." Years later, it was parodied by Chinese netizens as:
You know, Wade is my brother, we've fought side-by-side and defeated many opponents. I've known Bosh for a long time, this guy is incredibly strong. I think the three of us teaming up can create great chemistry. Sometimes making a decision is hard, but after many days and nights of thinking, I've decided to take my talents to Miami. I can't wait to put on a Heat jersey. As for Anthony and Morris, I wish them all the best in Cleveland.
When The Decision was made, the world was in shock. LeBron's act of "teaming up" quickly made him public enemy number one, with an impact second only to Kevin Durant joining the Warriors years later. People in Cleveland, in particular, saw James as an enemy, even burning his jerseys in public. However, after winning two championships for the Heat, James announced his return to the Cleveland Cavaliers in "The Decision II" and brought Cleveland its first major league trophy in 51 years, largely erasing the negative impact of The Decision I. Now, this meme is mainly used to criticize James's teaming-up behavior, but it has become more neutral as it's used in various fields.
Now, this phrase is basically used in sports events to parody a player's transfer to another team, or to add "You know" at the beginning of jokes about the NBA and LeBron James to increase the comedic effect.
Silver Horn King Bloodbaths Shituo Ridge
Refers to the 2011 NBA Finals, Heat vs. Mavericks. The Heat became a team in a league of their own due to the addition of James and Bosh, but in the Finals, Dirk Nowitzki, leading the team as a single star, dominated the court, eventually defeating the Heat with a total score of 4:2 to win the Mavericks' first championship in franchise history.
This championship is considered by a significant number of fans to be the one with the highest "gold content" in NBA history. Nowitzki's reputation was completely reversed, and he had a statue of himself erected in Dallas. More events also occurred because of this series.
Duncan feels uneasy
Refers to the T-Mac Moment—Tracy McGrady scoring 13 points in 35 seconds to snatch a victory against the Spurs. In recent years, short video creators have paired T-Mac Moment videos with the EXO song "Been Through," along with captions like "Yao Ming is exhausted," "The bench is silent," "T-Mac is sleepy-eyed," and "Duncan feels uneasy." This spread widely, and now whenever a video features "Been Through," comments and bullet chats saying "Duncan feels uneasy" appear.
Barkley kisses a donkey's butt
In the 02-03 season, Yao Ming played for the Rockets as the rookie first overall pick, but under the expectations of a large audience, he only scored a total of 30 points in the first seven games, which was quite disappointing. Before the eighth game against the Lakers, Barkley bet his old friend Kenny Smith that if Yao Ming could score 19 points in a single game during his career, he would kiss Smith's butt. Later in that game, Yao Ming exploded, shooting 9-for-9 to score 20 points. Barkley honored the bet, but Smith was unwilling to have his butt kissed. Instead, Barkley kissed the butt of a donkey wearing a name tag for Smith.[10]
Tomato
A homophone meme originating from Yao Ming. In the early days of Yao Ming's entry into the NBA, teammates would always hear him say after a missed shot:
That one step
Refers to Giannis Antetokounmpo (hereafter referred to as the Greek Freak) and his undercutting action on Kyrie Irving during a layup in the second quarter of Game 4 of the 2021 Western Conference Semifinals between the Bucks and the Nets. Irving was subsequently ruled out for the season, and the Nets, lacking Irving, lost to the Bucks with a total score of 3:4. Finally, the Bucks defeated the Suns 4:2 in the Finals to win their first NBA championship in 50 years, but this championship was
First, the Nets' Big Three lost their only chance to unite and win a championship. Irving's frequent absences and various controversial incidents left the Nets organization and management exhausted, while Ben Simmons also missed games due to various personal issues, keeping the Nets in a state of internal turmoil. Subsequently, the Nets' Big Three left the team one after another within two seasons, and the Nets team that Joe Tsai spent a fortune to build was disbanded; the three superstars' subsequent performances also significantly altered the league's landscape. Secondly, while the Bucks kept their core members and continued to strengthen, they lost 3-4 to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals the following year and failed to defend their title. In the third year, they were even victims of an 8th seed upset despite being the first seed, which called into question the "gold content" of that championship. Fans thus joke that the "gold content" of Giannis's kick continues to rise.
In the Name of the Father
Refers to Jimmy Butler. Butler is extremely competitive by nature and gives his all on the court, especially in the playoffs where he exerts all his strength to lead his team to victory. He led the Heat, who had no other superstars, to three Eastern Conference Finals and two NBA Finals within four years, even reaching the Finals as the eighth seed in 2023. Butler has transformed from a role player with average talent into a top-tier superstar capable of contending for championships.
Because Butler has no father and his mother abandoned him at age 13, combined with the fact that Butler is extremely similar to Jordan in terms of appearance, posture, playing style, and personality, and occasionally puts on individual performances that rival or even surpass Jordan's, some fans use various clues to jokingly or seriously tease that Butler is Jordan's illegitimate son, ruling the court in Jordan's name.
Greatness needs no words
From the 2022 ESPN documentary series on the NBA's 75 Greatest PlayersLeBron Jamesepisode — "Greatness Needs No Words." Because extreme fans of James constantly used this phraseto start flame wars, and the documentary was released during a period when negative news about James was constantly surfacing. When Curry led the Warriors to the championship in the 2022 NBA Finals, James's haters used this phraseto sarcastically mockJames.
Since then, whenever extreme fans mindlessly exaggerate their idol's achievements, using this phrase can servesarcastic and passive-aggressivethe purpose.
Common sarcastic variants include replacing "Greatness" with "Fakeness" and "Words" with "Acting," etc. Since James is called the "King of Basketball," the fans around the "King" are called "Eunuchs", thus there is a variant specifically targeting LeBron fans (Zhan-mi):""Impotent, no need to castrate more"”.
The Purifier
Refers to Grizzlies player Ja Morant. On May 14, 2023, Morant saw a friend making a gun gesture to music during a livestream and impulsively flashed a real gun. This caused an uproar after the video leaked, especially since Morant had previously been suspended for eight games for brandishing a gun on a livestream. His actions further baffled fans, and he earned the nickname "The Purifier" (Lucian) for repeatedly brandishing guns in public. Ultimately, Morant was suspended for 25 games by the NBA, and the Grizzlies subsequently fell to 13th in the Western Conference.
However, Morant's explosive playstyle attracted many fans, so most fans treated the incident with a joking attitude. As Morant's return approached, fans built up a lot of hype, using various meme-style comments on Hupu ratings to prepare for his comeback, such as:
| “ | "Turn the world to silent, and listen to the sound of a bullet chambering." | ” |
| “ | "Bullets like dragons entering clouds and thunder, the gun pierces ten thousand miles across the West." | ” |
| “ | "Who is number one in the West? I will end his life! Full lethality Morant one-click runes configured." | ” |
In his return game, Morant lived up to expectations, recording 34 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists, including a game-winning buzzer-beater to lead the Grizzlies in a comeback against the Pelicans. This announced his return, and the Grizzlies were described as ending their losing streak by "hitting a 3-star Lucian."
Others
Full of Bateer's spirit / Full of ++ spirit
Originating from the early daysThe era of the Li Yi TiebaThe Bateer Tieba and Shan Tao Tieba, these two forums were dedicated to the famous domestic centers Mengke Bateer and Shan Tao respectively.Oh my ++were parodied. Derived memes include "A vast disparity in strength, the winner is clear at a glance" and "First came Lord Ba, then came the Heavens; Shan Tao came even before Lord Ba."
Recognized by whom?
From Ma JianGreatest Power Forward of All Time. In a 2016 episode of Tencent Sports' "No Hype No Hate," the other host Shu Hai said, "But Duncan is the universally recognized greatest power forward of all time," to which Ma Jian replied, "Recognized by whom?". This was later mocked by Hupu netizens,first with Ma Jian surpassing Duncan to become the GOAT PF; then surpassing the PF position itself, making PF the "GOAT Ma Jian"; and finally surpassing "GOAT" itself to top the list. (Ma Jian's List: PG, SG, SF, GOAT, C, where the #1 in the GOAT category is PF, and #2 is Duncan)
- Additionally, in this episode, regarding Ma Jian's topic "Is LeBron the #1 choice to build a team around for the next three years," Shu Hai disagreed, stating "LeBron is already thirty-one and on the decline." As it turned out, seven years later, the thirty-eight-year-old LeBron is still the core of the Lakers, not only breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time scoring record but also still making All-NBA teams, and even leading the Lakers to win the inaugural In-Season Tournament championship in 2023.
Notes
- ↑ Due to the existence of the Play-In Tournament, it did not explicitly state the eighth seed in the regular season.
- ↑ The Chinese men's and women's teams participated in the 3x3 basketball tournament at the Tokyo Olympics.
- ↑ Actually, it's a tan
- ↑ Original post address http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/2011-03-15/09475489433.shtml
- ↑ Hupu report on the league's investigation into House allegedly allowing a female COVID-19 tester into his room
- ↑ Chandler was cleared
- ↑ House apologized to his teammates before leaving the bubble
- ↑ Incidentally, the background of this series may have referenced the Chinese Men's Basketball Team's 2014 Incheon disgrace and their 2018 Jakarta return to the top of Asia
- ↑ See the 2017 Dusseldorf World Championships Men's Singles interview
- ↑ In English, "Ass" can refer to both buttocks and a donkey