How to Use air ball in a Sentence

air ball

noun
  • Clark even shot an air ball from the left wing, to the delight of the crowd.
    — Noah Trister, USA TODAY, 4 Feb. 2024
  • Hawkins looked flustered and the crowd seemed to affect his shot causing an air ball or two.
    — Shreyas Laddha, courant.com, 10 Dec. 2021
  • On the next trip, Lynch shrugged off her first air ball by scoring off an inbounds play.
    — Bob Narang, chicagotribune.com, 23 Dec. 2021
  • Self said of Cunliffe, who also shot an air ball from the corner.
    — Gary Bedore, kansascity, 29 Jan. 2018
  • Too bad there is only the sound of swooshing as the dragonfly makes his air ball move.
    — Cori Brown, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 11 July 2021
  • Wynn screamed from the bench and slapped both hands on the court in disgust following a three-point air ball.
    — Percy Allen, The Seattle Times, 28 Jan. 2018
  • Adebayo opened 1 for 7, including an air ball on a short jumper.
    — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 11 Apr. 2024
  • One possession ended with an air ball as the shot clock crept toward zero.
    — Jonas Shaffer, baltimoresun.com, 21 Jan. 2018
  • Rice was in foul trouble all game and finished with four points on 1 of 8 shooting (with two air balls).
    — Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Jan. 2024
  • There were no air balls from the Sooners’ highest-profile recruit in a decade.
    — John Shinn, ajc, 16 Nov. 2017
  • Instead of being stuck on the air ball, Lakhin followed his shot and found his way into the paint.
    — Keith Jenkins, The Enquirer, 15 Nov. 2021
  • Buie threw up air balls on back-to-back 3s at one point and shot three air balls in the half, finishing with eight points in the session.
    — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 10 Mar. 2023
  • Mills was 4 of 14, including an air ball on a 3-pointer that would have tied the score at the buzzer.
    — Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 29 Oct. 2017
  • The attempt originally appeared to be an air ball, but upon further review the ball did nick the rim.
    — Adam Himmelsbach, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Feb. 2023
  • The Bucks held on from there when Durant missed two jumpers, the last an air ball with three-tenths of a second remaining. Middleton added 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Bucks, who reached the East finals for the second time in three years.
    — Brian Mahoney, chicagotribune.com, 20 June 2021
  • Lynch likened it to a basketball player with a penchant for shooting the occasional air ball.
    — Eric Branch, SFChronicle.com, 19 Dec. 2020
  • For investors in sports betting stocks, however, March Madness has been a bit of, well, an air ball.
    — Paul R. La Monica, CNN, 24 Mar. 2022
  • The last shot attempt of the game was a desperation, turn-around 3-point heave from Andrew Jones, an air ball.
    — Dallas News, 10 Mar. 2022
  • Coach Billy Donovan drew it up for DeRozan to take the game-winner, but the veteran shot an air ball.
    — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 22 Dec. 2022
  • Soon UConn was overwhelming its guests, moving the ball unselfishly and forcing Tulsa air balls.
    — Mike Anthony, courant.com, 18 Jan. 2018
  • The Hoosiers started the game 3-for-15 from 3-point range, including air balls from three different players.
    — Gregg Doyel, The Indianapolis Star, 10 Jan. 2024
  • When Lorenzo Charles plucked an air ball from the sky and slammed home a game-winning dunk, Valvano ran around the court in a daze, looking for someone to hug.
    — Rustin Dodd, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025
  • Franz Wagner, a sophomore guard, chucked up an air ball and Mike Smith, the transfer from Columbia, missed one, too.
    — Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press, 31 Mar. 2021
  • During the team's prolonged scrimmage, Barrett missed jumper after jumper -- including two air balls -- and got frustrated with himself at times.
    — Special To The Oregonian, OregonLive.com, 11 Apr. 2018
  • But the deep stepback three didn’t even reach the front of the rim, resulting in an air ball that landed out of bounds and gave possession back to the Trail Blazers late in a close game.
    — Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 9 Nov. 2025
  • Deer Park’s defense sat back and watched the Wildcats shoot an air ball, another Wildcat leaped into the air, saving the ball from going out of bounds.
    — Robert Avery, Houston Chronicle, 21 Nov. 2019
  • But the Bulls battled back from a 13-point deficit with a little more than two minutes left and had a chance to win before DeRozan’s air ball as time expired.
    — Paul Sullivan, chicagotribune.com, 30 Oct. 2021
  • Erik Poulsen then shot an air ball from 3 and Nate Renfro turned the ball over in the final minute when the Dons had another shot to cut into the six-point lead.
    — USA TODAY, 13 Jan. 2018
  • Carr air balled a 3-pointer from the right wing, but Jamari Wheeler grabbed the offensive rebound and kicked it out to Garner, who nailed a corner 3.
    — USA TODAY, 11 Feb. 2018
  • In a game filled with air balls, messy defensive scrambles and poor form in boxing out defenders in the paint for rebounds, the Baltimore region team pulled away late and played tough defense to hold on to the lead.
    — Phil Davis, baltimoresun.com, 26 Aug. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'air ball.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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