After Darius Bazley’s 23-point outburst in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 121-103 win over the Washington Wizards, head coach Billy Donovan said the 20-year-old has a special ability to finish with both hands.
“He’s got a really uncanny ability to finish with that right hand around people,” Donovan said.
Apparently, that’s because Bazley is actually right-handed.
“I’m pretty weird,” Bazley said with a little laugh after the game.
He taught himself to play basketball with his left hand when he was a kid. While trying to correct himself after misses, he would imitate his dad’s critique.
“So I’m shooting around with my right hand. And I kept missing shots,” Bazley said.
“And so I would like, imagine as if I’m playing with my dad, like shooting around with my dad. And I would shoot, and if I would miss, I would act as my dad, and come in like ‘No!’ you know, ‘This is how you shoot it, Son!’ And I went up and I would shoot, almost to like redeem myself for that miss that I just had.
“And then I just kept missing with my right hand and so I just switched to my left and it worked for me, I guess. I just stuck with it. It felt pretty natural.”
So that explains why Bazley is able to do things like this:
And like this:
Bazley said that when he first started trying to dunk, he would do it with his right hand, which helped him become a natural finisher with his right hand.
“He’s really ambidextrous around the basket,” Donovan said.
Literally. He actually is.
