In basketball, an air ball is an unblocked shot that misses the basket, rim and backboard entirely.
[1] The Oxford English Dictionary cites earliest printed use of "air ball" in a 29 January 1967 article from the (Hayward, Calif.) Daily Review, which reads: "Cal State, four times lofting air balls at an orange basket that may as well have been painted invisible.
"[2] In collegiate basketball, home crowds were found to initially chant when the air ball shot was made from a distance and when it resulted in a lost possession.
[4] In a 106 to 89 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on December 28, 1974, Elmore Smith of the Los Angeles Lakers had an unusual performance in a game where he made only one of 11 free throw attempts.
He missed three consecutive shots from the free throw line (under the now defunct ""three to make two" rule in the NBA at the time), all three of which failed to hit anything but the floor.