"Magicians do not work in the dark. The illusion is there, out in the open, teasing and drawing the eye toward it. The trap is set. Sleight of hand claims another victim.

The defender knows it's coming but is fooled anyway. It's there on the video playing in every pregame locker room, all over the scouting report.

Yet Rockets guard Kevin Martin makes his move toward the baseline or at the top of the 3-point circle and pulls up. He steps back, gaining separation. He goes into that quirky shooting motion, like a pre-teen struggling to reach the rim. Then at the last moment, as another defender leaves his senses and his feet, he pulls the ball back, waiting for the crash, the whistle and the walk to the free-throw line.

"You know who has a great up fake?" said former pump-fake master Sam Cassell, considered the magician's magician throughout his years tormenting defenders. "Kevin Martin. Wicked. Wicked. He has a great up fake. He does everything slow. Martin is the main one in the league right now. He's No. 1."

The classic shot fake — as the Rockets will see tonight from Paul Pierce as they have from Dwyane Wade and Chauncey Billups - uses the same motion as any jump shot, forcing the defender to contest a ruse or allow an open look. Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki tease with the ball, showing it and drawing a defender to it, then pulling it back.

There are actors, Kobe Bryant and Manu Ginobili, who exaggerate their motion, following through to the last fraction of a second with the ball on their fingertips, before yanking it back to attack."