Streetball or street basketball is a variation of basketball typically played on outdoor courts, featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players to publicly showcase their own individual skills. Streetball is often regarded as another element of the Hip Hop culture. Streetball may also refer to other urban sports played on asphalt. It is particularly big in New York City.
Some places and cities in the United States have organized streetball programs, operated similarly to midnight basketball programs. Many cities also host their own weekend-long streetball tournaments, with Hoop-It-Up and the Houston Rockets' Blacktop Battle being two of the most popular. Since the mid-2000s, streetball has seen an increase in media exposure through television shows such as ESPN's "Street basketball" and "City Slam", as well as traveling exhibitions such as the AND1 Mixtape Tour, YPA, and Ball4Real.
Rules and features
Streetball rules vary widely from court to court.
Players typically divide into teams (choose sides) by alternating choices.
Typically when a player calls ball that means that you have current possession of the ball and they can stop grabbing for it. Then they continue the game from the spot where "ball" was called.
No referees are employed, so almost invariably a "call your own foul" rule is in effect, and a player who believes he has been fouled, simply needs to call out "Foul!", and play will be stopped, with the ball awarded to the fouled player's team (free throws are not awarded in streetball).
A common misconception is that saying "And 1" is synonymous with calling "foul." It is not. The phrase is commonly employed as a form of trash talk. For example, when a player knows they are going to make a shot and they think they are getting fouled as they are shooting will say "And 1", to let their defender know, "you can't stop me, even though you have fouled me." In reality, and as the rules that follow indicate, there is no such thing as a traditional "And 1" in Streetball.
When a player throws the ball up in the air and catches it somewhere else, it will be considered a travel.
Because the duration of the game is dictated by score and players cannot foul-out in streetball, teams often employ intentional fouls as a last resort on defense.
If defensive players had to concern themselves with fouling the offensive player hard enough so that there was no chance they could make a shot, it would certainly lead to unnecessary injury and probably several additional arguments on the court. It goes without saying that calling fouls in streetball is disfavored. The etiquette of what rightly constitutes a foul, as well as the permissible amount of protestation against such a call, are the products of individual groups, and of the seriousness of a particular game.
Game structure
A common feature of streetball is the pick up game. To participate in most streetball games around the world, one simply goes to an outdoor court where people are playing, indicates a wish to participate, and from all the players who were at the court before one has played, one will get to pick their team out of the players available and play a game. Generally, the team captains alternate their choices, but different courts have differing rules in regards to player selection. Many games play up to 7, 11, 13, 15, or 21 points with baskets counting for 1 and 2 (if beyond the 3 point arc) points.
Players often play 'win by 2' which, as in tennis, means that the team has to win by a margin of at least 2 points. Sometimes a local "dead end" limit applies; for instance a game may be played to 7, win by 2, with a 9-point dead end, (referred to as "7 by 2's, 9 straight") which would mean scores of 7-3, 8-6, or 9-8 would all be final, while with scores of 7-6 or 8-7, play would continue. The most common streetball game is 3 on 3 played half court, though 5 on 5 full court can be found. Another common variation to the rules is the "skunk" rule. This merely means that if a player reaches a certain point without the other player scoring, the game is over. The skunk rule limit can vary, but is often used at the score 7 to 0.
Sometimes in a half-court game, a "winner's ball" or "make it, take it" rule is used. This means that if a team scores, it gets the ball again on offense; one team could end up never getting the ball on offense if the other team scores on every possession. Full court basketball is not played with these rules, but, in most instances, the winning team gets to choose which basketball and usually which direction (which basket) they get to use. Also, if the ball goes out of bounds players must check up.
Another possible streetball feature is having an MC call the game. The MC is on the court during the game and is often very close to the players (but makes an effort to not interfere with the game) and uses a microphone to provide game commentary for the fans.
If the player loses the match of a 1v1, the losing player is given a second chance to shoot a shot at the three point line. This either results with the match continuing or if the match is close enough resulting in a tie.
Variations
Twenty-one
A popular variation of street basketball is 21, also known as Hustle, American, St. Mary's, a V or Varsity, Roughhouse, 33, 50 or Crunch, or "New York." 21 is played most often with 3-5 players on a half court, typically when not enough players have arrived at the playground to "run 3's" (play 3-on-3). However it is possible to play "21" with only two players, or more than 5.
Further, in some forms, players can freely enter the game after it has begun, starting at zero points or being "spotted" the same number as the player with the lowest score. "21" is an "every player for himself" game, with highly variable rules. The rules of "21" are usually agreed by the players at the beginning of the game.
The typical rules of "21" are:
- one player "breaks" to begin the game by shooting from 3 point range. Sometimes players agree that the "break" must not be a successful shot, in order to give every player an equal chance at rebounding to gain the 1st possession of the game
- the normal foul rule is in effect
- baskets are scored as 2's and 3's (as opposed to 1's and 2's like Streetball)
- after a successful shot, the shooter can take up to three 1-point free-throws (or play the "shoot til you miss" variation, where the shooter continues to shoot the ball until he misses), but as soon as he misses, the ball may be rebounded by anyone; conversely, if he makes all three free throw shots, he then gets to keep the ball and "check up" or start play again at the top of the arc
- In some games 1 point free throws start at the charity stripe and then move to the 3 point line at the score 11 and so on (called 11 long or if at the 3 point line from the first score for free throws is called "long all day")
- the last person with a shot attempt should be the first person to step out on defense
- after any change of possession, the ball should be cleared past the 3 point line (or at times just out of the key)
- in order to win, a player must make exactly 21 points; if he goes over then he restarts back at either 11, 13 or 15 points, depending on the rules in use
- whoever wins the game starts with the ball at the beginning of the next game
- only serious fouls are called (commonly referred to as "No blood, No foul")
- other typical basketball rules, such as out-of-bounds, are also frequently ignored in the game "21"; this is to avoid confusion on possession of the ball
Common additional rules include:
- a player can attempt a 5-pointer in lieu of attempting three free-throws
- if a missed shot is "tipped in" to the basket by another player without their feet touching the ground, then the shooter's score reverts to zero (or thirteen if their score was over thirteen); this rule may not apply on free-throws. This is referred to as "playing with tips"
- if a player who has 13 points misses their next shot, regardless of whether it is a free-throw, then their points revert to zero. This is referred to as "poison points"
- whoever wins the game must shoot a three-pointer in order to start with the ball at the beginning of the next game; if he makes it, he gets the three points, but doesn't have to take free-throws, and starts with the ball
- players with less than 13 points at the end of a game keep their points into the next game (a sort of handicap system for when there is a wide variation in skill amongst the players)
"21" is considered a very challenging game, especially because the offensive player must possibly go up against several defenders at the same time. For this reason, it is exceedingly difficult to "drive to the hole" and make lay-ups in "21." Therefore, and also because of the emphasis on free-throws, "21" is very much a shooter's game, and because a successful shot means you keep the ball, it is possible for there to be come-backs when a player recovers from a large deficit by not missing any shots (this can also result in failure when they miss their final free-throw at 20 points and revert to 13 or 15 etc.).
"21" is popular because it allows an odd number of people to play, unlike regular basketball or other variants.
"Boston"
Another less common streetball variant, often referred to as "Boston," results in essentially a one-on-one (or sometimes two-on-two) tournament between any number of players. Each match is played following normal one-on-one rules, including violations (such as fouls and out-of-bounds) to just one point. The winner remains on the court and gets to take the ball out while the loser returns to the end of the line of players waiting to step on the court. The first player to win a set number of matches (usually 7 or 11) wins the game.
3x3 basketball
Others
Famous streetballers
Streetball in popular media
- NBA Street video game series by EA Sports
- NBA Ballers video game by Midway (2004)
- AND 1 Streetball video game by Ubisoft (2006)
- Like Mike 2: Streetball
- American History X
- Above The Rim
- Crossover
- He Got Game
- Who's Got Game?, a television program broadcast on MTV
- White Men Can't Jump
- City Slam, a television program broadcast on ESPN
- Sutobasu YarÅ ShÅ, a 1994 video game released for the Super Famicom
- FreeStyle Street Basketball, an online PC game by Joycity
See also
- 3x3 (basketball)
References
External links
- Streetball.com Global Basketball Community
- Streetball.ca Canada based streetball/events website
- StreetballBlog.com Streetball News and Streetball Events
- Streetball Europe 1st all European Streetball tournament
- Australian Streetball 3N3 League 1st 3on3 Streetball League in Australia