PICKUP BASKETBALL THREAD

[SabiNation]

this thread needs to pick back up.

two weeks ago a new guy started playing with us. hes probably 35, but still pretty quick despite being very out of shape. so I start guarding him and he shoots a couple threes in the first game that aren't even close. second game he goes probably 1/3 from deep and gets to the rim once with a floater. third game im playing 5 feet off him at the arc daring him to shoot the 3. he makes the first one... then the second one, then a third one he shoots off balance with my hand in his face and drains it. guy on my team yells at me to guard him out there, and im all like ok but hes not really a good shooter, just got a little lucky. next two are airballs and a third one he banks in to win the game. guy on my team demands he guard him the next game. they get in a shouting match over a "cheap foul" where the guy was on a two on one and got wrapped up before passing to the open guy for a layup. everyone is just  shutup you two. they go back and forth and back and forth for the next few games until its pretty obvious theyre just playing 1v1 with the rest of us watching them foul each other any time one gets to the basket. finally the guy gets a 1 on 1 against me running side by side and I get a lot of ball while he goes up but hes running out of control and slams into the mat at the end of the court. he calls a foul and I don't really argue because I did get a lot of body and its a foul, but the guy on my team starts an uproar and picks up the ball and throws it at him and calls him a bitch. we had a break up the fight between them... 

people getting mad over pickup basketball, I tell ya.

neither were invited back this week.

I'm admittedly pretty butthurt about never getting an invite

[The Tonya Harding of Twitter Users Creep]

well the gym is rented out and we all pay like $20 to play at this middle school each semester, so everyone knows each other for the most part. its a few of my high school buddies and then some of their dads/neighbors/work buddies. its invite, but sometimes we cant find 10 so we stretch. that's why this guy got invited... I have no idea who he knew. we have about 20 people on the email list and usually 12-15 show up.

we give tie ups to the defense and its generally call your own foul, but a lot of the time the defense will call it if its on a fast break. usually if you cant go up strong to the rim, then you've gotta pass the ball because youre gonna get fouled and its gonna get called. the problem lies when the guy passes it for an open layup and the defender calls a foul. usually we just let the basket count but sometimes the wrong two guys get involved and hell breaks lose. generally its a laid back game, theres about 5 actual basketball players and the rest of the guys are just out to get some exercise.

we kind of police the game ourselves. if you bitch and moan and act all competitive, I play good D and you don't get an easy bucket on a fast break. if youre just laughing and having a good time, I wont foul. doesn't make it any fun when people act like theyre going to run laps if they don't win.

[michigancat]

I will foul extra hard if you're laughing.

Letting defense call fouls is bullshit. ESPECIALLY on fast breaks.

[The Tonya Harding of Twitter Users Creep]

meh, if im playing in a competitive game at the gym I wont be laughing, but this game is very light. I mean its a bunch of old dudes trying to get some exercise. it is what it is. I don't have much fun playing competitively in that game because there are seriously about 4 guys who cant handle a chest pass unless its right at them. playing to win and getting into the game wouldn't be much fun for most of the guys.

defense calling fouls is kind of garbagey, but it also helps even this game out. there are a few younger guys who could grab it and run for a layup every time if they wanted to, but the game wouldn't be much fun. we try to make it about half court so letting the defense call a foul on the fast break kind of discourages you from turning it into a track meet the old guys cant handle.

its a very different game, fwiw.

[michigancat]

a good rule for limiting fast breaks is no passes across half court. (icing)

[The Tonya Harding of Twitter Users Creep]

a good rule for limiting fast breaks is no passes across half court. (icing)

like you cant grab a rebound and throw it to a cherry picker? our issue is a young guy grabs a rebound and outruns the old guys who take 2 steps and give up, not that there are cherry pickers. leaves whoever was at the top of the arc alone on defense, and he usually tries to foul as the first shot goes up because the rest of his team hasn't run back to help play d or rebound because theyre old and fat.

[michigancat]

that game sounds awful.

[pissclams]

have you guys every played such bad defense that it was funny?  i used to, was great.  i think about some of our recent horrible defenders and wonder if they did the same thing and were also laughing inside when they were doing it, like i did.

[The Tonya Harding of Twitter Users Creep]

that game sounds awful.

well, its definitely not the stepping stone to your NBA career. its just about getting some exercise and having fun.

[michigancat]

well I was kind of implying that doesn't sound fun

[Lynchmobrules]

You guys play with the offense calling the foul? Wouldn't it be easier to have the defense call the foul knowing that if you aren't gonna call the foul you won't get one on the other end?

[michigancat]

Wouldn't it be easier to have the defense call the foul knowing that if you aren't gonna call the foul you won't get one on the other end?

Not at all

[Skipper44]

You guys play with the offense calling the foul? Wouldn't it be easier to have the defense call the foul knowing that if you aren't gonna call the foul you won't get one on the other end?

if you are playing a regular game with few or no subs the defense should call the foul

If you are playing pick up at a place like the Rec where there are people waiting to play it is on the offense to call the foul

[michigancat]

Offense should always call the foul IMO

[UCHADBRO]

No difference.  A place like the KSU rec will be better than most places you go, but once you get away from there, MI pickup ball is about the same as KS.  It's a mixed bag - there's a few guys that can really play, some real athletic guys that can't, and just about everyone else is at least compotent.  It's rare to see someone that flat out can't dribble or anything (at least where I play).

Yeah, any college rec center is an a completely different category.  I was in Kansas for a while after leaving KSU, and could always find really good pick up games.  My theory is that if a guy grew up in Kansas, and is playing b-ball after the age of 25, he probably was at least on the team in high school, so has decent skills and knows some basic basketball concepts.  Houston, not so much.  Lots of decent white athletes that couldn't make the team after 4th grade, so never played and are clueless when they try.

Yeah, I would guess the quality of a Kansas pickup ball is probably slightly elevated because there are so many tiny high schools for kids to play for a long time - I've heard of people that attended school elsewhere, and said rec sports were better at KSU than places back east.  But I pretty much think you just need to find the right game.

Okay I just found this thread. I played Baseball at Pitt State for a year and occasionally went down to the rec to run some games.... KSU pick up games are much more competitive than PSU. Everyone seems to be more skilled.

[michigancat]

No difference.  A place like the KSU rec will be better than most places you go, but once you get away from there, MI pickup ball is about the same as KS.  It's a mixed bag - there's a few guys that can really play, some real athletic guys that can't, and just about everyone else is at least compotent.  It's rare to see someone that flat out can't dribble or anything (at least where I play).

Yeah, any college rec center is an a completely different category.  I was in Kansas for a while after leaving KSU, and could always find really good pick up games.  My theory is that if a guy grew up in Kansas, and is playing b-ball after the age of 25, he probably was at least on the team in high school, so has decent skills and knows some basic basketball concepts.  Houston, not so much.  Lots of decent white athletes that couldn't make the team after 4th grade, so never played and are clueless when they try.

Yeah, I would guess the quality of a Kansas pickup ball is probably slightly elevated because there are so many tiny high schools for kids to play for a long time - I've heard of people that attended school elsewhere, and said rec sports were better at KSU than places back east.  But I pretty much think you just need to find the right game.

Okay I just found this thread. I played Baseball at Pitt State for a year and occasionally went down to the rec to run some games.... KSU pick up games are much more competitive than PSU. Everyone seems to be more skilled.

I don't think my theory was very valid, but the difference in skill b/w KSU and PSU could be due to the fact that KSU has about triple the students.

[michigancat]

We have a guy who plays pretty regularly who's about 6-4 but isn't very good. Which is fine, except he thinks he's good enough to get the ball every time down the court, and if he doesn't get the ball he'll throw a temper tantrum our quit playing defense. We're all pretty clam and understanding and try to let him know that we pass him the ball, but even if we don't it isn't because we don't like you or whatever, and remind him that it's ok to miss shots as long as you get back and play defense. But we're always kind of on eggshells with the guy.

Well today he's on my team and it's tied when the horn sounds. Everyone that plays knows that you play through the horn when it's tied and immediately start ot. This guy jacks up a contested twenty footer immediately after the horn sounds. most of us just shrugged and went to play defense, but one guy on our team is like "did you know you didn't have to shot that" because sometimes people don't realize it's tied our that they're supposed to play through the horn. The problem is this guy's been around enough to know the rule and like takes major offense. Like "I'm not fuckin playin if you're gonna rag on me like that." And we're like "you're fine, you just have to play defense" and he says "eff this game" and walks out of the gym. So we got a sub and still lost.

[kim carnes]

[fun muffin]

I recently hit the game winner in a pickup game.  My team was up by one and I got a steal that led to a 2 on 0 breakaway. I then attempted an underhand alley-oop pass that went straight into the basket to end the game.   

[slobber]

That's not a game winner


Gonna win 'em all!

[michigancat]

It's most definitely a game winner

[slobber]

I recently hit the game winner in a pickup game. My team was up by one and I got a steal that led to a 2 on 0 breakaway. I then attempted an underhand alley-oop pass that went straight into the basket to end the game.   

WHAT...............


NOW......................



MOTHER rough rider?????????????????????????

[michigancat]

I recently hit the game winner in a pickup game. My team was up by one and I got a steal that led to a 2 on 0 breakaway. I then attempted an underhand alley-oop pass that went straight into the basket to end the game.   

WHAT...............


NOW......................



MOTHER rough rider?????????????????????????

first to a certain score wins, dobbs. Good grief.   

[slobber]

 







 









 

[michigancat]

you issue invites for your pickup game? That sounds elite. I've never gotten an invite to a pickup game.

My normal game is admittedly pretty slappy in the paint - if you bring it there, be ready to take a shot. Well anyway this new guy (who chews this gross fruity gum and wore an East Bay Apes shirt) got the ball and a guy who hadn't been guarding him comes at him hard and fouls him. Not a big deal, but East Bay Ape slams the ball and was like, "Every. Damn. Time you foul me." and kind of pouting. And the guy that fouled him is a really nice guy and was like "Jesus Christ I haven't even touched you all game and this is like my second time here".  Was pretty LOL.

East Bay Ape guy about got into four separate fights today:

1) he thought the other team went out of bounds, yelled to stop, and the other team didn't hear him/stopped playing. I guess he didn't really get into a fight here, but he was waaaaay too pissed about the other team getting a layup.
2) Foul call in the post. gets super mega pissed and in some guys face over it. Older cool guy says "Just call the foul if he fouled you!" and we kept playing.
3) We had another semi hot-headed new guy come and of course during a foul call words are exchanged and new guy (a short kind of pudgy Indian who can play) says, "You better watch who you're talkin' too!" and East Bay Ape kind of walks towards him and we have to restrain him.
4) once again he's in the post (it's all he can do) and this other guy who has a lot of energy was guarding him and this time East Bay Ape actually shoved him and said, "I'm not backing down!" and we all kind of laughed. (He was on my team). Then we had our game's 6-2 250 pound fullback guard him and that was the end of that.