We all know what is basketball. We see it on TV and play it at school or with friends after school. But what is street basketball? Is normal basketball and the only difference is that it is played on a street? Yes and no. Rules of street basketball are similar to those of normal basketball but with little differences. There is no set number of players: there may be only two of them or ten. Players do not need to train very much because this game is played mostly for fun. The game takes place only on one half of the playing field. There are no restrictions in the number of matches that can be played during one day. There may be only two of them but they may play with full teams, each consisting of five persons. It is a great game for both man and woman of all ages: from five to sixty five. It is very popular around the world
Different street basketball players represent different skills. The players who come from New York, Los Angeles or Chicago are usually considered very skilled. The players from other places like: Puerto Rico, Argentina, Germany, Israel and Spain are also said to be very good. Many famous players played street basketball before. Dirk Nowitzki who now plays in Dallas Mavericks was discovered by the coach when he was playing street basketball in Germany. The famous Shaquille O'Neal was also a street basketball player before he was recruited to a normal basketball team.
Street basketball may be dangerous as players sometimes finish the game with some injures. It happens very often that there are spectators at matches of street basketball. Usually there are also spectators of opposite sex and the players try to impress them. It may lead to dangerous situations. This is the reason why some leagues of street basketball prohibit such activities.
There is another reason why street basketball is so popular. There was a team of street basketball players from New York who set on a journey across the United States and played against local teams. The matches were recorded and the players wanted to show themselves. They were using many tricks in order to embarrass the players from the opposite team. The films are known as And 1 Mix Tapes. They were later made into a show on ESPN about the travel of this team from New York. They all use nicknames that are their street names. The most popular members of the team are: Half Man Half Amazing, Alimoe, AO, Shane the Dribbling, Hot Sauce, and Skip to my Lou.
Street basketball is a spin-off of a normal basketball but it was also modified. For example there is so called 21 game. The rules are: if the team A gets 21 points and the team B has less than 19 points at that time, the team A wins. Team A must not get more than 21 points. It if gets them it is called a bust/marky and that team loses all its points. However, if the team A has 21 points but the team B has 20 points, then the team A must get one more point in order to win.
Street basketball is a good way for the young people around the world to spend their time and not get involved in some crime activities. Generally it is a popular game.
