Basketball stories.

[EGarrett]

I know some of the best fun I have is just sitting with friends and sharing stories of weird/funny stuff that's happened to us on the court. I consider you guys friends so I figured we could do the same. Some of my favorites...

Most of my stories revolve around the park in Madison (NJ) and the Morris Center YMCA where I've been playing basketball every summer for the past 2 years or so.

The park is always fun because on any given Sunny afternoon there will be enough people to at least play three-on-three...but you never know who will show up. Most of the time it's teenagers who can't play but occassionally you get some competition. There are a couple of dudes (brothers) who talk mess all day...whether they're winning or losing. I got a kick out of watching them play these two (white) guys because they were pretty much going back and forth...but whenever the dudes would score they would act like they were dominating the game.

I remember a time that a halfcourt game we had degenerated into an argument because I checked the ball...and the guy I was guarding made a lazy pass...I jumped in the lane and the ball bounced hard off the side of my hand...then went backwards over my head and into the hoop. We couldn't decide who's point it was...but I eventually convinced them that it was our point because we weren't playing take-backs and it was equivalent to stealing the ball and making a shot.

There's a group of 14-year-old kids who play for Madison Middle School who always come there and play all the adults there. They're hilarious because they can all shoot and all they do is pass-and-cut all day until they either get a lay-up or a three point shot. They win more often then they lose...probably because no one ever believes me when I tell people to just take them inside and give them no quarter. I specifically remember one time when I was playing them 5-on-5 with five other guys and I scored something like 8 straight points...mainly by just snatching rebounds and going coast-to-coast for lay-ups...I even dunked on them...but we lost 11-9 because no one else scored more than one point on my team. After the game, one of the guys who was watching the game said that other than me...my team should be embarrassed and all I could do was laugh.

The Y is better...because you get a lunch-time run with guys in their 30's or so who used to play when they were younger. And an evening run with guys between 18-25 or so.

I'm used to playing against the tallest guy on the court because I have long arms and can jump to contest his shots. Usually I just stay outside and don't have much problems getting my shot off...I do remember one particular time that a guy showed up who was probably about 6'7" and 210 or 215 pounds...I don't think I was guarding him but we ended up making plays against each other at the basket repeatedly because he would go inside and I come over to get up in front of his shot.
The first possession he went to the basket and I came over and blocked him with the tips of my fingers. Then the next few possessions I would take rebounds and take the ball all the way to the basket where he was waiting for me. I like challenges so I went right at him. The first time he blocked the ball out of bounds. So the second time I tried something different. I went to all the way again and put up a floater that I think floated all the way over the top of the backboard...later in the game I went to pass the ball off but he got it going up. I still equaled him in points overall in the game I think...but at least I'm persistent.

And you occassionally get kids there also. There was this one kid who had really good handles and was beating on this poor Asian dude while I was warming up. After he beat the guy he told me he wanted to play me. "I'll beat you like I beat him." I was like "Okay." Because I'm a very good one-on-one player. I beat him 11-1...then he wanted a rematch and I won 11-4. After that he was over his arrogance and was asking me where I play and how old I am etc...

I'm sure everybody has some...so let's hear it.

[Stevan]

Good thread... I remember one like this in the old forum where I told everyone of my famous dunk. God knows if that still exists... Anyway I'll share...

I think I told this story possibly. I was shooting around at the "Sports and Aquatic Centre" with a couple of friends, and a guy, probably around my size shows up and asks to play one on one. So we play and he's bouncing the ball off my foot, off my shoulder, throwing it to himself off the backboard, going through my legs, around me, doing all this crazy shit. I thought he was trying to make me look like a fool. Turns out he was just looking for someone to practice his moves on for his upcomming game against the guys from the And1 3 on 3 tourny. He decided to play 0 defence, so I won. But yeah, he was way better than me, would have been nice to play him at his best on both ends and see how badly he beats me.

What else? My team playing Mens A grade in a local comp here struggled like crazy. In our first season we lost every game and drew one, which we drew because I hit a long three at the buzzer off the board!
Our second season followed the same pattern until we finally picked up some good players (who I met playing pick up ball at MSAC). Two of these guys were from Canada, and the other guy was from England. We won three of our last 4 games, but the season was over a long time ago.

I had one game where I was really eager, and tipped the ball into my own basket twice in one game. The ball was just out of reach, or there was a log jam in the key and I accidentally tipped the ball in.

I watched a B grade team which moved up to A grade take on one of the better A grade teams and win. Before the game the A grade guys were talking all sorts of smack about how they'd whoop the other team. Didn't quite work out, and the B grade team won. A really really stiff white guy dunked on the A grade team on a fast break, quite nicely. The guy who got dunked on was literally laughed it. Twas an interesting night.

[Null17]

I think I told this story possibly. I was shooting around at the "Sports and Aquatic Centre" with a couple of friends, and a guy, probably around my size shows up and asks to play one on one. So we play and he's bouncing the ball off my foot, off my shoulder, throwing it to himself off the backboard, going through my legs, around me, doing all this crazy shit. I thought he was trying to make me look like a fool. Turns out he was just looking for someone to practice his moves on for his upcomming game against the guys from the And1 3 on 3 tourny. He decided to play 0 defence, so I won. But yeah, he was way better than me, would have been nice to play him at his best on both ends and see how badly he beats me.

i've read this one on another thread before... cool story

[Nick]

Hehe.

I remember once me and my mate were shooting hoops in his front yard next to our road... and this door-to-door salesman came along out of NOWHERE... and just starts playing with us... hahaha wtf? we were playin against this 1 guy in a suit....

He beat us.

He was, to my suprise, REALLY good.... he was a bit shorter than me at the time.. (5'7"?) and black... looked about 28 years old... kicked our arse...

he was really nice though. we ended up havin a drink with him afterwards and he said he woulda given us 5 bucks each if we hadda won.

Damn.

[J@3]

I remember one time a few years back, being at the local basketball stadium having a half-court shot competition with some guys from the team. We'd do best out of 5 each, and the winner got whatever they wanted from the canteen, paid for by the other 2. This old guy walked up and asked if he could play, he looked kinda dodgy, you wouldn't wanna leave your kids with him or anything but we said yes. The reasoning behind this was that this guy would probably have an income, so could buy the winner the more expensive food. Anyway, we start the comp and I miss all of my shots, then the next guy gets one, and the guy after him hits one. The old bloke steps up and launches the first ball which hammers off the backboard and into the hoop. We figure it was a fluke. Second shot, same result. He missed the third, but hit the 4th and 5th. So the old fella won with 4/5 and we all had to buy him stuff from the canteen. Later on while talking to the President of the basketball club, he goes "oh did you see an old guy with really white hair wearing a black vest?" I told him about how he'd won the shooting comp and robbed us of our small amount of money, and the President goes "oh yeah, that's (forgotten name)... he played for the Perth Wildcats for 5 years".

Another time when the Globetrotters were in town, the local radio station in Newcastle decided that they'd hold some sort of Globetrotter thing at our stadium, and so we all turnt up expecting them to be there. Only they weren't. The big event for the day was the free throw competition, and the winner got 2 tickets to see the Globetrotters and the runner-up got $20 worth of free McDonalds. It was a school morning, but there were more people there than I'd ever seen at the club, and the que for the FT comp stretched the length of the court twice. I managed to get down to the final 2, due to the fact that I'm a bloody good shooter when I wanna be. The first guy goes and makes his shot, and I walk up to shoot and miss terribly. While this made me look pretty useless, what most people neglected to know was that I already had tickets to see the Globetrotters, but what I didn't have was a spare $20 to spend at McDonalds. So off to Macca's I went, missing another day of school. Heh the radio station bought boxes of doughnuts and Coke, due to sponsorship, and said we could take 1 doughnut and 1 Coke each. I think i ended up with 6 doughnuts and 9 Cokes, but other people had more and managed to sell them all at school.

Another one was when I was 12 years old I'd been playing basketball for about 4 months, and I'd missed the try-outs for the U/14 representative side cause I slept in. The coach wouldn't let me try out again, and said I probably wouldn't have made the team anyway. So i kept playing there socially, and in one game against the U/18 rep team i scored 16 points and had 14 rebounds. After the game the U/18 coach came upto me and said they needed one more player and wanted to know if i'd play. After I explained to him that I was only 12, he went away then came back and said it didn't matter and still wanted me to play. I started playing for them, and while I didn't really set the world on fire (4ppg, 6rpg) i remember that the other team started giving me alot of respect once they found out how old i was. Although i remember one guy from another team talking to me for ages about girls and drugs and stuff, thinking i was 17... I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about but i pretended all the same. About half way through the season we were hit by injuries, and we went around to the younger age groups (U/16, U/14) to see if any of their players would fill in. As it turnt out no one from the U/14 team would do it, they were all too scared. Then after that the U/14 coach who told me I wasn't good enough for the team pretty much begged me to come and play for them, I didn't though... I won MIP that year pretty much by virtue of default I think.

Hmm... if I could be bothered typing anymore i'd talk about how good some of my teammates have been, and the guy I played with in England who in warm-ups used to throw down these massive dunks, but in games got so nervous he couldn't even board-tap.

[Tuomas]

I don't have much stories, mainly because I live in the Land of Hockey and cross-country skiing but....

Well, from last summer, me and my friend were shooting at the school. We were both like 5'5'' back then. So two guys, other is like 6'2'' and the other 6'4'' asked us if we want to play. Both are like a year or two older than we are. So they were like sure that they gonna win.
So the game started and on the first possession the 6'4'' guy puts the ball through my legs... but on the next possession I took his and dunked on the 9 foot rim that was like the best moment of my short basketball life.... the guy was shocked. we won the game 11-4 they weren't even good