In China pick-up basketball works different than it does in the United States. Full court is rare in public parks. Most of the hoops are set up as half-courts and when there is room for full court it is typical to see two half court games playing simultaneously rather than one full court game. I imagine that this is for two related reasons: the first is that there are more people that want to play then there are in the United States. This is about population density and the urban spaces here as much as it is about the popularity of basketball in China which, like the popularity of basketball in cities in the States, has to do with the fact that basketball doesn't require much space or resources in comparison to other sports such as baseball or swimming. One only needs a ball to play, without or without a crew. Though of course, basketball's popularity is also because it's cool; hip-hop, black athletes and musicians, Nike, and the intersections between basketball and style, style and status and swag.
The second related reason for difference in pick-up games is less geographical and a bit more cultural, that is, that folks here seem to come with a group of friends and play only with those folks. This is not a rule but a tendency I first noticed at Purdue, where some groups of Chinese students would prefer to play with the group they came with. If you needed someone to run with you in a full court game and asked one of these folks standing by an adjacent sideline, they'd decline in order to wait for the next available spot in their game. It was the rare Chinese student who preferred to play in the pick-up games rather than show up at the Co-rec with a crew. So 'culture,' maybe, but I think this tendency of young Chinese men attending college at a large American mid-western university to play basketball within insular groups is more complicated than essentialized notions of a particular orientation towards thinking or acting. Case-in-point, over the Summer in Shanghai where I’ve been playing pick-up on invitation from friends, two different regular games, the half-court that the group rents for two hours is only so big. If anyone could just walk on and play then the folks who organized would get less chance to play. Maybe this particular geographic and demographic fact, one defined by a high population and a lack of space has as much to do with the groupish-ness of Chinese pick-up games as a particular way of thinking or relating to others.
Regardless, and in contrast, pick-up basketball in the States is a winner-stays system. So as, if there are enough people to run five-on-five and have folks waiting, then the rule is that the winner of the game stays on the court while the losing team waits in line for the next game. Though this is how it worked at Purdue, this is also how I've experienced it in San Francisco and Oakland. The next in line is whoever claims next, which is usually a gentleman's [sic] agreement depending on who got there first. So as, for example, if there are thirteen people on a court, ten playing at a given time, upon the completion of that game, typically “1 & 2s to 15, win by 2”, then the eleventh person, however determined, would have the right to form the next team. So as, they could choose the team who they want to play with which would include three people waiting and two from the losing team. The reason I put all this into words is to make a contrast with from how it's done here, which is less winner-take-all and more oriented towards the broader participation of those in the group. Thus, in the half-court games favored here there are shorter games played such that everyone will have a chance to play. If there are twelve people then maybe three teams of four will be divvied up playing quick games to 5 or 7 points. Plus, at least in my experience here, the 3-point line is usually not used, so as, each basket, no matter where it is scored from, counts as 1-point. Another more mysterious difference is that it's always 'loser's ball,' meaning, the challenging team or the team that lost will start with the ball. Like giving more people more chances to play, there is a common sense here that is easy to grasp but it speaks to assumptions of who should be given the advantage. Whether this difference was a conscious choice or historical inheritance is probably impossible to know.
A more significant difference in Chinese half-court pick-up is the absence of check-ball ritual which instead is replaced by a non-stop flow that more closely resembles football/soccer. That is, in American pick-up when the ball goes out of bounds or after a point is made the ball is returned to the top of the key, just beyond the three-point line where the team who does not have possession of the ball initiates play by passing to the opposing team, usually as a bounce-pass, sometimes accompanied by the phrase, “ball-in,” as in, the ball is now in play. This allows the defense to get set; to find their man [sic], and initiate the start of play. The check-ball-less game creates ambiguity as to when to start playing defense as it’s unclear, at least to me, when play actually starts. For example, say the ball has gone out of bound on the hoop side. In the American game the ball would be returned to the top of the key, checked in by the opposing team, and play would resume. In the Chinese game, say the ball went out on the hoop side. The ball hits the wall or fence and bounces to the ground nearest a teammate of the team who just threw it out of bounds. This teammate then picks up the ball and throws it to their teammate who is out of bounds and then this teammate in-bounds it to their team and play resumes. So as, in this example nobody from the opposing team touches the out of bounds ball. Or, a person from the opposing team picks it up, passes it to the person out of bounds who ten inbounds the ball to his teammate to start play. Sure. This is fine. However, what tends to happen when this convention is followed is that it’s ambiguous when the defense should start playing or when the offense should start moving, i.e. cut towards the hoop or set screens or just stand there, anxiously waving their arms around. So as, it is not until the person gives up the ball after the in-bound does it seem that play actually starts. Though in some cases, the person who gets the ball on the in-bound will shoot or cut towards the hoop. In broad terms, what this means is that a bit of space is given to the person who receive the inbound which then may or may not be taken advantage of. Or in even broader terms, it lessens the importance of defense and physical contact. All said, if I am playing a half-court game on my ‘home court,’ i.e. the university court or with a group that I played a part in organizing, I will insist on playing with check-ball conventions. I get stressed out by the constant motion and ambiguity.
These conventions then also set parameters for styles of play, though style is always case-by-case, ungeneralizable to the individual or the specific situation. Relating to the constant flow of Chinese pick-up and the idea that more folks should have the chance to play is generally less defense and more room for shooters, where the unspoken goal of basketball is a beautiful jump shot on an isolation play more than winning the game. It's possible that I'm just bitter because I don't have a reliable jump shot, but the joy in this style comes not from an unrelenting control of a given court but from the opportunities for all to have their moment, no matter the winner of the game since even if one loses they will get back on the court in no time. So as, the game is less physical, less closely played when amongst friends in good spirits though there are many exceptions to this in that if the game takes on a more competitive edge, more at stake as far as who wins and loses such as in the tournament, the intensity picks up. But the causal game, the common game, resembles folks standing around taking their turns at making a shot or a drive. It is important here, as I've been told, that in any given game that one ends on good standing with everyone, that this is more important than winning or losing. If one is playing half-court games and one team is beating the other team consistently the winning team won't intentionally lose the final game, but it might not play as hard to give the other team a chance such that everyone can leave with some feeling of accomplishment. Maybe this is culture, maybe this is basketball. Maybe this is a function of playing mostly with your friends and acquaintances who you will inevitably see again, and soon, but it is a different than how pick-up works in the States and these conventions effects how the game is played and the experience of the players therein.
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