Pick-Up Ball

[bainsey]

Anybody here play pick-up ball from time to time?

I play some noon-time five-on-five about once a week with a bunch a thirty-and-fortysomethings at a nearby college gym. (Eight-minute games, or first to 11 wins, NBA three-point line.)

When I get to the locker room today after playing, one of the guys had a rules question waiting: how long can a defender wait in the "bucket" (local slang for "lane")? Puzzled, I said there was no limit. (Maybe in the NBA, but that's not my rule set.)

Apparently, there was an argument on the floor the other day about a defender being in the lane over five seconds, and the argument went on for ten minutes! I jokingly responded, "I'm still wrapping my head around that kick call that took away my shot!"

(The ball deflected off a defender's foot to me, who nailed a 15-footer. The defense called a kick.)

Someone from the shower fired back, "It may not have been intentional, but it WAS a kick!"

My personal favorite is the dude I often guard who likes to get the ball with his back to me, jump up, and starts dribbling. (I don't have the heart to tell him that's a travel. When in Rome, indeed.) He got a little frustrated at day's end and heaved the ball to the other end of the court. My first instinct was to T him up; it took me a second to realize I was playing.