A dazzling debut
Fresh sport is fast-paced and fun, with an atmosphere to match
RTOKYO oundup three peopleand then find threemore. Play to 21 by 1 sand 2 s or mostpoints scored in10 minutes. It’ll be hot. It’ll behumid. Barely any fouls willbe called.
Gotit? OK.Check ball. Seriously.Check the ball. Becausethis ball doesn’t look likethe basketball you know. It’syellow and blue, grooved likethe skin of a pumpkin and weather-proof.
Welcometo 3-on-3 basketball,a sport that’s come all the wayfrom your neighbor’s drivewayto its Olympics debut,the latest in the Games’ attemptto take something familiarand make it younger, edgier,faster and wilder.
“It’sjust like a tornado,” Italianguard Rae Lin D’Alie saidwith a Wisconsin accent asthick as beer cheese soup.
It’spart car crash, part permanentfast break.
Asthe sun set over the event’sgrand opening, U.S. FirstLady Jill Biden jumped outof her seat to applaud a 1710victory by the USA over France.
Onhis way out of the Aomi UrbanSports Park, French President Emmanuel Macron wasasked by an American journalist about the U.S. performance against his team.
“Comeon, come on. They defeatedus,” Macron said with a grin .“It was sufficiently painful .”
Itwas also sufficiently amazing. Playedoutdoors under a canopythat fittingly looked likea circus big top, this iterationof basketball made for as electrican atmosphere as you canget when the only people inthe stands are dignitaries, volunteersand a Japanese youthbasketball team hangingout in the edges of the rafters.
Theywitnessed four WNBAplayers parachute intoa sport played full-time by theiropponents and mostly dominateFIBA’s top-ranked team.
“Didit look like I had jet lag?”U.S. guard Kelsey Plum said.
Theformer No. 1 overall picksaid her attitude about playingin a perceived undercardto the main men’s and women’ s tournament is“Why not”do this?
“Tomake a five-on-five teamin the United States is nearlyimpossible, you know, andso as a young player, why notget the experience and thentry to hit it on the next round?”she said.
TheAmerican men’s team, thereigning world champions,failed to qualify with no currentNBA players after losingto the Netherlands in the quarterfinalsof the qualifying tournament.The women’s team,with WNBA stars, pickedit up quickly.
“I’mused to the air conditioning ,” Al lisha Grey said aboutadjusting to the wind andheat.
Eachteam has four players includingone substitute who cancheck in after any stoppage.The game is played on a halfcourt (the teams share the basketfor pregame layups), witha 12-second shot clock. Andjust like at the park, you’vegot to take the ball back behindthe 3-point line, except it’sreally a 2-point line.
Therewas an in-house DJ andtwo in-house MC’s commentatingwith the players’ nicknames(one in English, onein Japanese). D’Alie is “RaeRae.” USA center StefanieDolson is “Big Mama.”
They’ re characters— D’Alie’svoice drips with her Wis-can-senaccent when she speaksItalian or when she proclaimsher love for the WisconsinBadgers and her pride inthe Milwaukee Bucks’ championship.
Bornin Waterford, Wis., shefound the discipline by playingwith some of her Italianleague teammates and fell inlove with the game — a formof basketball with the paceand space that NBA teamscrave built right into therules.
“It’slike backyard basketball,where … you just find a wayto win. And sometimes it doesn’tlook great. And sometimesit looks really awesome,”D’Alie, who hit the game-winnerto qualify Italy, said.“It’s really fun that way andthere’s a lot of space for creativityand spontaneity.”
Andthen there’s soon-to-be 39-year-oldIra Brown, a 6-foot4American power forward in Japan’spro basketball leagueswho somehow ended upas a Japanese Olympian afterbeing an eighth-round pick ofthe Kansas City Royals to pitchin 2001.
When he was firing fastballs for the Edmonton Cracker-Cats in the Northern Independent League, he could’ve never imagined representing Japan in basketball.
“Thatwould have sounded verycrazy,” Brown said. “Obviously,when I was younger, basketballwas definitely not inin the cards. I love to play thegame, but obviously baseballwas my love. But, I’m here nowso it’s a blessing. But for sureI wouldn’t ever thought it inmy mind.”
Downby one in the final secondsof a game vs. Poland withDMX bumping on the speakers,Brown tied the gamefor the host country. But asfast as the party went up, it camecrashing down when Polandhit a game-winner in sudden-death,first-to-two overtime.
Still,Brown got to compete inthe Olympics.
“Ican’t even express that. I mean,I can’t express it,” Brownsaid. “It’s just, it’s just, mindblowing, mind blowing thatI’m here.”
FIBASecretary General AndreasZagklis called the debut“historic.” Players such as Plum,D’Alie and Brown beamedafter their debuts. It feltlike a weird, wonderful success.
Zagklisnoted how the Belgiummen’s team managed to upsetLatvia — the lead changingfour times in the last 25 secondsis kind of the template forwhat a professional 3-on-3 gamecan look like.
TheU.S. women, the major favorites,won twice, helping putAmerican eyes on the sport.And other nations providedthe fireworks, showing why people believe this formalized version of street basketballcan grow.