Full court or Half court?

[D-Wade316]

Which do you prefer? Why? Personally, I prefer playing half court because it forces the players to play man-to-man d. Defending man-to-man shows the commitment of players to win a game, because from my experience teammates who instruct you to guard a certain spor or zone shows their laziness and care only for offense. And they blame you a lot for their mistakes like an open man, which is the inherent disadvantage of playing zone d. This is the reason why I prefer 3v3 over 5v5. 5v5 on halfcourt is only a pipedream.

[Thorpesaurous]

Which do you prefer? Why? Personally, I prefer playing half court because it forces the players to play man-to-man d. Defending man-to-man shows the commitment of players to win a game, because from my experience teammates who instruct you to guard a certain spor or zone shows their laziness and care only for offense. And they blame you a lot for their mistakes like an open man, which is the inherent disadvantage of playing zone d. This is the reason why I prefer 3v3 over 5v5. 5v5 on halfcourt is only a pipedream.


I think this depends a lot on your age. I became more enamored with half court as the years went on, mostly because I felt you were playing more "basketball". Full court turned more into a foot race, and you were getting less test of skill than just running. But as a kid I certainly preferred full court.
Also, full court tends to dissolve into basket hanging and a lot worse habits, unless you can find a good amount of genuinely good players willing to actually play.

I will say full court works a lot better with the right court. The elementary school I went to growing up did a redo of our playground when I was probably in second grade. They did a new court at that time, and it was the best court in our town. It was the only court that was actual width. It was a little short length wise. To me that's perfect. It cuts out some of the footrace elements and basket hanging because the court is around 75 feet instead of 90, and having real width, allows you to play real penetrate and kick basketball.
We have two highschools in my home town. And for what it's worth, kids from my elementary school, and therefore my neighborhood, played PG for 10 straight years at one school and 4 at another (that school wasn't really in the district, but the kid lived a little further away), and I'm convinced it's because that court trained real penetrate and dish and kick type basketball. Then they started bussing kids all over and it got all mixed up.

[Jailblazers7]

Yeah, I think the biggest thing with full court is that it can lapse into a really lazy/sloppy game very easily. People only playing one side of the game, people constantly leaking out for cheap baskets, poor rebounding, lots of standing, etc.

Half court tends to get people more active offensively and defensively. People make better cuts, set screens, drive and kick, etc in a half court game because they don't feel the need to conserve some energy just for getting up and down.

[imdaman99]

full court games often get chaotic, and a quick team that can drive to the basket will often find ways to beat bigger teams, as long as they can play enough defense and get defensive rebounds. i feel like in halfcourt, with a slowed down game, it's more likely to have the better team win.

personally i'll play both, but my park these guys don't want to run full because they say no one runs fast breaks. shit im always down to run breaks, i just need teammates that will do as well.

[Rake2204]

I'm a full court guy any and every day of the week. I'll cool with playing half court only when it's looking like it's going to be 3-on-3 or less (sometimes I understand 4-on-4 may work better halfcourt depending on personnel).

Otherwise, to me, basketball is full court. If circumstances result in playing just half court over a one or two week span, I just about go stir crazy. I can't take it. 5-on-5 half court feels incredibly jumbled and compact while 3-on-3 (or less) feels way too simple (V cut, jab step/screen, layup/jumper, repeat).

With full court, it just feels like I'm able to spread my wings and fly. It feels wonderful just to be able to stride out and reach max speed for a bit. Plus, transition basketball is a huge element of the game to me, both offensively and defensively. To chop out all of those elements (fast breaks, secondary breaks, rebounds and push aheads, chasedown blocks, quick recoveries leading to possession reversal, etc.) the game feels like an XBox demo.

I play with a very wide range of abilities. There's nights where the competition is tip-top and then there's nights where sometimes a guy may be playing in jeans. It seems as long as about 60% (at the lowest) of the 10 players playing are of at least moderate ability, full court functions and works just fine. Usually if those who always go hard set the standard, the ones who want to be lazy often have no choice but to push just to keep up. And if there's a straggler or two, they often do not influence the game.

My philosophy is just to go hard whenever I can. In most cases it helps set the stage. It's a win-win. Either it leads to me competing against people at my level or it forces others to step up to my level. If they don't, I get to look like an NBA prospect for a night. Usually enough people step up.

[HomieWeMajor]

I prefer the passing in a half court game

[2swift4u]

for pick-up games I usually prefer half court games. Full court games often result in chaotic fast-break games. However if you have a group of players that often plays together then full court is absolutely fine. It's a better work out too because you're forced to run more.

[TylerOO]

People I play with play defense all the time so playing full court isn't just fast breaks. I hate half court, its boring. I love full court

[nathanjizzle]

depends who youre playing with. if you playing with good players then you want to run full court, if youre running with lames then you want to run half court.

[Straight_Ballin]

Half court seems nothing more than a shooting drill to warm up for full court. You aren't getting fast breaks in full court games I play in because the defenders are all over the early leak outs. Full court pressure all the way up on every possession. No traps, but just good solid 1 on 1 defense on who's ever playing point.

[mugiwara]

I wish Nba did half court all star 3 v3 or 4v4, or maybe a legends game where they get retired players who cant be bothered playing full court. I feel half court is more competitive, limited easy baskets.

[Burgz V2]

full court definitely, but the court I play at they always play half court because they are too lazy and too out of shape to play full.

[Lebron23]

Give me Full Court game. Half court game are good for shooting drills, and improving your men to men defense.

[FreezingTsmoove]

If the players around you actually get back on defense often and give effort to stop fast breaks then full court all the way.

[Rake2204]

Half court seems nothing more than a shooting drill to warm up for full court. You aren't getting fast breaks in full court games I play in because the defenders are all over the early leak outs. Full court pressure all the way up on every possession. No traps, but just good solid 1 on 1 defense on who's ever playing point.No fast breaks at all? I feel like every full court game would have fast breaks at some point, especially if the defense is playing at tight as you mentioned. Does that full court defense never lead to turnovers or mistakes? If not, why would anyone waste their energy playing full court defense every single pickup game?

[LikeABosh]

I dont like playing full court unless its indoor ( too damn hot out), and the players are more serious and organized. Alot of the times when I try and play full court theres always those players who try and push the ball snd go on fastbreaks every damn play. Its annoying as shit and they gas themselves out in 15 minutes

[JohnnySic]

Always full court for 5-on-5.

Half court for 3-on-3.

4-on-4 could go either way but is better full court.

[clipps]

I love running full court unless my teammates don't run back on defense. I get heated really quick if I'm stuck guarding a 3 on 1 "jog" break. I'll slam the ball and cuss at my teammates really quick.

[Rake2204]

I love running full court unless my teammates don't run back on defense. I get heated really quick if I'm stuck guarding a 3 on 1 "jog" break. I'll slam the ball and cuss at my teammates really quick.Oh man, the dreaded jog break. The one where three offensive players overpass because it's clear the one defender back is the only guy on the other team who cares, and only partially so in this situation. Then an offensive player usually blows a flatfooted point blank layup, then so does his teammate, before maybe the one defensive guy inexplicably comes down with the board at which point his teammates at the other end of the floor all suddenly begin yelling for the rock in vein.

Classic.

[clipps]

Oh man, the dreaded jog break. The one where three offensive players overpass because it's clear the one defender back is the only guy on the other team who cares, and only partially so in this situation. Then an offensive player usually blows a flatfooted point blank layup, then so does his teammate, before maybe the one defensive guy inexplicably comes down with the board at which point his teammates at the other end of the floor all suddenly begin yelling for the rock in vein.

Classic.

Exactly this.

Looking like a jackass playing monkey in the middle. It's even better after you get scored on a 3-1 jogbreak, you inbound the ball to yourself and some fartbag has the nerve to call for the ball.

[Pushxx]

Exactly this.

Looking like a jackass playing monkey in the middle. It's even better after you get scored on a 3-1 jogbreak, you inbound the ball to yourself and some fartbag has the nerve to call for the ball.

Man you had me laughing at fartbag. :oldlol: I love running hard to defend the break. It's a great feeling to make people miss easy layups and come up with the board.

One of my favorite things to do in all of basketball is to break a full-court press. It feels so good to just glide all the way to the rim past what looks like cones trying to defend me. :D