DEBRIEF - More Thoughts on Basketball

Notes on the NBA playoffs from a first-time viewer, the theatre of sports and Hanif Abdurraqib

Jun 21, 2024

All I can think about is sport these days, so welcome to the DEBRIEF, a little bonus content feature for all of these thoughts. A DEBRIEF is a way for me to check in and share with you my journey as a new-ish sports fan, offering extra notes and ideas that have been on my mind, sharing what I’ve learnt, or what I’ve been reading or watching lately.

Sports

Ever since I started this newsletter, basketball has been on my mind. Growing up watching my brother play, the prevalence of both High School Musical and One Tree Hill on the TV at home (they count!), basketball was something that was in my life, but I never really followed the sport or watched an actual game in years. As the NBA entered the play-offs and Caitlin Clarke and Angel Reese made headlines about their skills as they entered the WNBA, I was ready to dive in, but overwhelmed with the number of teams and where to begin.

After some chats with my brother and a friend of mine who follows the NBA, I did settle on a team, and I want to preface this by saying that some things in my life are inevitable – what I mean is, choosing an NBA team was much like choosing a Formula 1 team, in that I could try and resist all I want, but it’s much better to give in: of course I was going to go for Ferrari (red cars, classy, classic Italian glamour) and of course I will go for the New York Knicks.

The Knicks interest me for multiple reasons; Firstly, I mean, duh, it’s New York! I grew up too much of a Gossip Girl and Broadway fan to not respect the glamour of New York. Secondly, as multiple people have pointed out to me, the Knicks are a very cinematic team to go for. Case in point: the long-time devotion from Spike Lee, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days1. Thirdly, they remind me a lot of my AFL team, Carlton. A team with history and prestige2, had a long run of not doing very well, but have been working and reconstructing themselves back into the finals/playoffs. Lastly, and some would say most importantly, I found and purchased a Knicks jumper at the Op Shop so let’s go, team!

The Knicks made it to Round 2 of the playoffs3 but, after being tied 3 to 3 in the series, were knocked out in Game 7 by the Indiana Pacers4. Thrilling, but boo. I did however watch Game 7 of the Denver Nuggets vs Minnesota Timberwolves series, and I could not get over the absolute energy of the crowd and the arena. At first, I thought it was just because Game 7’s are never guaranteed, so when there is a Game 7, it’s a big freaking deal. But I have since watched Game 3 of the finals series and I’m starting to think maybe basketball is just Like That.

What I mean is, compared to the size of soccer and AFL fields, the distance between the court and a silent crowd at a tennis match, to the barriers and blink-and-you-miss-it speed of a car zipping past, basketball is incredibly intimate. The court is smaller (and feels even more-so due to how big basketball players are) and the distance between the crowd, the coaching staff, and the court is basically non-existent. To sit courtside is basically license for the players to fall on top of you, to be in touching distance to the action. The crowds stand in their seats, towering over each other as they whirl towels around, constantly cheering and chanting “De-fence!” in absolute perfect unison and tone. After each point is scored, the benched players at the corner of the court stand up and react with the intensity of a battle in a Shakespearean play. The energy is frenetic, electric, claustrophobic, deafening, and totally thrilling.

Spike Lee court side during the 2023 Playoffs giving Immanuel Quickley a high five, demonstrating the closeness.

As a spectator, I’m used to there being so much distance between the audience/fans and the action/players. Not to say the energy at an AFL game isn’t alive with the force of our yells from the far reaches of level 4 at the MCG (a 100,000 seat stadium) as if they could hear us if we tried. But basketball is, quite literally, a whole other ball game.

I’ll be back one day to talk about the Theatre of Sports, but I am still new to the topic and have much more to learn and ponder before I do so. I have tickets to see the Boomers (the Australian Men’s National Team) in a couple weeks before they head to the Olympics, and I’m excited to go to my first professional basketball game!

Suggested Reading

The work of Hanif Abdurraqib

I said in my last DEBRIEF that I am on the hunt for really good sports writing, and if we are going to be talking about basketball, we have to talk about Hanif Abdurraqib. A poet, culture writer, and basketball fan, Hanif has been described as the “Poet Laureate of the Minnesota Timberwolves.” He recently released a book about basketball, titled There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension. I am not very far into the book, so I’m going to copy part of the blurb from the Penguin Random House website:

Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, in the 1990s, Hanif Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball, one in which legends like LeBron James were forged and countless others weren’t. His lifelong love of the game leads Abdurraqib into a lyrical, historical, and emotionally rich exploration of what it means to make it, who we think deserves success, the tension between excellence and expectation, and the very notion of role models, all of which he expertly weaves together with intimate, personal storytelling.

I recently read Abdurraqib’s A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance, and the only thing I can say is I instantly fell in love with the way he writes – he is filled with so much fierceness and love. He is the most beautiful and poignant writer. I cannot recommend the book enough.

I am equally very excited to be reading his book about basketball, and I’m sure I will provide updates as I go.

If you can’t get your hands on a copy, may I suggest/urge you to read his column on basketball movies for The Paris Review called Notes on Hoops.

In three essays, he writes about Love & Basketball (2000), White Men Can’t Jump (1992), and Like Mike (2002). But he isn’t just talking about movies and he isn’t just talking about basketball. He writes about his childhood and growing up with a connection to the sport, he writes reflections about love and ascension and grief and basketball – and a little bit about the movies too. But really, what he demonstrates is that when you love something all your life, you carry it with you, and it will hold significance in ways you didn’t realise at the time. Basketball is not just a game or a sport although sometimes it is, but it’s also connection, it’s meaning, it’s memory, and the people you love.

I stumbled across this dispatch of the 2002 Knicks vs Kings NBA finals as depicted in the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Despite being a totally fictional series, the movie did use clips from real games as the writer breaks down the action, stats and plays of the apparently thrilling series. This is the content I’m after!
And on a final note, looping (hooping?) back to my earlier mention of courtside seats, I am never not thinking about that time Ethan Hawke swapped seats with his son at an NBA All-stars game so he could shoot his shot with Rhianna.

The narrative these two shots give! The way Ethan spreads his leg out (and you better hope that it’s not during play time otherwise he will be tripping someone)! The hand on his son Levon’s face in embarrassment! Hang it in the Louvre! Or at least The Met!

NBA season is over now but this means I can focus my attention on the WNBA, which I need to catch up on (and learn much more about)! If you also like basketball, please drop a comment below. I’m so in it, baby!

We are not mentioning Trainwreck, although I love Bill Hader, so I guess we just did.

My brother’s words! Although could I go so far as to say that maybe Carlton is more comparable to a team like the Celtics? Meaning, one of the league’s original teams, won a lot of championships across the 20^th century, had been stalling a bit but still maintained a dedicated fanbase? I will be the first to admit I am too uninformed to actually make this kind of statement and I swear I don’t mean anything about Celtics winning the Championship this year and whether or not Carlton will make the Grand Final this year... but I’m also not... not... saying that...

There are three rounds of play offs until the final’s series, which is competed by the last two teams standing.

Here is what I have gathered about the playoffs: Two teams play best of 7 games against each other in what is called a “series” to progress to the next round. Indiana’s win knocks out the Knicks with their 4 wins over the Knick’s 3.