Las Vegas

In the past week I traveled around the world – from New York to Hollywood, Paris, Rome and even Egypt – but unfortunately there were no basketball courts in sight. I even traveled back to the medieval times but to be fair, I don’t think basketball had been invented just yet.

If you hadn’t already figured it out, I was traveling between the different casinos in Las Vegas desperately searching for any chance of playing pickup basketball on the Vegas strip. 

My first and most obvious choice was the Palms Hardwood Suite where they have a “luxurious 10,000-square-foot suite [that] features its own private court, professional locker room, and two stories of living space.”  But I’ll save you suspense because after about 0.01 seconds of debating my life choices, I decided not to drop $20,000 to reserve the court. 

*cough, please donate, cough*

Disappointed, I powered through some intense research, and I discovered a Las Vegas Facebook group with people posting about places to play pickup basketball. 

One post that caught my eye was the indoor pickup group, Atlas basketball. Similar to websites in NYC, San Francisco, Dallas (and Dallas again) and Chicago, this site allowed ballers to reserve a slot to play basketball on Saturday, Sunday or Wednesday.

The website was extremely easy to use, and it was $7 for a 2 hour run. I missed the Saturday and Sunday time slots because they were sold out, but I grabbed a Wednesday slot. I booked 2 days beforehand and at that time, only 6 total had signed up (9 remaining, 15 max). Not wanting to repeat the situation in Dallas or San Francisco, where not enough people signed up, I started looking for outdoor courts as backup options. 

Fortunately, the closest and most popular destination (according to reddit) where ballers play pickup basketball was Sunset Park, which was right next door to the Atlas pickup basketball spot. That was perfect because I could check out both places on the same day since they were right next to each other (and to save on transportation $)!

There was only one obstacle standing in my way, and that was the Bellagio Buffet. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to stuff myself right before playing basketball. After the 7th plate of food, I faced the dilemma of either powering through plate 8 or saving myself for basketball. I made the most logical choice at the time, wanting to get my money’s worth, and continued eating.

After eating enough food to feed an entire basketball team, I painfully ventured out to Sunset Park in hopes to play some pickup basketball. A part of me wished no one was there so I wouldn’t have to puke on anyone, and I guess I got what I wished for, because there were only a handful of people there, shooting around by themselves.

Mentally and physically not ready to play 2 on 2 basketball, I ventured over to Atlas basketball early to give my body some time to digest. 

Wait, is this a basketball blog or a blog about my personal problems? Ok, enough about food and back to just basketball. 

Basketball was scheduled for 8:30-10:30pm on a Wednesday night and at the time of start, they had filled 13 of the 15 slots! Woo no repeat of Dallas or SF! I assume most players had played there before, or knew each other, because at the very beginning, the manager guy brought me and 2 others together to talk about rules and game play. Everyone else seemed to already know what was going on.

The court itself was extremely small – so small that we didn’t even use the out of bounds lines. You were considered out if you touched the wall. Standard playing floor with standard rim, backboards, and nets. Nothing to complain about there, as I would expect all indoor courts to have these, at a bare minimum.

To start the game, the first two people who made NBA 3 pointers were named captains, and then they got to select their teams. After about 2 minutes of bricks and airballs (no joke - NBA 3’s are farther than you think), two players finally made it and we could begin selecting teams. Unfortunately, I was not selected amongst the first 10 and had to wait until the 2nd game to play. I’m going to use the excuse that I wasn’t picked because I didn’t know anyone, rather than the fact that I look like an unathletic nerd… 

Games were fast paced, and all players knew how to play. There was a variety of player types, from guards to big men and slashers. The most interesting aspect of this pickup basketball run was that the manager guy recorded all plays on his phone, which were primarily to be used on social media, but was also conveniently used as a replay monitor. His video recordings overturned at least 5+ calls that night (from traveling to out of bounds). 

Now going back to the pros and cons of a timed game. Pro – timed games make for exciting finishes including buzzer beaters. Con - If a team is up by too much, both teams stop trying and it just becomes cherry pickers and half court shots. Luckily for all of us, most games were fairly close and did not get out of hand.

Conclusion 

If you are looking for an easy way to play some pickup basketball, I would recommend reserving a spot at Atlas basketball. Good competitive basketball with a good group of people (no knuckleheads) and it guarantees you playing time. While I was disappointed I wasn’t picked amongst the first 10, I will remember a once in a lifetime moment of hitting a buzzer beater as the game clock expired in one of my games!