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TOKYO – The favorites in the duel for the first men’s basketball gold here at the Olympics are eight guys who have never played an NBA minute.
They are Serbs and Latvians. They’re professionals, in a way, but they don’t have lucrative contracts. They grew up playing this wonderfully universal 5v5 sport, but their careers peaked in the second tier Balkan or Baltic leagues.
But on Saturday they began their quest for gold medals that will look, feel and weigh the same as Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard will likely win. Technically, they brought a new sport to the Games, 3×3 basketball, popularly pronounced “three ex three”. It’s a cross between streetball, a conditioning exercise, a men’s championship game and a Euroleague fourth quarter, but at its core it’s pretty much the same as the second most popular sport. in the world.
So why are the 5 vs 5 borderline amateurs the best in the world?
Surely, if KD, or really any star in the NBA showed up, they would be sailing towards a guaranteed gold medal… right?
“Yeah, I think -” started Latvian Nauris Miezis, the world’s highest ranked player, then cut himself off and reconsidered. “No, I do not think so [Durant] would win the first tournament.
Hold on. So he would have a hard time at first?
“Against Latvia, of course,” Miezis said with a smile.
“I’m not going to say we’re going to win them easily,” Latvian teammate Karlis Lasmanis said of games against the NBAers. “But they have to know the game. It’s not easy for anyone.
Serbian Dusan Bulut, “the 3×3 GOAT”, also hesitated. “The five-on-five players get to 3×3, they need a certain period of adjustment,” Bulut said.
Indeed, when asked if NBA players can come in and waltz for gold, the dominant opinion expressed among the 3×3 stars was: not so fast. Sometimes partly jokingly, sometimes sincerely.
“I don’t think all 5v5 players will adapt to 3×3 quickly,” Dominic Jones, the top US player in the FIBA World Rankings, told Yahoo Sports. “It’s not just you who come and play, and you’re just going to beat one of the better teams.”
How 3×3 basketball differs from the NBA
3×3 basketball is a nonstop sprint of a match. It is completely without position. There are check balls but no inbound passes; 12 second shooting clocks and no practice involved. There is some bending and European talk and technology – especially with opposing team substitutes sitting a few yards apart.
The matches are played outdoors, on a rubber half-court, par 1 and 2, first to 21 wins. Rugged physicality reduces the space you think is available. Misfits and failures force the new offensive team to retake the ball beyond the 2-point line, without stopping, and with a shot clock starting immediately.
Switching off for a fraction of a second can be costly. “When you score 5-5 you come back to defense,” said Jessey Voorn, a former Dutch pro who only started playing 3×3 last September. “Now when you take two slow steps you will get a 2 pointers in your face.”
And hiding in defense is impossible, Voorn said, especially at the post. “In 5 against 5, I send [an opponent] in a way, and there is help to come, ”he explained. “Here I am on an island.
A difficult shot is absolutely necessary. Fatigue is inevitable, especially when teams play two games a day, as they do at the Olympics. Manual checks and even shoulder checks are seldom called out.
“You have to get strong,” said Michael Hicks, a Polish-American competing for Poland here in Tokyo. “It’s more gripping and gripping than 5v5. That’s why I like it. There are no whiners here, no flops.
It is, in many ways, a more watchable sport than 5v5. Games are less than 30 minutes long. Go to a game awhile, and you’ll never want to look away again.
But the sport is also young. It is an invention of the 21st century. The playground version, which populates parks all over the world, is very different from the competitive version organized by FIBA, the international governing body of basketball. And that’s why so few elite players have emerged.
There is a lot more money and prestige in 5 against 5, a lot more professional opportunities. The American quartet that failed to qualify for the Olympics consisted of Dominique Jones, Robbie Hummel, Joey King and Kareem Maddox, only two of whom had very limited NBA experience. The qualifying tournament took place at the end of May, during the first round of the NBA playoffs. While the WNBA regulars will represent the U.S. team in Tokyo, the elite 5v5 players have yet to express an interest.
NBA players can’t just kick the ball out and take control of the 3×3
The question is, what if they did? Does 3×3 offer an easy path to an Olympic medal?
“I don’t know,” Voorn said. “It’s hard for me to say. The point is, the guys in the NBA are very talented basketball players. You can go a long way with skill. Corn, it’s a different game. If you are not in great shape, within those 10 minutes you are going to feel it no matter how good you are.
It seemed to be the dominant feeling. For one thing, the talent displayed here cannot compare to the NBA, or even the top European leagues. Hicks was arguably the best player on the pitch against Latvia on Saturday afternoon. He’s a 38-year-old swingman who played in Division II Central Missouri over 15 years ago. Miezis, the Latvian star, ended his 3×3 career with a Latvian club that has since disbanded. The athleticism here is clearly inferior. Most gamers are in their 30s and, well, let’s just say hard abs aren’t ubiquitous.
But, on the other hand, “If you really haven’t played, I wouldn’t just say, ‘Yo, just throw the ball and the talent is going to take over,'” Jones said. “Talent opens the door for you, but I promise you, talent sometimes isn’t always the case [beat] four very competitive and active guys who understand how 3×3 is played.
Certainly, however, the best of the best, like Durant, would take over.
“I think Kevin Durant can play volleyball too,” Bulut joked. And then, after his warning about the periods of adaptation, he concluded: “When you have a gift, and you have talent, you can do this sport easily.”
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