The team on court had won a few in a row. When we stepped on court, we were overmatched at every position. So one guy suggested we play zone. We played a 2-3 zone and they couldn’t score plus on offense we ran them off the court.
This is the only time I have ever witnessed a zone in pick-up basketball. But that can’t be the only time it’s happened. It was quite effective that game so I’m wondering why I never see it.
In our team’s first intramural game in college, we knew we were in trouble when the other team walked onto the court with all their players at over 6 feet tall, and our team walked on with just me at 6’3". I knew I could guard the 6’7" guy they had at center, but my 5’11" teammate looked a little overmatched with the other 6’7" guy they had.
But we did great, took a 2-0 lead when I made a steal and went the length of the court for a layup. The half ended 34-2. That layup was the 2.
So for the second half we played zone. And we did a lot better: we ended up losing 62-10, so the second half we only lost 28-8.
I’ve seen it done a few times, but it will get you looked at funny most places I’ve played. That probably has a lot to do with the kinds of places I play, though.
There was a semi-riot at one park when a kind of old-man team got tired of chasing the kids around and zoned up, but that was at a really competitive beach court where the combination of breezes & rims made it a bad idea to shoot a lot from the perimeter, and the kids were really kids. I don’t think it’s breaking some kind of unwritten rule or anything, but I do think it’s a couple points on the scale of cheap things to do in a pickup game, like calling inbounds violations or carries, or running plays or something.
Being a fan of not running around the court playing man-to-man, I often suggest the 2-3 zone even in regular pick up games at the gym with guys I’ve never met. The 2-3 is so easy anyone can run it, but if you have guys how actually do know what they’re doing it is very effective. Most of your average pick up game players aren’t the kind of long-range sharpshooters and cross-court passers to pick apart the 2-3.
Now that my friends and I are in the late-30’s. early 40’s range, we only play zone. We don’t play frequently enough to maintain the endurance required for good man defense (even in half court games). I don’t recall anyone ever complaining or taking issue with our playing a zone.
My bigger issue with pickup games is that teams with the big players basically just park their big guys in the paint for easy points and rebounds, leading to lopsided scores (as Duke described). This is a situation where the 3-second violation rule is really needed, but trying calling that in a pickup game!
i’ll echo Jimmy C’s experience that bringing out the zone against playground players who thrive off dribble penetration is just asking for a riot. players who can’t adapt, or know how to play against a zone inevitably get frustrated and start calling fouls because they just don’t know what else to do.
me personally? i don’t like it because more often than not it’s because an old guy doesn’t want to move as much, or inevitably there will be a player or two on the squad who has no idea how to play zone and gives up tons of layups. also, i want to avoid the aforementioned contention. honestly… you take a guy who prides himself on his hoop skills and you take away his only viable basketball skill - getting to the rim - and he’s hellbent on getting to the rim? the frustration bubbles over with a fury of a thousand suns. just not worth the aggravation.
It’ll get you laughed at for suggesting it in places I play (just as Jimmy said). You’ll get laughed at a second time when, after going zone, you still get smoked. Playing a good zone isn’t as easy as it may seem. It does take some idea of positioning and court awareness. Man is much easier to play at lower levels because you can be a decent defender without knowing anything other than “force the ball handler to his offhand.” Well, it takes more energy, but not more skill, I mean.
On offense? God, I wish the other team would play zone more. That would be fun.
I think that’s a big part of it, the fact that a zone is something that involves (kind of requires, really) a little bit of coaching or at least a familiarity with the kind of zone you’re playing, whereas man just doesn’t. And a zone played well requires a coached offense to beat it, too, so it’s a good bet that whichever team’s players are more familiar and comfortable with each other is going to have a big advantage*. Which isn’t really what the pickup experience is about.
*Unless you show up at a game you’ve never played in before and Tim Legler’s on the other team, which happened to me once. That’s the other problem with a zone.
I do remember a bit of frustration on their part. We were pretty active defensively and not just sitting back. The guards were out on the shooters. The zone usually gives up some offensive rebounds but I don’t remember a lot of those.
I’ve played zone in a pick-up game, I think more than once. The times it was the kind of game where people might complain, we were pretty obviously the slower, shorter, less-skilled team, so the other guys didn’t really get upset. When it’s all slow non-jumping intellectuals on the court, it generally goes over OK. Depends on the crowd.
In my (limited) experience, you’ll get laughed at/scorned if you try and actually call a three-second violation, but you can often get away with encouraging/shaming the guy into un-camping once in a while. Something like counting out loud "1… 2…3…4…5… you can move out of the paint any time you know… 7 …8 "
I mean, there’s not much you can do if the other guy just doesn’t give a shit, but that’s true of every aspect of pick-up basketball.
That is actually pretty smart because in a pick up game there is hardly any team chemistry and most every one likes to take turns driving to the basket, with the zone you force them to pass out the ball.