Summer of Sports '21: Welcome to 3x3

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

130 years ago in a western Massachusetts gym, Canadian James Naismith came up with a new idea to keep his Springfield YMCA PE class active during the harsh winters of the Northeast, and basketball became his magnum opus. The game would ultimately catch on in every aspect you can think of: the NBA becoming the second most-popular of the four major U.S. sports, the college game forging its identity early on & where March Madness takes over our attention every spring, and a sustained run of dominance in the international realm for the U.S. program.

Wherever you go in this country and elsewhere, a basketball hoop is found everywhere outside of gyms and arenas: they're stuck to the back of farmhouses and the top of garages, in every public and private parks, and dedicated courts next to parking lots in city streets. And it's with the inspiration of the ladder in mind that, this year, has seen a second form of America's own game being brought into the big time: a form of basketball that has its roots in the streets, and where millions of youngsters play this game after school and on warm days during their summer off from school.

Three-on-three basketball -- or officially classified at 3X3 -- is one of several new sports to make its debut at the Tokyo Olympics, along with surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and the freestyle variation of BMX. And while many of us were waking this morning, today saw its crowning moment on sports' greatest stage, as the first Olympic gold medalists were crowned. But to better understand what this new aspect of a game we love, it's worth taking a deep dive into its journey to this moment.

DC GAMES '16: Hoops International

A DCBLOG Sports Special

BY DC CUEVA                     

> @DC408Dxtr / @DC408DxNow

For basketball fans, this summer of 2016 has been the most interesting offseason in the Association in recent memory...one that began on Father's Day with a Game 7 for the Ages in an all-time NBA Finals. That night, the Golden State Warriors, 73-9 in the regular season, played for survival on their home court in Oakland after squandering a 3-1 lead over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. A man who came home to Northeast Ohio years after being scolded by them for leaving for Miami, delivered an all-time performance and turned into an immortal in his hometown as the Cavs became the first road team to win an NBA Finals Game 7 in almost four decades, and the biggest major postseason comeback in American sports since the Red Sox twelve years earlier.
   It's after this loss that the Warriors looked to rebound from this monumental collapse by making the biggest power move you can make, and successfully landed the pride and joy of an entire heartland in Kevin Durant. Afterwards, a tsunami of free agency activity ensued: Dwayne Wade returned to his roots in Chicago, Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah reunited in New York, Pau Gasol went to San Antonio as the Spurs began the post-Tim Duncan era, Dwight Howard headed over to the Hawks, Jeremy Lin brought Linsanity back to the Big Apple to Brooklyn, and Harrison Barnes & Andrew Bogut joined Dirk in Dallas.

And if the countdown to the 2016-17 NBA campaign couldn't get even more amped up as you can possibly get, there's also the fact that this is an Olympic year, and that the many of the best of the best would be spending a summer not relaxing after a long season, but committing themselves to playing for country than city, and playing for the right to be true world champions...as Olympic gold medalists in basketball. Same for the women in them taking a month off of WNBA play to enjoy the strongest visibility that their niche following of women's professional sports can get in a four year period, a year after the U.S. Women's National Team became a pop culture phenomenon.
   Basketball is an American-made sport invented by a Canadian, but has gone on to become the most international of the four major U.S. sports: the NBA is watched avidly by fans on all six continents, for which each of them have solid national teams that don't always get a chance to compete together as much as other major team sports. But when you look at the game played at the Olympics, and the one we all know and love here, there's some numerous differences. And there's also a proud history of players representing the U.S. in Olympic and international play as well.