Pickup games: Many informal games are played with different numbers of players-- two on two, one on one, etc. In these games the players usually do their own officiating, a task which is a competition in itself.

2torial #0543: Learn2 Understand Basketball (Continued) Observe the offense Basketball players do not move haphazardly. Coaches work long hours developing offensive systems and plays that put their players in position for a good shot, so the players can get the ball in the hoop as often as possible. One good way, coaches find, is to have really big players that can dunk the ball every time. But basketball is actually more intricate than that. To achieve offensive goals there are three main strategies: Good offense controls the movement of the ball on the court. "The team that controls the ball, controls the game" is one of the basic truths of the basketball court, one that coaches drill into their players.   Good offense finds a weakness in the defense--e.g. a slower defender who struggles to guard a faster offensive player. Such a weakness is found by the offense by moving the ball around the court and getting the shot with the highest-percentage of success.   Good offense controls the tempo of the game. They're sensitive to how they run an offensive play, i.e. the speed with which they execute offensive plays. The two extremes of tempo are slow and fast, and tempo is a part of any offensive play, whether a rebound from a team's own basket, or a shot on the opponent's basket. Some examples of tempo: Slow tempo: This involves walking the ball up the court from a team's own basket, followed by patient, careful passes--sometimes ten or fifteen before shooting on the opponent's basket. Even if there's a fast break opportunity (see Keywords), the players might choose to advance the ball in a slower, more controlled fashion--thus maintaining possession, and using up the time remaining in the game. (It's a good strategy if you're winning, but not if you're losing!) Timeouts are also used to stop the clock and slow down the tempo of the game.   Fast tempo: As soon as a team's players have possession of the ball, they sprint up the court, then shoot as soon as there is a good shot, and do this again and again. This is called a fast break (see Keywords) which creates some of the most exciting segments of a basketball game. Step 4