When you need this
A pickup game is basketball with whoever shows up: no referee, no coach, no uniforms. It happens at park courts, college gyms and apartment rooftops, and it has its own unwritten rules. Knowing the phrases lets you walk up to a court full of strangers and get into a game.
The key phrase is I've got next, or we've got next. It means "my team plays the winners of this game." You say it to the people waiting on the side, not the players. Teams are usually picked on the spot, and the first team to a set score, often eleven or twenty-one, wins.
Without a referee, players call their own fouls. That's where most of the friction happens, so the useful phrases are the soft ones: "My bad," "That's on me," and "Let's run it back," which means "let's play the point, or the game, again."
Phrases
an informal game with whoever is there
my team plays the winner
play a game, in casual court talk
ways to tell the two teams apart
the first team to eleven points wins
say that someone fouled you
casual "sorry, that was my mistake"
nice pass; thanks for passing to me
play the same point or game again
very tired, out of energy
rest and not play for a while
the winning team keeps playing
Say it out loud
Tap a sentence to hear it. Say it after the voice.
Practice · 3 min
Say one natural line for each situation.
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Say it today
Use it once in a real conversation before tomorrow. Out loud counts, even to yourself.