Story

“So this is at least from what I know a very popular basketball ritual. Right as people have to leave the court and have to stop playing, somebody will shout “Last shot!”. Now it is really bad luck to end the last shot of the day as missed. So people have to take a shot and if they miss, they have to keep trying until they make it.”

Context

I collected this from my friend that I made in university. He is Asian American and grew up in the city of Walnut his whole life. He is an avid basketball player and always stayed in school to either go play basketball or go longboarding with friends. The Last Shot Tradition on the basketball court is significant to my friend as he would always miss and would have to keep trying until he made it in, which encouraged him to work on the accuracy and precision of his shots.

Analysis

This court ritual performed helps integrate the sport of basketball into a part of everyday life. By associating missed shots with “bad luck”, which may affect every part of people’s lives, people will try to improve their skills in order to make basketball not hinder the other part of their lives. Moreover, this ritual can help improve the players’ game as there can be similar scenarios in a real basketball game such as a ‘buzzer beater’, which is when one player scores as the buzzer is sounding to indicate the end of the game is.