While the rules of Streetball are essentially/theoretically the same as normal basketball, Streetball places a higher emphasis on one-on-one matchups between the offense and defender. Often the attacker will perform numerous flashy moves while attempting to drive to the basket, including crossovers, jab steps, and other fake-out tricks. Streetball often features spectacular dunks and alley oops, impressive ball handling, and trash talking. Also featured in streetball are moves. A move is either used to trick the defender to look away, or just to confuse. There are many different moves in the streetball world. One of the most known is “The Boomerang”, which was invented by Phillip “Hotsauce” Champion.^{[citation needed]}

However rules vary widely from court to court. Almost invariably a “Call your own foul” rule is in effect, and a player who believes he has been fouled, simply needs to call out “Foul!”, and play will be stopped, with the ball awarded to the fouled player’s team. The etiquette of what rightly constitutes a foul, as well as the permissible amount of protestation against such a call, are the products of individual social groups, as well as of the level of seriousness of a particular game. An outsider at a playground should closely observe the status quo in these matters. Some areas where different interpretations of rules are likely to occur are: 1)travelling- whether a step is permissible prior to dribbling, and how many more than the nominally permitted one and a half steps should be allowed at the end of the dribble. 2) hand (and leg) -checking on defense- how much can one touch the person one defends and how much physical pressure may one apply in so doing.

A common feature to Streetball is the ‘pick up game’. To participate in most Streetball games across the world one simply go to an outdoor court where people are playing, indicate a wish to participate, and once all the players who were at the court before you have played you will get to pick your team out of the players available and play a game. Many games play up to 7,11, 15 or 21 points with all baskets counting as one point (sometimes shots beyond the 3 point arc count as 2 points). Ballers often play ‘win by 2′ which, as in tennis, means that the team has to win by a margin of at least 3 clear points. Sometimes a local “dead end” limit applies; for instance a game may be played to 7, win by 3, with a 9 point dead end, which would mean scores of 7-5, 8-6, 9-7, or 9-8, would all be final; while with scores of 7-6 or 8-7, play would continue. The most common streetball game is 3 on 3 played half court though often 5 on 5 full court can be found.

A unique streetball feature is having an “MC” call the game. The MC is on the court during the game and is often very close to the players (but makes an effort to not interfere with the game) and uses a microphone to provide game commentary for the fans.

Streetball Courts 

Here is a list of some of the most famous streetball courts in the world:

• Venice Beach (Los Angeles)
• Cloverdale (Baltimore)
• Goat Court (Harlem,New York)
• Rupert Bell (Winston-Salem, NC)
• The Dust Bowl
• Rucker Park (Harlem,New York)
• Shauna Park (West Hill)
• Jordan’s Court (Lawrenceville)
• Maidu (Roseville, Greater Sacramento, CA)
• Kingdome (Harlem, New York)
• The Hawk (named after the great Connie Hawkins)
• Brighton Beach (United Kingdom)
• South Street (Lincoln)
• Mosswood Park (Oakland, Ca)
• Live Oak Park (Berkeley, Ca)
• Grove St. Park (now called Martin Luther King Park) (Berkeley, Ca)
• Riverdale Park (Sioux Falls, SD)