Fuck the Lakers (2001)

The NBA season may be over, but that doesn't mean you have to stop watching basketball. Here are some "slam dunks" and "finger rolls" (and even some "bricks") you can "take to the hole" of your VCR.

Hoop Dreams (1994)--Originally made for Minnesota public television, this amazing documentary follows the high school careers of Arthur Agee and William Gates--two aspiring young basketball players from Chicago. You always hear about kids believing their skills on the court are their only means of salvation from the ghetto, but seeing it firsthand is infinitely more meaningful. View this film in installments, because it's so intense (and kind of long).

White Men Can't Jump (1992)--Woody Harrelson is a street baller who hustles black men under the erroneous impression that he ain't got game. But they're wack, 'cause this honky's got mad game. He befriends Wesley Snipes and, while dominating the blacktop world, they learn some poignant lessons about race.

Hoosiers (1986)--Gene Hackman hollers, "When it comes to this team, my word is the LAW!!" I love that. In this based-on-a-true story, he plays an ex-college coach who was mysteriously fired. After a ten-year stint in the Navy, he comes to tiny, bucolic Hickory, Indiana, and takes their cute little team all the way to the state finals. Please note Dennis Hopper as the drunken dad, "Shooter."

Love and Basketball (2000)--Sanaa Lathan aspires to be the first woman in the NBA. She kicks ass on the basketball court, but in the court of romance she is a total wuss! Go figure! The movie is billed as "a love story in four quarters," but I say watch the first three then turn off the VCR, because the end is really stupid.

The Basketball Diaries (1995)--Attention ex-junkie artists: can't you see the inherent irony in trying to make a living selling work that is always based on the story of how horrible it was to be a junkie? That's what this movie is, and here's a secret--it totally stinks and Leo isn't even hot.