Surprising Similarities Between Basketball & MOBA's
More in common between these different activities one might think
The title might sound strange to you guys but this is something I been thinking about for awhile. Let me at least entertained the idea and let’s have some fun with it. Before I do it is what’s a MOBA in the first place?
MOBA is an acronym for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena which was spun off from RTS (real time strategy) games.
Like RTS’s the goal is the destroy one of neither player bases to win. MOBA’s are the same though the difference is destroying the base (destroying the towers first) in a five versus five match. Playing with only one character compare to the full control you would’ve had in a RTS.
Where does basketball comes into this if you may ask? Allow me to explain!
Roles
I find it interesting of the roles from both basketball and MOBA’s have. Combining with how their are positioned on the field.
Putting it in a easy to understand format shown below:
MOBA’s Positions (League of Legends as an example)
Top Laner (Bai "369" Jia-Hao from JD Gaming): Lane pusher, duelist
Jungler (Gao "Tian" Tian-Liang from Top Esports): Roams the jungle/neutral area of the map, ambush opposing team, secure objectives, counteract enemy jungler
Mid-Laner (Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok from SK Telecom T1): Wave clearer, Can attack, defend, and assist the team
Attack Damage: Carry or ADC (Park “Viper” Do-hyeon from EDward Gaming): Main damage dealer after building up resources
Support (Shi "Ming" Sen-Ming from Royal Never Give Up): Helps other teammates besides ADC, The playmaker
Basketball Positions
Point Guard (Stephen Curry from California Golden state Warriors): Runs the offense/playmaker, main ball handler
Shooting Guard ( The GOAT Michael Jordan from the Illinois Chicago Bulls): Primary scorer to shoot, layups, and/or dunks. Can perform isolated plays to score
Small Forward (NBA legend Larry Bird from Massachusetts Boston Celtics: Roams around the court, Able to attack, defend, and assist the team
Power Forward (Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks: Rebounds the ball offensively/defensively, Drives to the basket, shoot mid-range shots
Center (Nikola Jokic from the Colorado Denver Nuggets) : Guards the rim, Rebound ball to put back, turnover for the team and/or kick back to teammate either to score/reset the offense
A very basic overview of the positions on both basketball and MOBA’s. Of course its more complicated than what’s shown above but gets the point across for those who don’t understand.
Here’s the positions where players are at after given a role for their respective skillset.
Noticed anything that caught your eye between the two pictures?
Where am I going with this?
Upon analyzing the positions side by side and while one’s more physical than the other. The roles people played in similar playstyle despite how different they are. If I were put into context from MOBA’s to Basketball:
Top-Laner/Power Forward (Top-Laner push the lanes while the power forward drives/post-up to the basket to score either shooting or layup/dunk. Rebounds if need to)
Mid-Laner/Small Forward (Mid-Laner does everything to help the team besides wave clearing while the small forward does a similar job in offense and defense. Along assisting such as passing to other teammates)
ADC/Shooting Guard (Both are the primary scorers in their respective games. The difference here is the ADC needs time to get going in the beginning.)
Support/Point Guard (The playmakers and the extension of the coaches on the team)
Jungler/Center (The clean up guy should their teammates are in trouble)
Is what I would say when making similarities when really thinking about it. Could be wrong with some roles on here so feel free to correct me whenever.
These activities are games at the end of the day regardless what people might think. As someone who in both spaces; we’re all nerds here. MOBA’s and basketball are a team activity and those from both sides can dismiss this if they like. I could be just doing this for the sake of having a conversion but did it anyway. Found it really fun to write and hope you at least had fun.
Will be doing a follow up post going more into detail there’s a lot to uncovered that I can’t get into here. Expect to see more on this topic in the near future.
Stay Tune!
Sources
Best Champions for Learning New Roles – League of Legends
Basketball Positions: Responsibilities, Skills and Drills