Basketball was invented in 1891 by a Canadian gym teacher who needed to keep students occupied indoors during winter. He nailed two peach baskets to a balcony and handed them a ball. The sport has since become a multi-billion dollar industry, a geopolitical soft power tool, and a religion in several American states.

None of that is what these photographs are about.

These are the parts of the game that happen when nobody is watching the game – the suited security who has seen it all before, the coach mid-instruction to someone who may or may not be listening, the ceiling, the bench, the crowd watching something the camera isn't.