The sport of basketball is a motif that represents the power struggle between Bull and Ben, becoming a motif that runs throughout the novel and contributes to the theme of Coming of Age as a Struggle for Selfhood. The one-on-one games on the family’s backyard court are more than simple recreation; they are a contained battlefield where Ben can physically and psychologically challenge his father’s suffocating dominance. It is the one space where Ben, through skill and youth and developing strength, has a chance to usurp his father’s authority on terms Bull understands and respects: physical contest. This dynamic makes their final game a pivotal confrontation over Ben’s burgeoning independence and his father’s rigid definition of masculinity. When Ben finally wins, Bull cannot accept the defeat, and his refusal to concede victory reveals the fragility of his identity, which is predicated on absolute dominance. For him, losing to his son is a fundamental challenge to his patriarchal authority and identity as the alpha male. His violent reaction illustrates how Bull’s militarized masculinity cannot tolerate any breach of hierarchy, turning even a game with his son into a brutal reassertion of power.

Basketball is also important to the narrative because it is one area in which Ben feels confident, joyous, and in control. He finds his place in a different high school every year thanks to his skill on the court, and he enjoys the interactions with other men besides his father. However, Bull usurps this joy when he comes into this safe space for Ben and forces him to break another player’s arm. Ben loses his safe space and joy as a result, but he is also immediately remorseful, and the incident convinces him to never put his father’s ideals above what he thinks is right. Basketball is one of the spheres in which Ben develops the maturity and ethics that will set himself apart from his father.