I was wondering if I diet right and play basketball, will that be as effective as running? Will it help me lose fat, or is playing basketball not enough? When I play basketball I just play with my friends for at least an hour, sometimes 2 or 3 or more. I play like 21 or 1 on 1. Not on a team so I don't play full games, but will it work good? I would run but it gets so boring after awhile, and playing basketball is funner then just running.

Anything that gets your heart rate going is good. Are you looking to just burn fat, or are u looking for endurace? Bball will burn the fat, but unless your playing full court games, your wind really won't pick up as much had you gone running.

Bball will burn the fat, but unless your playing full court games, your wind really won't pick up as much had you gone running.
This is true for me as well. Try to play full court a little bit, as it will burn you more calories. I hardly get much of a workout when I play 3 vs. 3 to the arc compared to when we play full court. 1 on 1 would be better I suppose since you're constantly forced to be moving around.

PS. If you feel like you really haven't worked that hard after playing with your friends, you could always stick around a little bit after and do some suicides. ;)

1 on 1, 2 on 2, 3 on 3 half court games are just as good in my opinion. The more often the ball is in your hands, the more often you find yourself going full speed/sprinting. Whether it be basketball, mowing the lawn, playing (walking) a round of golf, your burning calories and that is good.

hell yeah, basketball is great cardio/calorie burn..in fact i do basketball by myself as a form of cardio..

i find an open court, then i throw the ball down the court so i have to sprint to catch up with it, hit a lay up,,, then jog/dribble the other length of the court, take a jump shot, rebound, then toss it down the court sprint to the ball...repeat......