Appiphilia: Basketball fans, get your game on during NBA finals

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Game on! Games 2 and 3 of the NBA Finals between the L.A. Lakers and the Orlando Magic were late-game nail-biters. (Go, Lakers!)

If you’re still lamenting the face-off that wasn’t -- LeBron versus Kobe -- or can’t hang with stress of the down-to-the-minute games, you could whip out your iPhone or iPod Touch and challenge your friends to a game of horse or schoolyard shootout.

We checked out three gaming options:

Flick NBA Basketball ($1.99)

What it is: You have a choice of five different games. There’s 3-point shootout, horse, hotshot, long shot and ball spin. Played in portrait mode, you sink a shot with a finger flick, or stroke, on the screen.

What sizzles: I love that, in ‘versus’ mode, I can be Kobe and take on LeBron, Shaq, Yao Ming, Kevin Garnett and other league stars, like in the screengrab at the right.

And, Superman, you can let your own theme music play in the background if you’re feeling like ‘I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.’

Ball spin for me was the most challenging. You have to steady yourself and orient your phone. The accelerometer picks up even the slightest shift one way or another. Eventually, I reached a junior Globetrotter proficiency.

What fizzles: Shooting in the shootout and horse when you’re about to switch locations seems a bit twitchy -- that’s my story for missing the shot every time, anyway. The perspective shifts just as the ball leaves your hands, so it’s hard to compensate.

Bottom line: In five games for the price of one, you can do your best Kobe and sink every three-pointer -- or your best Shaq and choke on the free throws.

More games after the time-out...

Hoopster Basketball ($1.99)

What it is: Players can either take quick shots in a minute and a half from nine random locations around the court or do an untimed practice shoot-around. Played in landscape mode, the game lets you know when you’re on a hot streak, sinking shot after shot -- and on a cold streak, hurling brick after brick.

What sizzles: This game uses the accelerometer to align the shot and lets you vary the power level of your throw. It has three levels -- rookie, intermediate and pro. You can also adjust the player speed. There’s picture-in-picture, with a view of where you’re shooting from and from right over the basket, when you’re taking a longer shot. There’s also a free ‘lite’ version, which is just the shoot around.

Using the arrows to ‘dribble,’ you can move into or away from the basket to better position your shot.

And for those of you competitive creatures, the scoreboard tracks your score and whether you qualify for the Hoopster World Top 10.

What fizzles: I found this game a little twitchy, too, about that last shot before you move to a different location. (Of course, it could be my rookie technique.)

You can listen to your own tunes as well, but you might just find out that digital music can actually skip.

Bottom line: It’s a decent game that requires you to gauge power and compensate for distance, but not as much of a value as the five-for-one game. It’s nice that there’s free version, though.

iBasketball (Free)

What it is: Played in portrait mode, iBasketball offers you the option of playing or practicing. Unlike the other two games, you’re playing on an outside court in the neighborhood, complete with colorful graffiti, chain-link net and paint-faded backboard. You shoot by flicking the iPhone or iPod Touch itself. You get five shots from each position. There are two online games -- Horse and Around the Arc.

What sizzles: The street-ball feel of the game was a nice touch. The online mano-a-mano option gets those competitive juices flowing. An online opponent showed up fairly swiftly and the timed Around the Arc went fast, too -- a minute and a half for both players.

What fizzles: Since the game is free, it includes ads stripped across the bottom -- not horribly intrusive. The game gets a tad tedious -- especially in a round of Horse against an online player. There are only so many positions you can choose to shoot from.

Bottom line: The price is right for this one. A good time-out distraction, but nothing to work up a sweat over. It might get old after a while.

-- Michelle Maltais

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