Netflix series depicts Navajo Nation’s hoop dreams

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — High school basketball fans in Arizona and New Mexico likely know all about “rez ball” — a run-and-gun, pass-cut-and-shoot style of play popular in Native American communities. The style excites fans and allows teams without big centers to wear down opponents by running them off the court with speed and strong shooting.

The best practitioners of rez ball help build community in some of the most isolated towns in the American Southwest. Fans travel for hours to see the games, while others listen to radio broadcasts spoken in Native American languages.

A new Netflix docuseries, “Basketball or Nothing,” examines the hoop dreams of one such team from a rural Arizona town in the heart of the Navajo Nation.

The series, which debuted Friday on the streaming service, follows the Chinle High School boys basketball team as its seeks to capture the community’s first state title. But to get there, the players must battle normal teen pressures and the realities that surround them in the nation’s largest Native American reservation.

Through the eyes and words of Wildcats coach Raul Mendoza and his players, the series — golfer Rickie Fowler is its executive producer — documents how their isolation and experiences in one of the poorest regions of the country have shaped them. The teens speak on living in homes without basic services. Filmmakers show them traveling for hours across the state for games and returning home after midnight while resting on cold bus windows.

Basketball is a diversion, team member Josiah Tsosie says, but also a chance to hope. “We always dream big,” he tells filmmakers.

At practice, the players imitate the moves of Warriors point guard Stephen Curry or then-Duke standout Zion Williamson, who would become the No. 1...