Best slam dunks

The FleetCenter might have 'Toine and his multimillion-dollar slams, but Roxbury's biggest basketball playground is where they've got real game. At summer's peak, the four full courts at Malcolm X Park become nothing less than a neighborhood nerve center, complete with cookouts and even beat-up couches dragged out by daylong spectators. But the basketball here is considered the city's most intense and spectacular -- indeed, a recent guide to pickup basketball in America ranked Malcolm X among the nation's 30 best playgrounds. A long roster of local and professional stars have shredded the nets here -- including, perhaps most memorably, the Boston Celtics' tragic hero Reggie Lewis. Warm weather all but guarantees the courts will be pulsing -- whether it be fast-paced pickup ball or more organized competition such as the annual Chill Tournament. The games themselves aren't for everybody -- serious skills and plenty of 'tude are prereqs. But that's exactly the point of a top-flight playground.

Malcolm X Park, Washington Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Roxbury.