Basketball diaries

So I've been really into basketball lately. I mean, like, really, really into it. I had always played as a kid, but I never really took it seriously. Well, last summer I started to play again and it just snowballed. I now play several times a week and when I'm not playing basketball, I'm watching it on YouTube or I'm reading about it. And there is just so much to learn. It's funny, someone once said, "The game of chess is like a sea from which a gnat may drink or in which an elephant may bathe." I almost feel like that's true for basketball, too. There's so much to learn. Just footwork, alone, is paramount.



Anyway, sometimes after my games, I write down what I liked and didn't like about my performance. After I played last Monday, I wrote a list of many things I'd still like to improve. Below is that list. Hopefully I'll return to this list in a few months and I'll be able to check a few things off, or at least say, "OK, I made some progress there."



I really need to work on taking two steps when I go to the basket. I've been driving to the basket more, but I haven't really been taking full advantage of the two full steps that I'm afforded after I pick up my dribble. I need to learn how to dribble left better. I need to improve shooting with my left hand and taking layups left handed. My jab step has gotten a bit better, but I still don't fully understand everything there is to know about jab stepping. There are many possibilities when one jab steps and I need to learn exactly what they are. I should continue utilising the "triple-threat" position. I've been keeping the ball out of the "box" pretty well, too, so I should keep that up. I need to learn how to position my body better when posting up and I need to perfect a finishing move, one that I can always go to after posting up or successfully;backing down a defender...probably a hook shot. Today I hit a turnaround jumper but I'm not sure it was that pretty. I really have to work hard on my fadeaway and really try to use it more in games. It wouldn't hurt to work on my three pointer. I don't want to work on my crossover yet but I'd like to down the road.  Speaking of down the road, I eventually need to learn how to go baseline. Maybe I'd like to add a step-back jumper to my repertoire at some point?



UPDATE

So the last time I was at basketball, I actually learned a few things that can help me improve my game. The first was how to execute a pick-and-roll better. During the game, my teammate had noticed that when I was setting picks for him, I was doing so with my body at a 90-degree angle in relation to the opponent. This is wrong, my teammate said, as a defender can get around you more easily if your body is set at such an angle. However, if you set the pick at a 45 degree angle, you're good. Also, the same teammate said, when I was rolling to the basket after having set a pick for him, my eyes were in the wrong place. Maintaining eye contact with the man for whom you've just set a pick is essential because that man is going to want to pass to you if he can't score.



The other thing I learned last was a finishing move in the post. Another of my teammates had noticed that I enjoy backing down defenders. However, he saw that I was having trouble finishing, so after the game, he showed me how to do so better, especially from the left block. Basically, he said, while facing the basket, dribble once with your left hand and at the same time seal the defender off with your right foot. Once you've done that, you can go in for a lay up or even go baseline.



UPDATE II

Last time at basketball, I positioned myself near the rim pretty well. By constantly moving (when I didn't have the ball), I was able to get open right underneath the rim more, and score. Another thing that I did that I was proud of was I didn't dribble the ball when I was near the rim. I understood that I had achieved a good position and didn't put the ball on the ground. This is an improvement. Many times when I had been under the rim, I erroneously power dribbled. But not this time. This time I just caught the ball, maybe took a step or two, and put it up.



UPDATE III

 Last Friday, I was practicing with a friend and I got two things out of our session. One, when I'm about to shoot a fadeaway, I sometimes hold my breath. My friend reminded me to breathe, and after I did, my movements were a lot smoother.  Also, sometimes when driving to the basket, I sort of just gave up right before the finish line if a defender is still on me. My friend was able to help me correct this. She guarded me really hard during a drive and at the critical moment, when we were both around the right block, she shouted, "Go! Go! Go!" to motivate me to continue on with my drive. And it really helped. Even though I didn't score a point off the layup every time -- in fact some times she stuffed me -- I was successful a few times and feel a little more comfortable now taking the rock to the hole.

UPDATE IV

So I did it. I finally scored really nicely off the fast break. I had been having difficulty making a layup off the fast break. When I first started playing, I would just stop before reaching the basket because I knew my opponent was hot on my heels and was scared he was going to stuff me from behind. After I built up enough courage to drive all the way to the rim, I missed the layup because I was too frazzled – after all, that opponent was just a step or two behind me. But not last Monday. Last Monday, after receiving the ball on the fast break, I drove all the way to the rim with an opponent in tow, took a layup and made it. I scored this way a couple of times, actually, and it felt good every time. That had been a big deal for me, making a layup off the fast break. It sounds easy, but it hadn’t been.

Update V

Pretty interesting yesterday at basketball. For the first time, I kept a mental note of my shooting accuracy. I was 9 for 19, which means I shot at 47 percent. I definitely have room to improve, but that’s not that bad, I don’t think. I was proud of several things, though. Again, I scored off the fast break, beating the opponent to the rim and laying the ball in with a soft touch even though I was running very fast. I also sharply crossed an opponent left and then drove to the rim. I didn’t make the lay up, but the move was nice. Another time I crossed an opponent left and made the shot. The opponent was way too slow in trying to react, but hey. What I have to work on, though, is not getting stuffed. Several times yesterday I went in for a layup and was totally stuffed when trying to shoot. I have to work on moving the ball around while going in for the layup. It’s not good enough to just go in for the layup and hope that you’re opponent is not going to have a hand with which to stuff you!

Update VI

I finally did it. I had told myself before that I had done it, but I don’t think I ever really had. I finally shot a true fadeaway, and scored. I say that I had said that I had done it because I wanted so bad to have done it. But all those times I made what I thought, or had hoped, was a fadeaway, I was only making a turnaround jump shot, I think.

But today at basketball, I got the ball and began backing down my opponent near the right block. All I felt was a body on me and arms frantically – or what felt like frantically – reaching around, trying to get the ball. The next thing I know, I’m pushing the defender off, turning around, with my footwork right – and I know my footwork was right because a) I saw my feet and b) it just felt right felt –jumping and firing. It was an incredible feeling and everyone cheered after I made the shoot, even some people on the other team.

I had practiced that shot for nearly a year. I made it many times while practicing. But today was the first time I truly made it in a game, and it was awesome.

Update VII

Not too much to report today. I think the one thing I was proud of, believe it or not, was how I bodied my defender off me. The motion that I made to get him off me, as well as my balance, was just right.

I had just received the ball in the post around the left block and was trying to do something, anything. All of a sudden, I felt my defender all over me. Using my left upper arm and shoulder, I sort of pushed, or nudged him backward, toward the hoop. He didn’t fall back on his butt, which is good, but he was pushed back enough for me to get some room to shoot, which is real good. I’m not even sure if I made the shot, but the move was right and many times, getting the move right feels just as good.

Update VIII

Give me an A! A! Give me a C! C! Give me a C! C! OK, this is taking too long. The word I want to spell is “accuracy.” Accuracy, because that’s what my game was all about today – shooting accuracy. Some backstory: The weather in Hamburg these last few weeks has been beautiful – an average of 75 degrees day after day. So all of last week, or at least four days out of seven, I went to the park to shoot around. Well, today at basketball, the practice paid off. I was hitting big time. One of the things I always said I could do, if I could anything, was shoot. Usually, if I’m lucky, my shooting average is about 45 percent. But today, I was hitting about 75 percent of the time. My team won two out of three games thanks in part to my accuracy. Practice makes perfect, I guess.

UPDATE IX

Today I wasn’t proud of my shooting or the way I drove to the basket or a fadeaway. Today I was proud of something less sexy but incredibly important – stamina. For the last year I have honestly struggled to play basketball for one full hour without totally dying. The difficulties I had been having can probably be attributed to the fact that for a long time I had been overweight.
But over the last year, I have played basketball nearly every Monday and have shed 15 pounds along the way, and today, finally, finally, I was able to go for one full hour with no real problems. It was a payoff that had felt long overdue.

UPDATE X

The first time you successfully do a move in a game, it’s always such a thrill. For the last couple months, I had been practicing driving left. I’m a righty, so my instinct is to drive right. But you’re limiting yourself if you can only drive one way. So when I’m practicing, I make sure to practice driving left. Anyway, not only did I drive left today, but I managed to make a left-handed hook shot.
How cool is that? My teammates congratulated me after the shot, and I gotta say, it did feel good.

UPDATE XI

Today was pretty cool because I did a move I hadn’t even known I had in me. I had been near the right wing, inside the 3-point line, and had just been passed the ball. My defender was directly in front of me, sort of shadowing my movements – so when I would lean right, he would lean right, when I would lean left, he would, too, etc. I had wanted to drive past him, but there were no opportunities. Then, for a split second, my defender let his guard down. He put his hand down for just one moment and came slightly out of his defensive stance. When he did, I just reacted and shot the ball – and made it. I must have had something like a .30 second window. But I reacted the right way. I had always seen players do this kind of move – especially Koby Bryant – but had never practiced it. A very nice surprise indeed.

UPDATE XII

When I first started playing basketball again, I thought one of the things I would have to do to get better would be to learn some new moves. So I took to YouTube and began watching basketball-move tutorials.

One of the moves that I thought would be really cool to learn was called the jab-step. A jab-step is basically a fake first step toward the basket. The offensive player uses the jab-step to throw off the defense or to keep the defense off balance.

I had really learning this move could help me improve my game, so I did just that, I learned it, and ultimately brought it to the basketball court.

But every time I would use the jab-step or attempt to use it, something wasn’t right. Then one day a light bulb went off. I had been putting the cart before the horse. A jab-step, I realized, is a move that a player should do only after he has learned how to drive to the basket properly. After all, what sense does it make to pretend to be about to drive to the basket, if in all actually, I really can't.

Considering that at the time of my first implementing the jab-step, I hadn't yet learned how to properly drive left or right, you can imagine how I looked while doing the move.

So . . . What’s the point of all this? Well, today I jab-stepped properly for the first time. And you know what, it just came natural. I didn’t even realize I had done it until after the game. Go figure.

UPDATE XIII

For the longest time, I had been unable to score on a friend who is taller than I. Every time I would back this person down, they would be able to swat the ball away when I would try to take a shot. But then I realized that if I learned to fake a little or to shimmy while backing this person down -- maybe fake left, maybe fake right . . . maybe use the feeling of their body weight to my advantage --  I might be able to score. And that’s exactly what happened today.

UPDATE XIV

Last night was such a monumental night at basketball

I finally did what I had wanted to do for so long.

Let me back up. When I was a kid, I never played basketball aggressively. I almost always shot the ball.

When I began playing again, about a year ago, my main goal was to be more aggressive — to take it  to the friggin' rim more.

But, really, I didn't even know what that fully meant.  Was my goal just to drive the ball like a crazy person? To go baseline? To post up? To "shake and bake" my opponent?

After playing for a couple months, I finally realized that what I really wanted to do — what I hadn’t done as a kid — was to drive to the rim “through traffic” — that is, pick up the ball in the key and outmaneuver the opponent or opponents in front of me to get at the rim and shoot the layup.

Once I learned that this was exactly what I wanted to do, I did it, but not usually that well.

But then, a couple of days ago, I watched a YouTube video about driving to the rim. One of the tips that the video’s creator gave I had already heard before: “Cradle the ball after you pick up your dribble.” The other tip was "take small dribbles when you are going through traffic."

However, the only thing that was different about this video as opposed to others on the same subject was the little bit more of info. The video’s creator showed, for example, where one should be when picking up one’s dribble — in the key, usually — and he also focused a bit more on how the footwork works.

As I watched the video, something just clicked. Again, I had seen such videos before, but this time, something clicked; that’s the best way I can say it.

And so, when I arrived at basketball last night, I followed the dude’s advice, or rather, I should say, I was finally able to follow it. Every time I got the ball and the circumstances were right, I tried to take those two steps and keep going no matter how intimidating it was to see two defenders lined up to block me.

And the method worked. I mean, it didn’t always work — sometimes I was blocked or lost the dribble, but several times I picked up that dribble, cradled that ball, outmanoeuvred my opponents and scored.

It almost felt as if I were a bowling bowl, or if I was seeing things from the perspective of a bowling ball, and the defenders were the pins.

One awesome moment from the game: I had just crossed the half-court line when I saw that a teammate of mine was near the opposing team's key and was open. However, I didn’t pass the ball to him. Instead, I said, mostly joking, “I want the glory!” and then went in through traffic for the layup and scored.

As my team and I were heading back to our side of the court, to get back on defense, that teammate of mine who had been open, said, “And you got it!”