I played two full court basketball games today for the first time since my achilles tendon repair. My line:
3 of 4 from 3 pt. range, 7 of 10 from the field altogether, a couple rebounds, a couple of assists. Not bad... Shooting around at the Y has really helped me find my stroke. I'm still a cripple on the court though. I have no burst of speed when trying to come upcourt with the ball and I have no lateral speed. As for hops... I might be able to jump over a Ritz cracker... Handles are still there... but no explosion to the hoop, no flexibility in my ankles... I know, I know. More patience. And I have to be very careful.
It felt really good though being able to play with H and L, two longtime basketball buddies. They're not believers so they were spewing out foul language pretty good... it still felt pretty good to play with them though. We were playing basically 3 or 4 on 5 in both games... H, L, me (the cripple), a high schooler from JH's church, and F, a 14-15 year old girl who could shoot from about 10 feet in... but couldn't do much else. One of the reason why i love hanging with H and L is that they have alot of pride, and alot of honor on the basketball court. They were really encouraging (telling both kids to keep shooting the rock, yelling out compliments like "good D" and trying to get both the high schooler and F involved in both games (in fact, F scored like 4 buckets in the first game)... when they see that the competition is significantly lower than their level of play, they often intentionally hold back, making the game more competitive rather than blowing them out. (And JH, your high-schoolers don't count... they got blown out because they weren't playing any D... too busy showing off to the hs girls or in some cases, talking to hs girls while not paying any attention at all on defense, they were saying stuff like "50% of basketball is looking good"... say what kid? 50% of basketball is Defense, 25% is physical, and the last 25% is mental) The second game, a true 3 (perhaps I should say 2.5?) on 5 since we were playing serious adult guys, was a lot closer than it should have been with us eventually losing 16-13. These guys had no mercy on our high schooler and F... forcing them both into multiple turnovers and airballs (though the high schooler did hit one J); we kept encouraging them though while doing a good job hitting our jumpers... the guys we were playing were also playing very recklessly, throwing around their weight (and they easily outweighed us and had more height than us) and sticking their arms in where they don't belong (diving after loose balls is different than just diving headfirst into someone's body). So yeah, H decided that the game wasn't worth it and basically, gave them the key, which was ok withme as well since I wasn't going to rerupture my tendon by having someone dive headfirst into my knees/legs/ankles in a pickup game... all in all though, I had a pretty good day.
3 of 4 from 3 pt. range, 7 of 10 from the field altogether, a couple rebounds, a couple of assists. Not bad... Shooting around at the Y has really helped me find my stroke. I'm still a cripple on the court though. I have no burst of speed when trying to come upcourt with the ball and I have no lateral speed. As for hops... I might be able to jump over a Ritz cracker... Handles are still there... but no explosion to the hoop, no flexibility in my ankles... I know, I know. More patience. And I have to be very careful.
It felt really good though being able to play with H and L, two longtime basketball buddies. They're not believers so they were spewing out foul language pretty good... it still felt pretty good to play with them though. We were playing basically 3 or 4 on 5 in both games... H, L, me (the cripple), a high schooler from JH's church, and F, a 14-15 year old girl who could shoot from about 10 feet in... but couldn't do much else. One of the reason why i love hanging with H and L is that they have alot of pride, and alot of honor on the basketball court. They were really encouraging (telling both kids to keep shooting the rock, yelling out compliments like "good D" and trying to get both the high schooler and F involved in both games (in fact, F scored like 4 buckets in the first game)... when they see that the competition is significantly lower than their level of play, they often intentionally hold back, making the game more competitive rather than blowing them out. (And JH, your high-schoolers don't count... they got blown out because they weren't playing any D... too busy showing off to the hs girls or in some cases, talking to hs girls while not paying any attention at all on defense, they were saying stuff like "50% of basketball is looking good"... say what kid? 50% of basketball is Defense, 25% is physical, and the last 25% is mental) The second game, a true 3 (perhaps I should say 2.5?) on 5 since we were playing serious adult guys, was a lot closer than it should have been with us eventually losing 16-13. These guys had no mercy on our high schooler and F... forcing them both into multiple turnovers and airballs (though the high schooler did hit one J); we kept encouraging them though while doing a good job hitting our jumpers... the guys we were playing were also playing very recklessly, throwing around their weight (and they easily outweighed us and had more height than us) and sticking their arms in where they don't belong (diving after loose balls is different than just diving headfirst into someone's body). So yeah, H decided that the game wasn't worth it and basically, gave them the key, which was ok withme as well since I wasn't going to rerupture my tendon by having someone dive headfirst into my knees/legs/ankles in a pickup game... all in all though, I had a pretty good day.
posted by AlfDaBruin at 11:56 PM
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