We had our second game this (last) Monday. We got destroyed. The final score 13 - 51.

I didn't feel like we were pushed as much as we were in the first game. But I couldn't run pretty soon into the game, the frontal-sidish-portion (I have learnt from G, what I am talking about is the shin) of my legs started hurting (not that, that affected the game results in any way :D).

This team's (opponent's) skill level did not seem as high as the first team we played. But then, it feels like the first team was rather playing lightly (sad to hear...I know), while these guys were playing all out.

Also, the number of subs they had gave them some advantage (I am not making excuses, just analyzing the game)...they could substitute their whole team at once and have 1 or 2 people left, where as we were 6 people, so only 1 sub/switch at a time...leading to only 1 person who was tired out could take time off at a time.

We were off to a good start (relative to the other game), I believe the opponent scored less than 5 points in the first 5 minutes. But we took a long time to get our 1st point - which we got from a foul shot.

Lessons taken from this defeat:

• I need to get my legs stronger. It still hurs a little when I press that portion with my hand, but its very tolerable.
• This time, after some advice, I tried to position myself inside our net area and the opponents net areas for rebounds (I got almost nothing)...this is something I can work on - my jumping ability and my ability to box the opponent out and keep them away from getting the rebounds.
• We took our time taking the ball into their half, when they scored and we got the ball. I guess this was to give ourselves resting/recovery time (this was no discussed strategy...I am guessing this is why we took it slow). We need better stamina then.
• Related to the above, we need to work on our offence - take the ball into the opponent net area (specific skills: good ball control, ability to balance well when defenders against you and shoot accurately) and shoot or be just outside the net area and shoot (3 pointers) with good accuracy
  
• We need good long-distance shooting (3 point shooting). The opponent defended quite well inside the net area; if we could have shot from outside, we could have scored more and it would have losened their inner defence.
• I took 1 shot at the basket and I failed...I need to improve my close-range shooting as well (haha...with that, I have covered shooting in its entirety

Last but not least and to end with a positive note, I think Yushi played very well taking the ball past many opponent defenders from under our net to theirs (I think he was able to/did this alone 2 or 3 times!). Good job, man! :)

Labels: basketball, team infinity

Haha...I guess it was some what not warm (^_^) to just say others in the last post. Here is everyone in the team:

Regular Players of Team Infinity:

• Captain: Yushi
  
• Arthur
• Gartheepan
  
• Han
  
• Vikas
• Me!

Occasional Players:

• Ash
• Jesse

Labels: basketball, team infinity

I have wanted to do this for some time now - learn to play basketball! After talking to G, Yushi, and others, we created an intramural basketball team - Team Infinity. What better way to learn than to play (and play with the spirit of competition!)

We had out first match last week. We practiced before the match - we did some dribbling, shooting, and layup practice; and also had a 3-on-3 game. After the 1.5 hour practice session, we had food and then went to the gym to play the real match.

We played against Rock-a-fellas. G was telling me that the pace we played in at the practice and the pace of the real game would be different, but it was a little more than expected. After 5-10 minutes into the game, I switched out (haha...speaks of my poor stamina). We had 7 players, we kept rotating the players, as they tired out.

By half-time we had accumulated 5 fouls by us and 1 foul against us. We had no fouls in the second half (an interesting note, we did all the 5 fouls in the first 10 minutes, if my memory is correct). The game ended with 25-55... a clear defeat, but I still enjoyed the game - I had fun playing with the guys and it gave me a lot of opportunity to learn =).

The next game we play, I hope we score at the same level as our opponents if not better!

We did some informal post-game analysis (not as a team, but talking to individual people). Here is how I sum it up:

• We did not have a clear plan of defence; at one point we decided to mark man-to-man (the way we had played in the practice game; and pretty much the only defence "technique" we - lowest common denominator with the team as a whole - knew). This was too strenuous considering 3 of us have barely done anything physically exerting in the past some time!
• Ash's suggestion was that we use a zone-defence in the future (as a starting point)
• Personally:
• I have to increase my stamina - my strength during the second half was pretty low
• I have to increase my jump height; when I was defending guys my height, they could jump higher than me
• I think I can do well in defence; during the game, I feel like I was able to say where the ball would be passed to (with a pretty good success rate). I was a bit slow to block all of the predicted shots (in fact I barely blocked any of it effectively...thats how I feel)
  
• 2 players from our opponent team told us after the match that we have to move in more. True, I guess other than the 3 regular basketball players in the team, the rest of us, at least at a subconscious level felt that we cannot take/hold the ball in successfully. So, we would try to shoot to the basket to score. We need to improve our game play in (under) the net area. To me this would personally mean, improve my ball control and defence skill (defending the ball from being stolen)

We have to deal with these issues and go back next week and win the game! We are playing "ballin", lets see how it goes.

Labels: basketball, team infinity