Basketball junkie

Josh is talking about putting a team together. I was either going to work on my book or shoot baskets. So off to globogym I went.

Turned out to be some five on five shooting up teams and I promptly bombed in a three to get on the court. A good sign as I do not shoot a lot of threes anymore...

We were playing man and I remembered how much I love man. And as the game went on l started to to get the feeling back...I wa boxing out well, rebounding well, defending well...

We won the first game pretty handily, largely on the strength of one guy leaking out and another blocking shit after shot.

Next game I was on the other team and more of the same...solid d, lots of rebounding and setting picks.

It was the third game before I took a shot. That is not like me when I was good. I just do not have confidence in my ability to create a shot or make one anymore.

So I determined to get up some shots.

Problem is you have to get the ball in scoring position to take a shot...scratch that, you need to touch the ball...

So the next game I started demanding the ball...posting up, cutting the lane, grabbing offensive rebounds...

And the WHOLE game started coming back to me.

I hit a couple post ups and a wide open three from the top of the key...I was scoring again on top of the rest of the game.

Of course, I was most happy about a possession where I was defensively matched up against the guy who was indisputably the best player there...the shot blocking, three dropping dude who seemed to get to the rim whenever he wanted.

I got matched up with him in transition. My close out stopped his three and I recovered quick enough to get in front of him.

He tried the right and I knocked the ball loose...he spun left and I was in front of him. A couple more attempts each way and he tried a fade-away on the baseline I was able to contest.

Well then most people left. Next I played a game of crunch...and my confidence really started coming back.

I can still drive on people. My drive step pop back pull up jumper from the key is money.

I was good enough to have won if I had not run out of gas.

And then agreed to play two on two...

And that game felt like I was totally back. I blocked a shot, controlled the boards, posted up, and scored pretty much at will.

The crunch and two on two were just what I needed...practice with the ball in my hands against a defender and active defense. Looking forward to this season...I think it will have a touch of when I played a lot