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April 17, 2007
in the zone
Every Tuesday, I stay after work and head out to a gym in Mountain View to play basketball. I've been doing this, on and off, for nearly 10 years. This started with a few friends of friends from college who all worked and/or lived in the South Bay who chipped in to rent gym time from the city of Mountain View right after we had graduated. Some people have stopped playing, and others have joined in, but it is still going, 10 years later. We re-apply for a 90 minute block every quarter and everyone chips in a few bucks. In the early years, we actually rotated between playing indoors and outdoors and even set up a semi-official league called the AABA (which stood for Asian American Basketball Association). We kept records, statistics, and even had a playoff system leading to a championship. There was even a banquet for at least a year or two. Nowadays, we're back to just playing classic pickup ball indoors.
I didn't start playing basketball seriously until this time after college. I would play in college, but never really practiced shooting on a regular basis or any other fundamentals. I was in relatively good shape then, so for me it was fun to be able to fly down the court on a fast break and be able to (usually) outrun the opposing team. There were quite a few times that people had to reach out to grab me to keep me from breaking out. On the flip side, I had no shot, and I had only that one speed, which was too fast for my ball handling skills. Sure I could get down the court, but getting the ball in the basket was an adventure (sometimes just getting down the court without losing the ball was hard as well). I didn't exactly play a thinking game of basketball back then.
Once I started playing after college, in this league, I decided to get more serious about improving. I'd keep a basketball and a spare set of clothes in the car, if I ever saw an court when driving somewhere. In addition to this weekday league, I would also play on the weekends. At some points, this got really crazy, when I would drive to the South Bay to play basketball on a weekday, and drive to San Francisco to play ball with a different set of friends on Sunday afternoons. I just loved to play basketball, whether it was in a team setting, or just shooting around by myself.
Physically, I have more or less been average among the Asian American people that I normally play with. I'm not the tallest guy on the court, but I am pretty strong for my size, since I know how to play with a good base and leverage. I'm generally one of the quicker guys on the court for my size as well (byproduct of all those years just running up and down the court not really knowing what else I could do) While I prefer playing point guard, I will also play inside as well.
Over the years, I started off being a more "dirty" player on defense, bumping, holding, fouling, but I've learned to be a better defensive player without doing all those underhanded things. I admit I used to be pretty bad - I took the cliche "doing the dirty work" a little too seriously. I'd stick out a knee when setting a pick. I'd come very close to undercutting guys going up for layups (before I realized how bad this was). I've learned to use my size and speed since then more productively without going over the line.
Offensively, I've never really had a consistent game. I've practiced my outside shot to where I can shoot a 15 footer pretty effectively, but I'm also very streaky. I can work my way in to get rebounds, but I've had an issue with layups and close in baskets as long as I can remember. I tend to rush my shot inside, afraid of getting blocked, and I'll either shoot it too strongly, or simply just miss. It is a confidence thing with me, and I will usually defer to other people more willing to shoot. That is also a product of my PG days, in just trying to distribute the ball to the right people. Unfortunately, I don't have very good court vision a lot of the time either. I love to run a 2 on 1 fastbreak, but in a halfcourt game, I get tunnel vision when I'm driving into the lane with my head down. I'll set picks gladly, but I'm also lousy at working a pick-and-roll. Because I play more outside than inside, I'll usually pick-and-slide so I stay on the perimeter. I've mentally tried to correct this, but when you play you're not always thinking.
3 years ago, I probably got to the best point I had ever been in basketball. My shot was more consistent, I was proud of my defense where I could generally guard anyone from the 1 spot to the 4 spot (of course, Asian standards apply) and I understood the game better than I had before. And then I went and took nearly a 2 year break once we found out we were pregnant with Naomi. I finally started playing ball again when I joined Palm 5 months ago, and its definitely been interesting seeing where I'm at, after such a long break and at my age.
Where am I going with all of this?
Well tonight was different. It started off the same as it has for these past few months. I haven't played in a few weeks, as I had other obligations. I shot a few baskets prior to starting, and wasn't really feeling my shooting stroke. We start the pickup games (games to 9, straight up) and I'm guarding a guy who's more of an inside player. (There's been a lot of new people since I left and came back, so I'm still hazy on names) Ok, no problem to start. However, he gets position on me for an offensive rebound and then puts it back to win the first game. Dammit. Then during the second game, I'm matched up against a guy who's more of an inside/outside type guy. he runs off 3 points against me in a row. Driving in off a post up, and a couple turnaround jumpers. This gets me pumped up because I hate it when people score on me. At game point, I see an opening and cut inside. The guy with the ball sees me and gets it to me, right when I'm at the basket. Me, with the layup problem. True to form, I'm fumbling the ball as I go up, but I somehow stay with it and toss a little hook shot in. Game over. I hear someone say with a laugh, "Hey we'll take it". I'm not offended, I know it looked pretty garbage.
But as the games went on, I was getting more and more baskets each game. I'll normally have 1, maybe 2 baskets in one of these games, if I'm lucky. 3rd game, I remember again to cut to the middle as Tony gets a rebound and is falling out of bounds. Quick pass, and I get another layup to go in. In another sequence, I'm at the top of the key and the middle of the lane opens up a bit. I take the opening, drive in, get hacked, and somehow still manage to get the layup to go (an "And 1!!!"). I add in a couple other baskets where even I don't believe the ball went in, where I'm driving into the lane directly into the defense and getting finger rolls to softly drop. Its actually helping that I'm playing inside for these games too. Kurt and Onwah are running the guard positions, and they both have good outside shots. I'm not as quick as I used to be, but I still have a quickness advantage inside, with the consequence that I'm outweighed by the guys I'm guarding, so I have to fight for any sort of inside position. I'm getting decent position and my fair share of rebounds.
I'm starting to realize that this is going to be a good night for me.
4th game starts off with me actually BLOCKING a SHOT. I'm guarding one of the best inside guys we run with. He gets position on me in the left post and gets the ball. I read that he's going to turn over his right shoulder and go up to the basket. I'm not really going for the block, I'm just trying to get a hand up there to bother his shot, so I'm just as surprised as he is when I get my hand directly on the ball and stalemate him. Now there are a few more chuckles which can translate to, "Omigosh, *Joel* blocked his shot?!?". It was clean, and he was charitable about it. I'm not one to talk trash so I didn't say anything. Then a few minutes later, another guy loses his defender and barrels into the lane where I'm at. I size him up. He's bigger than me, but doesn't have much hops. He goes up lefty, which I didn't expect, but this lines up with my upraised right arm. 2nd block of the game and an old-fashioned center-style rejection a la Bill Russell. I don't think I've EVER done that. It was also satisfying because this guy was getting on my nerves. He was friends with the guy guarding me and when I scored, he was good-naturedly teasing his friend about "letting me score". I know it was more directed towards his buddy, but I resented the implication that it was embarassing to let someone like me score on him. Later on in this game, I even manage to run a pick and roll properly and roll to the basket. My teammate reads it and gets me the ball in a good spot to go up. Its another bit of a wild shot, as I got hit on the arm going up, but the ball goes in. Guy needles my defender again, saying that his fouling me is what got the ball to go in.
Then this takes the cake. Its a close game, and people are really stepping up the defense. The ball is in our possession and we're looking to pass it in from half-court. Both Onwah and Kurt are up top running picks to try to free each other up, so I head towards the baseline. I'm not really paying attention at this point because usually the first pass goes to someone up top. Then something makes me look up. The ball is headed straight for me. I guess the defense had opened up in a way that created a clear passing lane from our guy at halfcourt to me at the baseline. I barely have time to catch the ball, but I do manage to catch it, and in one motion, I turn around, over my right shoulder and toss a baby hook in. My defender who is trailing me is right there, but can't get to it in time.
The weird part about this particular shot is that I don't know what made me look up to get the ball. If I had looked up any later, I would have been nailed in the face. And I didn't have any conscious thought that made me turn around and take the shot. I didn't even know where my defender was, but I just went for it.
This time, there was no murmuring or chuckling.
I didn't even want to say or think anything at this point. The lack of consciousness that I was in told me one thing: I was in the zone. I was playing confidently and on instinct. I wasn't thinking my way through the game, I was PLAYING and playing well. It felt good. I know it was just as much luck as anything, especially with some of the shots I tossed up there that somehow went in, but it had a cascading effect on my subsequent play. Its like a positive chain-reaction that gives you a boost of energy you aren't expecting. I wish I could put this in a bottle.
Posted by spoof747 at April 17, 2007 10:40 PM
Comments
funny =)
Posted by: bel at April 19, 2007 12:25 AM