I've played organized league basketball for over 20 years and have seen just about everything. I've been on both ends of the spectrum and everything in between. I've been on winless teams that lost every game by 15 points or more. I've been on championship teams that went undefeated. I've been on teams that won some / lost some. So you can say I have some perspective. Winning is nice but temporary. Losing sucks but also temporary.
Yet, this spring season has been surprisingly frustrating for my Monday and Thursday basketball leagues. Combined my teams are 2-11 (0-6 Monday, 2-5 Thursday). The record doesn't particularly concern me as all teams make the playoffs.
My Monday team has grown since the early part of the season but we have fallen into a pattern of bad 2nd halves. We compete and play hard but when the going gets tough, some guys start going one-on-one and the game goes downhill.
My Thursday team is just undersized. The past two or three weeks, we have basically played with 4 guards and 2 forwards. Offensively, we don't have enough role players. We have 4 to 5 guys on the floor who want to shoot. Unfortunately, I include myself in this group and probably get frustrated when the ball doesn't come my way.
The issues I see with both my teams is chemistry. Most of the guys have never played with each other before and some guys feel they need to carry the load to get the respective teams on track. This is fine at times but sometimes result in the majority of shots going to certain guys.
On a personal note, I admit to being concerned with playing with two teams of guys I have NEVER played with. In the past few years, I've played with teams that had some new guys but some other guys I have played with. This proves tough as the new guys don't know my favorite spots.
I've had some decent games but also some games where I feel I didn't really get the ball enough. Last Thursday, I believed I scored 11 points. I shot 1 of 2 from the free throw line and shot 5 of 6 from the field. Making 5 of 6 shots is a good percentage but why I didn't shoot more? I didn't my usual energy and was content to shoot when I got the ball and not force shots.
Unfortunately, I was semi frustrated that the ball didn't come my way enough. Even the opposing team commented after the game that I was hitting my shots but wondered why I didn't shoot more. The answer is I play within the flow and sometimes that flow just doesn't come my way.
All in all, basketball is fun but sometimes can humble and frustrate you. I was openly frustrated tonight but will get over it. I'll play with some friends on Saturday and then get ready for the final weeks of league games before the playoffs in a couple of weeks.
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