Weird Night At The Gym / Career Night #2

The sports of basketball can bring you the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows.   Tonight, I think my team went through both the highs and the lows all in one night in our Thursday Night Friendship Basketball League against Team Blue.

For whatever reason, my team came out frigid offensively.  It didn't matter if we were shooting jump shots or layups, nothing was falling.  Team Blue also took advantage of some defensive match ups and took an early 14-0 lead.   My team called timeout with 14 minutes left and zero points on the board.

I knew the team was struggling and tried to get myself going.  I wasn't exactly scorching hot but ended scoring my team's first 6 points (8 points overall in the first half) of the game to keep us afloat.  The rest of the team finally followed suit.  Despite falling behind 14-0 to Team Blue, we were only down 33-21 at halftime.   My team even pulled a Chris Webber moment to add to the weirdness in the first half.  We called timeout when we had none and that cost us a point and possession as well.

The second half was a bit of a blur.   I remembered trying to get going early and missing.  However, the shots that weren't falling for me early finally starting going as I got into the zone and my team slowly clawed back into the game.  I scored 21 of my career high 29 points in the second half.

I know we eventually tied the game but immediately fell back behind the next possession. Both teams went back and forth a bit as Team Blue held on to a slim lead.   With about 30 seconds or so left, there was controversy.  My team was down two and got the steal and was cruising for the layup but the referee called a tough traveling call.   That definitely hurt and put us into a tough situation.   Team Blue got the ball and we had to foul them to let them shoot free throws.   Fortunately Team Blue made only 1 free throw and my team had a chance as we were only down 3 points at 52-49.

I dribbled the ball up the court and with several teammates setting screens, I was left wide open for a three pointer from the left wing and nailed it with 10 seconds left to tie the game.  Team Blue had a chance for a final shot but fortunately missed and that sent the game into overtime.

In the overtime, both teams went cold as no one could score for the first 1 1/2 minutes of overtime.  I personally rushed a couple of jumpers which frustrated me.  However, with about 25 seconds left, I finally got the ball again and knocked down the only shot for both teams in overtime for the 55-53 win.  Team Blue tried to tie but was unable to and my team pulled out the victory.

As you can see, this was a weird game but I am glad we won.  As for my career high 29 points, it was great to be able to score a lot AND help the team win.   There weren't stats kept so not exactly how well I shot.  My guesstimate is I shot around 50% or maybe a little below as I did take quite a few shots tonight.

Adding to the statistical weirdness, my teammates were consistent tonight.  My 7 other teammates combined for 13 points in both the first half and the second half.

All in all, it was a fun evening trying to carry my team and being the hero.  I'm normally a role player but for one night, i got to be the star.  My legs and body are paying for it a little bit but I'll enjoy it the next few days.

Career Night On The Court

There some things that occur during your lifetime that cannot be easily explained.   There might some weird coincidence that happens which causes you to meet your future wife, get a job or something else.

Tonight, something weird happened tonight which I cannot easily explain.  Take a look at the following stat line from my adult league basketball game tonight:

23 Points (11-19 FG's, 1-1 FT)
7 Rebounds
1 Assist
1 Steal
1 Turnover

That stat line was MINE tonight.  There was a considerable buzz around the gym as I put up my 23 points tonight.  The reason was that I am not usually the main scorer for any of the teams I play on.  Secondly, while I am known as a decent mid-range (15 foot and in) shooter,  I can be streaky at times.
Plus, I've only scored 20 points in a game less than 10 times in all the years I played in league basketball (probably more like 3 to 5 times, though I don't remember exactly).

However, if I were to try and explain why I shot so well tonight, here's some possibly explanations....


MY TEAM WAS MISSING TWO KEY GUYS


We were missing our center (injury) and our young guard (illness) tonight.  Between those two guys, they probably would have gobbled up the majority of my 19 shots.  With the two guys missing, the remaining six guys had a chance to get more shots up.  Of course, with more opportunities, you still have to make the shots.  Fortunately, they were going in for me tonight!

I PLAYED IN A WEEKEND BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT


I played in a weekend basketball tournament with some other guys.  My team didn't do too well as we lost all three games.  However,  I played quite a few minutes and got a lot of running in.  So that definitely helped me get in shape.

But the other thing was that I was hitting my shots during the tournament.  My overall shooting percentage wasn't that great because I forced some bad shots during the games.  However, when I was open and shot the ball in rhythm, the shots were going down with good frequency.  In fact, during the second game of our weekend tournament, I hit my first four shots of the game!  Overall, I averaged 10 points a game during the tournament which was solid.

IT'S THE SHOES!


My knees had been aching the past several week while playing basketball.  I thought it was just due to old age.  However, it never occurred to me that it was my basketball shoes.  The shoes I had been using looked great on the outside.  However, I wondered if I had overused it the past year or so with the number of league games I had played.

For my weekend tournament, I decided to break in my Li-Ning BD Doom shoes (Baron Davis's signature shoe with Chinese company Li-Ning).   Surprisingly, the shoes were comfortable and held up well over the weekend.  Of course, I played reasonably well and the trend continued into tonight.  I might need to order up another pair for backup!

IT WAS A HOLIDAY!


It was great to have today off.  I got in plenty of sleep and didn't do a lot during the day.  I went to the mall and CostCo with my mom to get some shopping in.  Other than that, I just chilled and showed up at the gym pretty laid back.

One underestimates how much work stress can have on you for the other activities in your life.  Too bad I can't take days off every time I play basketball!

JUST ONE OF THOSE NIGHTS


I could throw out my possible explanations.  But hey, it could have just been one of those crazy evenings.  Assuming our other two guys come back healthy, I'll probably settle back into my role as a bench player.

I should mention that it would have been nice if my team had won (we lost 64-54).  Career nights are great but not so if the team loses.  However, it was a fun evening and definitely one to remember.