Last Thursday I went to the Alaska Club to play some basketball. There was an okay game, but what made the night worthwhile was that the players there told me that Monday and Wednesday nights were the best times to go to the gym for a game.
So I went to the gym tonight around 7:30 to check out the scene...and it was good.
The games didn't really get started until after 8 pm, but then there was a good group of people. Maybe 15-20 people all together, but never all there at the same time (at least not during the hour and a half I was there for). I got in the second game (which we won) and then got to play one more game (which we lost) before calling it a night around 9:30 pm. I would have stayed later, but I was supposed to be free to get a call at 9:30 (which I missed by two minutes, but that doesn't have anything to do with basketball).
In terms of the skill-athleticism-physicality balance that I prefer, I'd say the game was a bit more focused on athleticism and banging than is optimal for me, but it was still fun. Some of the players were quite skilled, but a decent chunk had athleticism that exceeded their skill level. And it was best to cover yourself if you went inside because someone was going to hit you!
Don't get me wrong--I don't want a game that isn't physical at all. Anyone who's played with me knows that I bang pretty good for a person my size (5'10, medium build), but I'm certainly not a bruiser. The first game I played tonight I guarded a guy who was 6'3", probably 240...at least (no joke, and he was still a high schooler--which raises another point: I was probably the oldest guy on the court by a good five years, most of them were still in high school and played for one of the local high school teams). I figure it'll be good for me; I'll need to get tougher with my finishing inside. I'd had an inkling that the games would be physical based on my experience last Thursday night when everyone used European-style moving screens, and tonight just confirmed.
I'm really sore right now, but it's a good sort of sore. It's good to have found a game.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
The team I played against tonight had devastatingly good shooters at every position. When we saw them before the game we decided to go zone since they had two guys over 6’6”, their shortest guy was 5’11”, and we only have one person even near 6’. Our zone moved well, they moved the ball better, and even with hands in their faces they sank their first 7 three-pointers. We switched to man and they started missing their lay-ups, which allowed us to crawl back into the game. Unfortunately, at halftime they decided to abandon lay-ups unless they were on fast breaks and started hitting 3s from NBA range and farther out. It took us a while to adjust to playing defense so far from the hoop and once we did we left the people underneath exposed to easy post-up exploitation. It was a no-win situation. Still, my team’s getting better… but I’m getting sick of losing. If anyone reading this is in DC, is over 6’1, and has basketball experience, please write a comment back so I can draft you to my team.
Post a Comment