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Goddamn basketball. What a terrible game. When I was a kid all the other boys were obsessed with it, but I managed to avoid playing it most of the time so I could do fun stuff like play video games instead.
Now that I'm grown up, I somehow find myself having to play basketball every week, and I really dislike it. Everyone runs around randomly, I can barely even remember who's supposed to be on my team and who isn't because there's no formation or anything, and my main goal is to avoid getting hit in the face by the ball.
There's no strategy. Whenever you have the ball, you have 3 options:
1) shoot a basket. This can be good if you're using the retarded "1, 2" system where a 3 pointer is twice as good as a regular basket, but we usually just use the system where every basket is 1 point. So, this is a bad idea.
2) charge forward and make a layup. This is the recommended strategy. For some reason it's legal to just run straight forward, and if anyone gets in your way you can just push them over. In fact, sometimes it even counts as a foul against the defender. If you weigh a lot you'll have a big advantage.
3) pass it to someone else. This doesn't do anything, it just delays the game a bit, but at least it'll look like you're doing something and it makes you feel like you're part of a team, instead of just a bunch of 1 on 1 encounters.
speaking of 1 on 1 encounters, the "man on man" defense system pretty much guarantees that, if you're matched up with someone better than you, they're going to be kicking your ass over and over again, througout the entire game. No one can help you, you can't change strategy or anything, you're just going to get owned for 90 minutes. Have fun.
The best thing you can do to help your game is to be tall. Tall players have such a ridiculous advantage. They'll have the first chance to get all the rebounds, and they have have as far to shoot to make a layout. Trying to guard someone taller than you is a waste of time- you can jump as high as you want and they'll just casually reach over you, not even noticing that you're trying to guard them.
When are other people going to realize that this game sucks.
 
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So you're basically saying that better players are beating you?
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Completely wrong ... why don't you learn the basics of the game before you say something sucks? Tall does not mean that they are better skill wise, they could have a height advantage but that's the same as saying small people have a speed advantage.
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I'm not sure if you're trolling or what but I hope you are otherwise thats one of the stupidest things I've read this month. It pretty much reads like "I'm bad at X game and I don't understand it so I'm just gonna call it a stupid game and whine like a girl instead of A) trying to learn the game or B) not playing it."
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When I was a kid all the other boys were obsessed with it, but I managed to avoid playing it most of the time so I could do fun stuff like play video games instead
buddy holy crap,this sounds soo wrong ;P
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Very lame attempt at a troll.
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Wrong seriously.
It's like saying that the only thing you need in StarCraft is a high apm.
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Live2Win
United States6657 Posts
Haha, getting destroyed on the court I see.
I use to not really like it but unfortunately if you go to college in the US it's one of those sports that everyone plays... like soccer in everywhere else or hockey in Canada or golf if you're 40+ years old. It took me awhile to get "decent" but once you find your "style" and work on it it can be pretty fun and entertaining.
If you're interested in getting good at the game and trying to find out how to have fun, I suggest you find your strengths first. When I first started I realized I really sucked at the 3 things basketball seems to be about: dribbling, shooting and passing... but eventually I realized that you don't have to be good at all 3 to play your part.
But I did find my strengths eventually, which is size and some sort of decent footwork (I use to play tennis so I have pretty good footwork). Since I'm usually the taller/bigger guy on the court I generally play center/post, and have the footwork to follow most speedy guys. So even though I can't shoot beyond the arc or even mid-range shots, I generally don't have to since I'm usually in the middle setting up screens or posting up or grabbing rebounds or boxing out people trying to get the offensive board.
So yea, I suggest you start off by being mainly a defensvie player, since that's a lot easier to be good at. Stay on your feet and keep your guy always in check (if you're playing man on man). Keep him in front of you and when he shoots put your hand up. A good trick against ppl taller than you is to put the hand in their face than in front of their hands (without touching them of course). If you do it right then you can block their vision of the basket which significantly messes up their shooting.
On the offense try to do the "little" things like setting up picks (and rolling afterwards), and if you're too short to grab the rebound, then just box someone out instead (put your body between the guy you're defending and the basket, so that he can't reach forward to grab the rebound, unless it bounces father back) If you do go up for the board but know you're going to get out-reached, use the tip of your finger to tip it back instead. If you're on the offense chances are you teammates are on the parameter, so knocking it as far back as possible usually allows your team to take a second shot.
There's always SOMETHING a player can do in basketball. Sure being bigger and taller generally has its advantages, but smaller guys have their own weapons (but that generally requires good ball-handling skills) like dribbling low and passing low to ppl cutting inside.
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What Live2Win said.
I actually remember ranting so hard when I was in grade school because I couldn't play well (and I was a bit shorter than most of the guys) so the guys in the "inner circle" always excluded me. So my enrolled me in a camp and all, made me better ofc. Not that I was able to join their games after or anything.
Well if you're really starting from scratch you'll need to play defensively as Live2Win said. That's what I did in football in high school. Someone picked up a football then we played in the field, ofc I started to defend since it's the most decent thing you can do as a newbie - post up and guard someone, make his life difficult and miserable.
Tall players may have their their advantage yes, but being small doesn't mean that you'll get owned every time. You can always out maneuver them...think of it as a lurker vs a marine, lurkers can kill rines in 2 shots, but marines can always stim and move around.
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On May 12 2010 18:45 daz wrote:
I'm not sure if you're trolling or what but I hope you are otherwise thats one of the stupidest things I've read this month. It pretty much reads like "I'm bad at X game and I don't understand it so I'm just gonna call it a stupid game and whine like a girl instead of A) trying to learn the game or B) not playing it."
it's more like- i hate the game, and i know i'm bad at it. I have no desire to practice and become good, but I can't just avoid playing it without alienating a lot of my friends. I guess in canada no one plays basketball though, so you wouldn't understand. Try to imagine that you were shoved into an ice hockey team instead, but with no training or experience in the game, and you're just trying to pick it up as you go.
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And thanks for the tips live2win. That's pretty much what I try to do, just focus on defense mainly. I know i COULD be good, despite being short, but it's annoying that I have to work so much harder than someone who's tall. I don't know why they don't separate players by height, the way they separate boxers by weight class.
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United States24615 Posts
I have a feeling if it was another sport besides basketball you could write almost the same exact blog... yeah it sucks being pulled into a sport you don't really like but you either don't participate or change your attitude and learn how to enjoy it. That's what I've done with most sports... made that decision and went with it. (Never played lacrosse, learned how to have fun in basketball, etc)
You definitely sound like you are either trying to get a rise out of us or are so emotional you don't realize how ridiculous you sound.
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Actually I was put into random road and ice hockey games and even though I wasn't good I ended up being not too bad and same goes for basketball.
All in all, both games are pretty easy to "pick up" and by the way I'm small and skinny and I live in Canada. Nothing is going to change just because you complain about it, do something about it yourself.
If you don't want to play it then don't. Go find some other friends that share the same interests as you.
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aren't people who suck at basketball typically discouraged from playing? I mean who wants a sucky player on his team? If you're so terrible I have a hard time understanding why your friends are exerting such inexorable pressure on you to play. They're probably just being polite and hoping you decline. Do everyone a favor and do so.
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On May 12 2010 19:50 MamiyaOtaru wrote:
aren't people who suck at basketball typically discouraged from playing? I mean who wants a sucky player on his team? If you're so terrible I have a hard time understanding why your friends are exerting such inexorable pressure on you to play. They're probably just being polite and hoping you decline. Do everyone a favor and do so.
Everyone in my department plays together. It's a group activity. If I didn't play I'd be the only one not playing, just sitting in the office by myself and it would be really weird. And I'm not the only one who's bad, actually most of the players are bad. It's just that there's like 3 or 4 good players who completely decide the game.
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On May 12 2010 19:54 Luddite wrote:Show nested quote +On May 12 2010 19:50 MamiyaOtaru wrote:
aren't people who suck at basketball typically discouraged from playing? I mean who wants a sucky player on his team? If you're so terrible I have a hard time understanding why your friends are exerting such inexorable pressure on you to play. They're probably just being polite and hoping you decline. Do everyone a favor and do so. Everyone in my department plays together. It's a group activity. If I didn't play I'd be the only one not playing, just sitting in the office by myself and it would be really weird. And I'm not the only one who's bad, actually most of the players are bad. It's just that there's like 3 or 4 good players who completely decide the game.
Same thing in my high school class when we first started out football, everyone was bad but it's not like we'd go back to playing basketball. It was fun and all since there were handballs every 5 minutes. Well we got better but of course, we still played to have fun...tons of it..
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On May 12 2010 19:54 Luddite wrote:Show nested quote +On May 12 2010 19:50 MamiyaOtaru wrote:
aren't people who suck at basketball typically discouraged from playing? I mean who wants a sucky player on his team? If you're so terrible I have a hard time understanding why your friends are exerting such inexorable pressure on you to play. They're probably just being polite and hoping you decline. Do everyone a favor and do so. Everyone in my department plays together. It's a group activity. If I didn't play I'd be the only one not playing, just sitting in the office by myself and it would be really weird. And I'm not the only one who's bad, actually most of the players are bad. It's just that there's like 3 or 4 good players who completely decide the game.
Understood. Still, I'd take weirdness. I don't ever want to roll my ankle again, and some weirdness would be a fine price to pay to strongly diminish the possibility. Maybe it's also a fine price to pay for not playing a sport you evidently hate? It doesn't even sound that weird to me. Just do your thing in the office. Shoot, if you are all alone, "your thing" can be porn! (jk, IT would get pissed)
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heh im tall but my friend who fucking jumps 3 inches more than me gets rebounds off me.
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Retarded troll.
User was warned for this post
User was temp banned for this post.
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If your main goal is not getting hit in the face with the ball then you probably shouldn't try playing soccer. Then you can't even use your hands to defend yourself and people will be kicking the ball right in front of you. It's hard getting hit in the face with the ball in basketball assuming you know how to catch.
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Well at least you're playing with friends, back in school you use to have to watch out for balls to your balls while others would sneak up behind you to yank your shorts down, not a fun time when your PE teacher is a stupid lesbian who spends her time mucking around on a laptop instead of watching the class.
Not exaggerating by the way, went to a pretty "chavvy" school, which you'll understand if you're British. 
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The best kid at basketball at my high school was about 5'6"
If you'd put an hour a day of your free time into developing basic basketball skills, you'd be better than average before long.
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On May 12 2010 19:54 Luddite wrote:Show nested quote +On May 12 2010 19:50 MamiyaOtaru wrote:
aren't people who suck at basketball typically discouraged from playing? I mean who wants a sucky player on his team? If you're so terrible I have a hard time understanding why your friends are exerting such inexorable pressure on you to play. They're probably just being polite and hoping you decline. Do everyone a favor and do so. Everyone in my department plays together. It's a group activity. If I didn't play I'd be the only one not playing, just sitting in the office by myself and it would be really weird. And I'm not the only one who's bad, actually most of the players are bad. It's just that there's like 3 or 4 good players who completely decide the game.
welcome to almost all non professional playing of sports?
Though I've usually been on the better end of this for sports I've played, even when it's competitive unless you're playing with the best of the best (and even at the professional level) there's always going to be comparatively bad people, and really good players that embarrass everyone else and practically decide the games
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On May 12 2010 22:11 Biochemist wrote:
The best kid at basketball at my high school was about 5'6"
If you'd put an hour a day of your free time into developing basic basketball skills, you'd be better than average before long.
Yeah i'm definitely not going to spend an hour a day practicing. That would be... pretty much all my free time lol.
and there's one guy I play with who has extremely good speed and ball handling skills, but he's about 5'6" and he's constantly owned by tall guys whenever he gets near the basket.
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all it sounds like is that you're bad and you're tired of losing. lets be serious now, obviously your understanding of the game is thoroughly limited and you're just tired of losing. If you take the game at face value, then all games are stupid and simple. ohoho starcraft is one dimensional and stupid, all you do is make units and kill shit.
basketball is a five man sport; the point guards are not supposed to match up to the taller players. they can easily take taller players if they are farther from the rim, but they dont have to get rebounds over them. its just stupid to say "oh the taller guy is better because he gets rebounds over short people". thats the whole point of the taller players, they have different roles. teams are not 5 of your tallest players because you need those shorter ball-handlers to make plays and do those things.
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Street bball does have a ton of charging which no one calls because they don't want to look like a pussy. Unfortunately it's just a part of playing bball in some places.
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Yeah I guess it would be better if we had 5 man teams with designated positions and a ref to enforce the rules. Unfortunately it's usually just 3 on 3, call your own fouls, so the power charge to the paint seems unstoppable. Oh, and we also play with the rule that, if you make a basket you get the ball back again. I'd never heard of that rule before.
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I figured this was for PE class or something. If you hate basketball so much and are unwilling to devote the time to get better, why play at all? I was in a similar position to you 10 or so years ago, so I just always played soccer instead because I was much better at it.
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So you guys pretty much play standard street ball. I suggest highly illegal and cheap but prevalent streetball tactics such as undercutting, and hand-checking. Doing so will give you a significant advantage. Dont undercut too hard though or you could seriously hurt somebody.
Handchecking is important on defense in games where charging is not called. It allows you to control your opponent. Don't abuse it to actually push them out of their path, just use it to encourage them to move to the basket in a path not straight through you.
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If you want to just "coast" by then learn how to pass really well, your teammates will love you and you will look like a great basketball player without doing much of anything. Being a good passer puts them in a great position to make shots. And everyone loves being the one who scores.
Then I'd probably transition to working on defense or rebounding. For defense practice shuffling your feet and ALWAYS look at your opponents chest when you're guarding him, never his feet or face.
For rebounding just jump for the rim any chance you get, it will improve your leg conditioning and your vertical if you keep at it. And you might end up out-rebounding the taller players for the lulz.
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On May 12 2010 23:34 dogabutila wrote:
So you guys pretty much play standard street ball. I suggest highly illegal and cheap but prevalent streetball tactics such as undercutting, and hand-checking. Doing so will give you a significant advantage. Dont undercut too hard though or you could seriously hurt somebody.
Handchecking is important on defense in games where charging is not called. It allows you to control your opponent. Don't abuse it to actually push them out of their path, just use it to encourage them to move to the basket in a path not straight through you.
ooohh... dirty tricks to get better without practice? sounds like just what i wanted! what is "undercutting"?
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On May 12 2010 23:34 dogabutila wrote:
So you guys pretty much play standard street ball. I suggest highly illegal and cheap but prevalent streetball tactics such as undercutting, and hand-checking. Doing so will give you a significant advantage. Dont undercut too hard though or you could seriously hurt somebody.
Handchecking is important on defense in games where charging is not called. It allows you to control your opponent. Don't abuse it to actually push them out of their path, just use it to encourage them to move to the basket in a path not straight through you.
I didn't know what undercutting was but I now realize that I've been called out on this. But in my specific situation the guy I was defending was probably 4+ inches taller than me. So all I could do was box him out. To me if I have a large ass he shouldn't be trying to jump over me to rebound. I remember this instance vividly because I got pretty pissed off that he was complaining that I was undercutting with him having a huge height advantage, and in my defense I said I was simply boxing him out (I did not shuffle my feet to try to get under him to make him fall on me).
I do agree with the OP, regardless of the skill gap between players, that (street/pickup) bball can be frustrating as heck to play when the players don't have an agreed set of rules. That's why I like playing with/against ppl I know rather than random players.
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On May 12 2010 23:48 Creme wrote:
If you want to just "coast" by then learn how to pass really well, your teammates will love you and you will look like a great basketball player without doing much of anything. Being a good passer puts them in a great position to make shots. And everyone loves being the one who scores.
Then I'd probably transition to working on defense or rebounding. For defense practice shuffling your feet and ALWAYS look at your opponents chest when you're guarding him, never his feet or face.
For rebounding just jump for the rim any chance you get, it will improve your leg conditioning and your vertical if you keep at it. And you might end up out-rebounding the taller players for the lulz.
Heh in general my friends who play bball regularly have told me that the best way to get better on a team is learn how to shoot. If the opposing team knows you're not going to shoot at all then it becomes pretty easy to let you shoot and really shut down your teammates who can shoot.
I don't disagree that passing and ballhandling are important though.
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Edit: Oh shit I read baseball lol
well.. basketball is kinda fun :O
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basketball is fun to watch but not so fun to play. i love watching the nba during michael jordan's era.
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Yeah, playing pick up basketball is only fun if you're really good b/c there isn't a lot of teamwork going on. When I play, I like to set plays with each other by setting off screen balls for teammates and then get open. Don't hate the game, hate the player Keep practicing
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You are probably unathletic lol
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On May 12 2010 19:41 Luddite wrote:Show nested quote +On May 12 2010 18:45 daz wrote:
I'm not sure if you're trolling or what but I hope you are otherwise thats one of the stupidest things I've read this month. It pretty much reads like "I'm bad at X game and I don't understand it so I'm just gonna call it a stupid game and whine like a girl instead of A) trying to learn the game or B) not playing it." it's more like- i hate the game, and i know i'm bad at it. I have no desire to practice and become good, but I can't just avoid playing it without alienating a lot of my friends. I guess in canada no one plays basketball though, so you wouldn't understand. Try to imagine that you were shoved into an ice hockey team instead, but with no training or experience in the game, and you're just trying to pick it up as you go.
I play basketball. And I don't play hockey. If my friends invite me to play hockey, I politely refuse. I don't go to online message boards and rant about how hockey sucks and has no strategy involved.
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if you don't wanna get into learning how to shoot, which is really fun and takes skill (reason why most white kids or chubby kids on the court lay up)
then you can guard someone, which is pretty easy
i know you dont see that many steals in bball games, but if you just look around both ways while trying to guard someone, you can lock them down pretty hard.
and if they try to pass to him, if you're close enough you can easily steal and run back, and if they try to pass over you, it will almost ALWAYS be in jumping range, so you can try to grab that
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Korea (South)17174 Posts
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On May 12 2010 18:39 Luddite wrote:
speaking of 1 on 1 encounters, the "man on man" defense system pretty much guarantees that, if you're matched up with someone better than you, they're going to be kicking your ass over and over again, througout the entire game.
He is 100% accurate here
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On May 13 2010 07:03 Ducci wrote:Show nested quote +On May 12 2010 18:39 Luddite wrote:
speaking of 1 on 1 encounters, the "man on man" defense system pretty much guarantees that, if you're matched up with someone better than you, they're going to be kicking your ass over and over again, througout the entire game. He is 100% accurate here
if you're guarding him, its not that hard to just stick with him and lock him down, and steal his balls (lol)
if he's guarding you, you can pass and have some teammates layup or shoot against a guys who're worse
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lol...
I don't share your sentiment but I am a bit pissed because I twisted my ankle really badly last night and had to sit out the rest of the night. Then I had to hobble across campus on my bum ankle back to my dorm.
I shouldn't play basketball is old running shoes....
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"There's no strategy."
stopped reading here
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I hate basketball, the ball is so heavy and I'm like 5'4".
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If you're guarding someone who is just plain better than you then switch if it's a pickup game or call for help. On the offensive end have team mates set picks for you off the ball and with the ball in your hand. There are a lot of things to work with here.
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This post is really funny, funny to hear someone with no experience talk about basketball.
Anyways, practice makes perfect!
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I hardly know any casual bball fans I either know guys who watch every game or people who don't give a crap.
I care but I rarely watch the games. =p
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On May 13 2010 07:03 Ducci wrote:Show nested quote +On May 12 2010 18:39 Luddite wrote:
speaking of 1 on 1 encounters, the "man on man" defense system pretty much guarantees that, if you're matched up with someone better than you, they're going to be kicking your ass over and over again, througout the entire game. He is 100% accurate here
there's something called help defense. which you should know if you had an ounce of basketball knowledge.
please don't overgeneralize the game out of ignorance. especially if you've never played competitively (as in a school or club basketball)
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On May 12 2010 23:53 Luddite wrote:Show nested quote +On May 12 2010 23:34 dogabutila wrote:
So you guys pretty much play standard street ball. I suggest highly illegal and cheap but prevalent streetball tactics such as undercutting, and hand-checking. Doing so will give you a significant advantage. Dont undercut too hard though or you could seriously hurt somebody.
Handchecking is important on defense in games where charging is not called. It allows you to control your opponent. Don't abuse it to actually push them out of their path, just use it to encourage them to move to the basket in a path not straight through you. ooohh... dirty tricks to get better without practice? sounds like just what i wanted! what is "undercutting"?
They jump in the air for a rebound or a shot, you just kinda slide under them. Its useful to get another player to back off the aggression a little bit, but dont under use or use too aggressively. It can easily lead to somebody getting seriously hurt and/or bad feelings or fights. Even in streetball.
I'd also advise practicing shooting. Catch and shoot can be pretty easily practiced if you have a partner willing to throw you the ball repetitively. It's a useful talent toi hav. You don't have to be able to dribble to create a shot. Just be on the move, catch the ball instride, elevate and shoot. If you can do that fairly proficiently, it should also mean you can spot shoot decently. This opens up the floor for your more aggressive players because it forces whoever is defending you to play you honestly. They cant cheat to help without you making enough shots to make it not worthwhile for them.
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On May 13 2010 10:27 LuckyFool wrote:
I hardly know any casual bball fans I either know guys who watch every game or people who don't give a crap.
I care but I rarely watch the games. =p
im a casual fan! i like lakers, rockets, wizards.
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On May 12 2010 18:39 Luddite wrote:
2) charge forward and make a layup. This is the recommended strategy. For some reason it's legal to just run straight forward, and if anyone gets in your way you can just push them over. In fact, sometimes it even counts as a foul against the defender. If you weigh a lot you'll have a big advantage.
strangely, i miss more than half my layups so i just shoot.
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I hear ya, Luddite
It's so comical to watch people (especially kids) playing sand lot basketball.
As they're playing, they're clumped together as the opposing team is all over the poor buy with the ball. There is no teamwork, the only reason the guy passes to a teammate is when he has no choice. Everyone wants to be the hero who shoots the basket.
In professional, college, and high school games, you can see the teamwork. The teams are spread out and they keep their positions.
When I was in primary school, we HAD to play basketball during recess and if you weren't participating, you had to write a 500 word composition on why I should play. Luckily, I got away from not participating the stupid game most of the time. When I was playing, (as I mentioned above) the opposing team was all over me and shooting for a basket was almost impossible. When I try to pass to a team mate, some jerk from the opposing team would jump in and intercept the ball.
I always hated that sport and watching a game is downright BORING.
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EPT
