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Alfred P. Pseudonym posted:Also, there is nothing more satisfying to me in a pickup game than hitting a guy cutting to the basket with a sweet bounce pass out of the post. Being left on an island defending the guy who thinks he's in an And1 mixtape and stuffing him
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Mar 6, 2012 12:40
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Just see how much he lets you get away with. I'm tall but not massive by any means so I always have trouble keeping the large guys out of the lane. I just stick a hand in his ribs and do my best, sometimes leaning a bit too much. Just try to keep track of his tendencies and if you play it smart it won't be such a disadvantage
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Mar 6, 2012 21:05
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Doltos posted:Is playing intense D frowned upon in pickup games? I feel like I never see anyone play defense but I personally end up with 5ish steals a game and end up shutting down whoever I'm up against. Nobody likes it because you're making them look bad. There's not really an etiquette so much as you just shouldn't do anything foul worthy unless it's game point or something like that. Just keep in mind it's a pickup game and not the NBA finals. You can slap the ball away. I see that plenty. But if you're hitting hands a lot then you'll piss someone off and he'll be much bigger than you
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Mar 6, 2012 21:27
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Doltos posted:I do end up fouling a lot but I call myself when I whack hands or arms. The way I play defense is like Jason Kidd where I just put my body right up on a guy then start poking the ball on both sides with both my arms. I also love turning my head towards the guy I'm guarding while I slowly edge towards the ball carrier then swat it away when he's driving. Calling more than, like, one foul in a pickup game is pretty douchey in itself. If you know you didn't get him then he's trying to save face and I'm not helping some jerkoff out like that. You dont have to complain but it's well within your right to make fun of him or just say something about him calling fouls that don't exist Edit: ^^ yeah always be a good teammate and give credit for passes and boards. That stuff goes a long way, even when you're terrible. Nothing is worse than having a guy on your team that thinks he's way better than he is and sulks over every mistake you make so be humble and fun BIZORT fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Mar 6, 2012 |
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Mar 6, 2012 21:34
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I played against a guy from Hong Kong who was very good and quick but had this strut whenever he did anything and I fancy myself a lockdown defense guy, since my arms are super long and such, so I volunteered to guard him. He was posting me up and this rear end in a top hat slips his head down below mine and jumps, headbutting me upwards from under my jaw. I grabbed him and just threw him out of bounds to the ground in anger as I checked to see if my chin was bleeding and my jaw was still attached. I'm alright except for a huge bruise in a very weird place. Then I go back to the guy and he's screaming foul and trying to fight me. After 10 minutes of screaming at the guy, we sort of make up but he's done strutting around for the whole game and stops shooting almost entirely. I kind of felt like a badass. Afterwards, another Asian guy came up and told me Hong Kong guys are all like that so uhh, take that for what it's worth. I also escaped some court in a meth neighborhood by about 2 minutes before someone was shot after I pissed off a kid with a tattoo on his skull because I locked him up and only gave up a lucky 3. We heard gunshots as we were driving off. Checked the news later and sure enough, some poor guy caught a bullet in that immediate area. Never went back there.
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Mar 6, 2012 21:55
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I don't think I've ever seen a charge called in a pickup game. I've never even thought of it before. On jammed fingers, I've jammed them more times than I care to count but sometimes you can pull it out and save yourself a week of dull pain. Grab your finger a little above the joint in question and give it a really quick yank away from your hand. If you feel a little pop, congratulations. I've successfully done this maybe 10% of the time
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Mar 6, 2012 22:31
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As much as I enjoy dribbling and doing neato tricks sometimes, I realize I'm a 6'2 lanky guy and when I do bring the ball up in my rec league games I get pick pocketed at a much higher than average rate. If you're tall, don't try to handle the drat ball because you're giving away an extra split second or two for someone to pick you clean. I'm the only guy that can set anything up on my rec team but those tiny asians pick me every time so I have someone else bring the ball up and then give it to me.
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Mar 6, 2012 22:36
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rscott posted:Yeah we call our own fouls, and the Cambodians will totally talk to each other in their own language if the whole team is Cambodian. Imagine how well you'll do when people don't hate you
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Mar 6, 2012 22:45
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At least I've gone from being last picked, only if they need someone to round out teams and told to stand in front of the basket with my hands up to being 1st or 2nd picked because I'm hands down the best post defender amongst our player pool.
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If a guy is completely lighting me up on the perimeter and I've run out of ideas then I'll try to face guard him but that's happened to me maybe 3 or 4 times in my life. I don't recall anyone doing it to me and I'd imagine it's pretty annoying to the point that I'd slap their hand away. Cut your loving fingernails. Agreed. Almost every rec league game I play, I come back with scratches all down my forearms. Play hard, of course, but if you knock someone down then help them back up. Always. Don't be Mr. Macho and act like this is your court or whatever. Even if the guy is a total jerkoff, help him up then when he's up, make fun of him. Talking playful poo poo is one of my favorite things about pickup ball
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Mar 8, 2012 23:33
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If you're in a weird foreign area or country like I am and want to find a court near you, courtsoftheworld.com has been kind of helpful.
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Mar 9, 2012 23:50
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Regnevelc posted:I'm the weirdest loving guy to have on a team. Set picks, rebound, get garbage buckets, block the And1 guys. It's an easy existence. The guys I loving hate playing against are short fat guys. You can't box them out, they take up space in the lane, all of them have some unstoppable move down low, and they board like crazy on me and I can't do a god drat thing about it. They are my kryptonite.
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Mar 10, 2012 04:01
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mastershakeman posted:The people I play with do nothing but drive aggressively to the rim for layups. Probably one in five made shots is a jumper. How do you even stop people when the barrel in beyond swiping at the ball?
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Mar 11, 2012 01:02
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If you're 6'4 you don't need much to be able to dunk. Your weight is probably the biggest obstacle. Do squats. If you're watching TV, do calf raises on your heels, up and down until it burns too much and rest for like 10 seconds and go at it again. Just keep going. If you have muscle in your legs already, this will help a lot more than you'd think. Set up a box that's about chest high on you and just practice jumping onto it with both feet at once, ie jump strong off two feet onto the top of the box, then hop off, jump back on, over and over. They taught us this one in conditioning way back when and it's a staple in all of those workout videos for your legs. Once you do get your vertical up, from there it's all about how you hold the ball going up for the dunk and timing. A lot can be learned from lowering the rim to 9 feet and just practicing dunking. Do that and maybe raise the rim to 9'6 after you feel you have it down pat. Don't raise the rim until you are 100% comfortable and it's almost too easy for you. Raising it before this point will either discourage or simply injure you in time. Interesting thing I read long ago: Dr J solely got his hops and dunking from practicing on a low rim as a kid and gradually raised it higher and higher edit: Aside from that, being 6'4 you're instantly more valuable than just about anyone else on the court even if you suck. Be confident in knowing that. Rebound and don't try to do too much. If you get a offensive board, learn when to use a pump fake and then go up and learn when to simply go back up strong. You'll be loving unstoppable if you learn when to use those two skills appropriately. Beyond that, just practice a couple of things and whatever interests you most, work on that. Having a jump shot from the free throw line is infinitely helpful for any big guy because it keeps defenders honest. BIZORT fucked around with this message at 03:09 on Mar 11, 2012 |
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Mar 11, 2012 03:05
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kingcobweb posted:Looking to play some pickup basketball for the first time once the weather stays warm. My question is this: what should I work on to be an effective pickup player? I'm 6'4" and ~140lb, so basically a mini-Manut Bol in terms of build. Assume I'm starting with absolutely no basketball skills at the moment. Being tall and skinny presents disadvantages but incredible advantages at the same time. I've always been in the same boat, as I'm 6'2 and usually been in the 155-165 range but I've finally been able to keep a bit more weight on now that I'm older. The biggest thing for me has been coordination. I've always been aware of how awful guys of my stature are at playing ball, even if they're really skilled, because they're hardly ever coordinated. Practice having guys throw hard passes at you from semi-close distances. ALWAYS expect a pass coming your way. Keep your hands up. I can't stress how loving annoying it is to fit a pass in a tight space to a guy only to have him not expect it and it hits off his head. Guys of our stature almost always do that. But having this body, you can really do almost anything on the court. You probably have longer arms than anyone else out there so you can be a very good defender, either on the post or on the perimeter. Learn to shuffle your feet left and right without getting them tangled up. You'll see drills for this in basic basketball training videos. But being so tall, you can develop a perimeter game since your arms and body are so long that you can get your shot off at will so you can go in that direction. I've changed my game so many times because of various physical limitations that were thrown at me and I've been pretty successful. I started out as a guard type with an erratic jumper but very athletic. I hurt my knee and developed a midrange jumper that was almost automatic. Nowadays I still have the jumper but like to bang down low a little bit more and rebound, get easy garbage baskets, and play good defense on the perimeter. Since you're only 140, I'd try to focus on a midrange game. Go out to a basket and just practice shooting from very close. Get your form down and just keep shooting them. Keep your feet planted on the ground and just use your arms. Do this for awhile and then practice bringing the ball up from your hip, set your arms and shoot. Don't use your legs yet; keep them set. Then once you feel comfortable and automatic doing this, introduce a little jump. A jump shot is like anything else; the more you introduce to it, the more that can go wrong. Get your upper body down before you practice it with your legs. You'll find a rhythm you like to shoot with. Try to shoot at the top of your jump but it's not always how guys like to shoot. General tip for others: When you warm up, don't just start shooting from 20 feet out. Put some shots up from close in and gradually work your way out. Your shot will thank you later on.
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Mar 11, 2012 03:24
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A friend of mine from high school is only 5'11 but posted videos of himself doing 360 dunks and I couldn't believe it. He's just a typical looking white kid. I asked him what his secret was and he said it was your basic leg and calf strength stuff, calf raises especially. I think he even bought those things for your shoes that raise half of your shoe up like Kramer had in that one Seinfeld episode. However, the eye opener was him saying it was as simple as bending your knees more before the jump along with trying to build up momentum. If you think about it, when you jump you just run and do it rather than really putting any sort of effort into trying to explode off the ground. I've been meaning to try and make that a habit for about 3 years now. He sent me to this url too http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/jumphigher.html
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Mar 13, 2012 12:01
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It's been said before and it's 100% true. The more dumb basketball poo poo you wear to a pickup game, the more likely you have no loving idea what you're doing
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Mar 14, 2012 11:11
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Brolander posted:I have a school alumni tournament at the end of the month. Been a while since I balled, so I'm sort of nervous. My mechanics are still pretty good, my bread and butter is across the lane floaters and midrange turnarounds/quasi fades, kind of have to do that when you are my height. I usually snowball people by popping lots of jumpers, then when they're conditioned to that start blowing by them. My main concern is endurance, I smoke cigarettes and I'm going to have do some heavy wind sprints and poo poo to get back in shape, I have two weeks. All of your shots are the type that you have to keep up with if you want to make them. Runners and fadeaways are some of the hardest shots you can take
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Mar 16, 2012 09:16
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Waroduce posted:This may be kind of weird, but does anyone else have a few things they like to put on when they play seriously? Whenever I play against good people, a bunch of friends I haven't seen in a while, or if I know I'm going to play in a "serious" game, I like to wear this blue pair of basketball socks I have. I also have two shirts that I noticed I tend to shoot well in so I like to wear either or as well. I'm pretty superstitious with my league games. If I have a good game in one pair of underwear then I'll keep wearing them. With pickup games, though, I instantly forget the results as soon as I leave the court
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Mar 19, 2012 04:43
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In sports in general, the more you think the worse you perform. I have an analytical mindset but over the years it's just kind of shut off as soon as I play anything. It's easier to fall into the trap if you're playing with people you don't know, though, so play with friends for awhile if it really bothers you.
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Mar 29, 2012 13:15
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If a guy is an rear end, you're allowed, even encouraged, to talk poo poo to him. One of the best things about pickup ball is talking poo poo. Playfully, though; not like telling them you'll murder their family or anything
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Mar 29, 2012 22:53
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It's not really beneficial to brood when you're playing sports since most guys play like poo poo when they're mad. If he puts up a bad shot and you end up guarding him, just say something pseudo playful. "Did someone open a window?" I don't know, something. I think half of the reason why guys play like that is they honestly have no loving idea how bad they are and no one has ever mentioned it to them so if you put that thought in their head, you 1) put doubt in their head, 2) might get them a bit mad, going back to what I said before, and 3) he might not do that same thing again since he's probably an insecure baby and someone ridiculing that play is something he doesn't want to happen again. I'm a pretty quiet guy in my every day manner but when I'm playing basketball I'm slapping people on the back telling them good take, good pass, etc. But if they do something lovely, I say something, too. It's all part of it. Have fun. If someone is being a dick, though, then no one is having fun.
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Mar 29, 2012 23:52
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Go for bank shots if the wind picks up. You can hit that square as hard as you want
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Apr 19, 2012 22:24
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I hated double rims. Those things have no give to them. I've also always had a problem shooting on rims that have no net. They just screw me up
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Apr 20, 2012 11:54
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Why didn't any of us think of just dunking the ball?
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Apr 20, 2012 23:26
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If you're not experienced or simply get excited that you're left open for an easy shot, you'll shuffle your feet and travel. The easy answer is to tell you to calm down a bit. You just need to dribble the ball before you move your pivot foot. What you're doing is going at the basket and not dribbling before making your move, hence 'getting excited.'
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May 3, 2012 03:14
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Jota posted:I love burning people with up and unders. Every game I'll get someone at least once or twice because in pick up games almost everyone just jumps to try to block a shot whenever you vaguely look like you are going to shoot. It is so satisfying. The problem is you only get to use it once. If it works twice then the guy playing you just isn't paying attention My favorite move is is when I get a board right under the basket with a guy on my back and I just get low, hit him with my rear end to get some space and I go right back up. Works almost every time. If you're down low, even as a skinnier guy like me, use your rear end to get space
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May 3, 2012 05:34
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spamman posted:That's the thing though, after you get it once every other shot becomes infinitely easier as they'll be too scared to go for another block for at least 5min. Or the guy isn't a dipshit that jumps every time you pump fake or shoot and actually plays defense
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May 3, 2012 06:55
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I haven't experienced a guy like that in years but normally I would just dedicate every bit of energy I had into embarrassing him while guarding him. I loving hate people like that but they're everywhere. Whenever I play a game with kids or guys that I'm obviously better than, I usually pass the ball a lot more or just take jumpers unless the game is close for some reason. Anything more than that is just being a loving jerkoff When I was in high school I guarded a guy who thought he was that good but wasn't and I held him scoreless except for a lucky 3 pointer. Someone was shot at the court like 3 minutes after I left so I guess be careful with that strategy
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Jun 1, 2012 07:42
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Doltos posted:So I'm starting to realize that everyone is really terrible at reliably getting the ball to go in unless it's on an open drive through the lane. Because of this I've started intentionally fouling everyone who blows by their guy and just resetting the possession instead of giving up the basket. You are the worst
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Jun 5, 2012 06:31
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A pickup game is supposed to be fun. Stop slapping people. If you get beat, just let it go and play for the next point. The most annoying guy in a pickup game is the one that tries way too hard and ends up slapping everyone
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Jun 5, 2012 08:50
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"THE HAND IS PART OF THE BALL"
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Jun 6, 2012 07:25
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Just jumping a lot will do it. Go under the basket, score a layup, catch it, and go back up and shoot another one. Keep going until you can't anymore. Alternate hands that you shoot with to get the most out of it as well. It works your upper body a lot too. Keep doing what you're doing. I think what you're looking for just comes from playing a lot
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Jun 10, 2012 04:18
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The simplest way I can put defense is to constantly stay between him and the basket. You don't need to be all that physical. Watch how he plays. Can he dribble well? No? Then play him a bit tighter. Yes? Play off him and wait for the drive because most dribble guys can't shoot well. But its all about making him take an awkward shot or drive instead of what he's comfortable with. You don't need to be stronger or even faster for that. If he scored on you, you can tell him that wasn't a bad shot. You can be sociable. It's not game 7 of the finals and you don't need to take it super personally if a guy is better than you. It happens. You're allowed to ask for a switch with someone else if the guy is killing you and you can ask for help in a specific area, like if he's bigger than you and killing you down low or whatever. But stop being dirty and hitting guys. Even if they do it to you, just assume it was an accident the first time around. It probably was. But if you're just some annoying gnat that doesn't say anything and undercuts like he has a chip on his shoulder then I would be a dick to you too. It's supposed to be fun
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Jun 12, 2012 23:53
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That's awesome. Yeah, moving your feet is the usual sin of playing defense in pickup ball. Don't worry about going north and south so much (since most guys can't shoot too well) but staying east and west to take the drive away. With the hands, I'm pretty guilty of keeping my hands down on defense for the most part but when I know a guy is going up for a shot I bring my long, gangly arms up to defend and I find that it does throw their shot off when I do it. I wouldn't recommend doing that unless you're a bit more advanced, though, since you might end up biting on a lot of pump fakes and/or losing your balance
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Jun 24, 2012 11:34
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It's common sense but so many people don't realize it while playing. You don't try to block shots or really even try to 'stop' them. You try to force them to go where YOU want and try to make them take the most awkward, difficult shot possible, as opposed to anything they feel comfortable with. Did that last shot he made feel like it was kind of lucky? It probably was. Keep doing what you're doing. Even if that awkward fadeaway is 'his shot,' its a stupid shot so you're winning. Play intelligently, because chances are the retard in front of you isn't. Just like there's all kinds of effective ways to play offense, there are ways for defense and your style should be suited with whatever you're strengths are and what you feel comfortable with. I never gamble for steals and prefer to just play straight man to man defense and do my best to make my guy look stupid on offense. A lot of guys gamble and it works for them. Just don't be the guy everyone rolls their eyes at after your guy scores on you yet again and you're not changing anything.
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Jun 27, 2012 07:36
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cisneros posted:By the way, what's the etiquette on off-the-ball defense? I love help defense, but when you're playing against lovely passers, it just seems easier to deny the ball, specially in the post. It's kinda annoying, though. It's probably annoying but I doubt you'd run into problems unless you're playing an rear end in a top hat
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Jun 27, 2012 08:33
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Fake going one way and cut the other way hard. Almost always works. Specifically, half run to the ball and then cut hard to the hoop. Easy bucket.
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Jun 30, 2012 08:26
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If you're shooting around and the ball doesn't seem to be going where you want it to go, stand in front of the rim and just shoot little 1 footers where you don't bend your knees or move your lower body at all. Work on your stroke with your arm and hands. Get the backspin down. If the backspin and release is correct then you'll have a clean swish. After this, shoot like 10 free throws as you normally would. I find that these two distances usually fix whatever I screwed up in what is a poor excuse for what I call my shooting form
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Jul 15, 2012 06:26
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I stared at that photo for almost a minute and had no idea why it was posted until I scrolled down and saw more posts. Who gets to play ball with him?
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Jul 23, 2012 11:19
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Can you really avoid tearing a ligament, though? What kind of precautions can you actually take? Don't those kind of injuries just occur from bad luck?
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Jul 26, 2012 09:46
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