SuperNova Afterglow: End Of Days

Psychological Edge

There are two guys who I sometimes have to guard when match-ups put me in a precarious situation that don't take advantage of my lesser skills the way they could to help their team's outcome.

Both are taller and more gifted offensively, Dave and Oscar, and often pass out of the post when I guard them. They might do this because they want to facilitate other players and just make a more rounded game, knowing they could go over top of me and score play after play. Or, they are both worried I might be too physical and could hurt either one of them unnecessarily, because I have to try harder to deny them in the post.

Either way, I would rather they try harder. I wasn't as good of a player about three years ago when these match-ups first presented themselves. I know Oscar shies away from contact. I'm told he's a former D1 (division one college) basketball player and he just wants to get in a few pick-up games on the afternoons he appears to stay sharp. Dave on the other hand has been unlucky around me as an older player with weakening knees. We've had collisions that were purely accidental but maybe he feels that my awkward attempts to keep up with him put his body in danger. I've seen him have me switch teams so he didn't have to be guarded by me, as recently as this week. I don't blame either of them. I am a force to be reckoned with!

If it is intimidating in that respect to be on the same court with me, then I have to use that to my advantage to guard them. It's not easy to block Oscar's shot, but I've deflected two of his shots in recent months. I stuffed up Dave a few times in the game I guarded him. There was more contact than I would have liked, but I suffered the worst. Perhaps, because I was trying to deny him space and got my head and knees banged up a bit.

When the tables are turned, and a smaller player guards me, I must accept the same mentality.

Jimmy is a 'retired' Baptist minister who is around five and a half feet tall, older than me, but scrappy. You can tell he has some skills that carry over from his younger day, and I suspect, despite his yielding nature as a man of God, has a bit of a chip on his shoulder if he thinks anyone dismisses him on the court. I did that a bit this past week and gave him opportunities to haul in 50-50 balls (loose balls) and take uncontested shots that he knocked down.

I took Jimmy in the post only when I felt my team needed another option on offense and when the opportunity was presenting itself. I could feel him in my back and sensed some urgency on his part once he realized I was serious in my endeavor. And like he's done in the past, and I was reminded of this, when I received the ball he made sure I didn't finish the play, smacking me over the hand and wrist on the first play where I had to call foul.

I wondered if he thought it was a clean strip. I didn't  fully bring the ball over my head to shoot and the ball was ripe for the picking when I swung around. And why I didn't start with the ball above my head before I pivoted to face the hoop, I do not know. I saw other players sprint up the court as if they did not see a foul. Of course, I had to call it. And you have to call it loud, lest they don't hear you and get miffed that you make them come back after getting so far ahead after the ball was turned over.

I had to call a foul a second time on another post play and almost didn't because I was disappointed in my lackadaisical nature that allowed him to get hands on the ball and me to kill another post play. But, it was acknowledged by more than one player that time and we reset our offense.

I talked to another Dave after the game and we talked about it and he helped me realize that I have to take Jimmy more seriously. And I remembered how smaller players have an advantage because they are more leveraged in your wheelhouse with the opportunity to put their upper body into your midsection and hips, making it hard to move. I had a problem with a shorter guy named Dan who kept denying me post moves and passes until I got down lower than him in a ridiculously low crouch that gave me space to catch the ball and put my big butt on him to move him out of the way.

I can't get lower than Jimmy. But, I can keep the ball over his head.

I just have to remember to stay competitive and not lower my guard because I think I have an advantage over someone, because they already know they have to cheat and give their best efforts to stop a bigger player from making them look ridiculous. And really, it's me who looks silly if I let a smaller player outsmart me when I have an advantage.

I have to see Jimmy like he's Oscar or Big Dave and make him work hard for everything he gets. If there is one thing I do know, when the guy that has that edge over you is allowed to dominate, it becomes a major psychological uphill battle to stop them. You have to get in their head first. So, as the big guy, I have to dominate and take advantage of my match-up early to get in Jimmy's head. Once defeated, it's harder for them to keep giving the same effort and have the same outcome in my favor.

With every player and every situation on the court, I am trying to make my opponent make a mistake so I can get in their head. If I think they think I'm going to do something, I show it and then pull it off the table once I see they've reacted to it -- like a player driving to the hoop looking to score while keeping their options open to pass if I sag on them. I fake the sag to get them to think pass and then take away their avenues to the hoop and to the open player once I've calculated where on the floor they have to make their decision to do either. It works quite frequently. It might also work because I probably look like a crazy man in bandanna, goggles and patella straps slamming my size 15 shoots in the floor and they just don't want to get hurt.

Whatever works. I want to have the psychological edge.