the national team

this week my team ak-bars scrimmaged the national team on both monday evening and tonight. we are currently in a month long break from the playoffs which resume in a couple of weeks. three of my guys play on the national team, two other of my players our out for the season with injury and another is back in america for a couple of months. as we were down to six healthy bodies (i would not count myself as a healthy body in most instances) for the scrimmage i decided to suit up and play.

it wasn't pretty on monday. i can "hang" for the most part against my team during practice as i go up against them all the time and know how they play (plus i think they take it a bit easy on me). i do alright - so i wasn't overly worried about getting in the game and making a fool of myself. well... that is exactly what i did. i checked myself into the game (oh the joys of being the coach) mid-way through the second quarter (although we had officials at the game we weren't using the score board or anything). it is always hard to come off the bench when other players are loose and moving already - so i expected to take a couple of trips up and down the court to get my wind and catch up. but in no way was i ready for the speed of the game. everything was so, so fast. sure we are a professional basketball league - but it is in central asia. although some of the guys played college ball in the states - most of them would never make in at the division I level. but even then - i couldn't believe how fast everything moved. i am sure much of it has to do with me being an almost 40 year old man, slightly out of shape with two bad knees - but it was shocking. within seconds of checking in i found myself open out on the wing on a fast break. normally that shot is 'money for me' (and let me clarify that by 'money' i mean 40% of the time it will go in!) but when i saw the defensive player closing in for the block i jack up a wild three pointer that was a complete air ball. not what the coach should be doing. a couple of possessions later i picked the ball out from behind the national team's starting point guard (who is also one of the best players in the league). as i turned to run up court for what surely would be a wide open layup - i tripped, tweaked my knee and fell down.

i checked myself out of the game after that and did not return.

i fair a bit better on wednesday. the game slowed down a bit for me (i didn't feel so rush). i had a couple of assists. played some good help defense. got a couple of steals. and made a tough layup on a fast break. of course i also ended the night shooting 1 - 7 from the field.

but who wants to focus on that when i can say i scored a basket against an (possible) olympic team!

oh how i love central asia.