Pinghe Huskies

This Week’s Top Stories About Basketball

LEBRON’S MINDSET: EVERY GAME IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE GREAT

James has raised his game to stay so consistently high that it is simply meeting expectations to own a basketball game as completely as he did Wednesday in victory over Golden State.

James is a huge player moving with uncommon agility, and most of his motion happens quite obviously is in tune with those of his teammates. But he has done it so well for so long that it is his routine.

Co-star Anthony Davis missing this game against Golden State with a sore shoulder helps a little in clarifying James’ value on this night, the second game of a back-to-back set after the Lakers won in Phoenix on Tuesday. Meanwhile, The Clippers are deep in debate about Kawhi Leonard and Paul George staggering their health-maintenance days of a back-to-back set. But James is not just in action.

The subtle stuff is the real gold: the plays he’s calling, the ways he’s reading the defense’s moves two steps ahead, the logic he uses on passes calculating teammates’ size and speed in addition to the tendencies of younger defenders’ likelihood.

To the audiences who always watch basketball games, the play of the game Wednesday night is one that is wholly unspectacular. It comes early in the second half, when James replies to a Golden State dunk by calmly organizing the offense at the other end. He calls for two screens to dribble right. He knows Danny Green will be relocating from one corner to the other, moving along the baseline. Green will arrive in the right corner, his favorite spot, to receive the pass from James on the right wing. The pass is on time, per usual, and Green nails the shot.

Of the Lakers’ first 26 points, James assisted on or scored 21 of them.

“Coming off the back-to-back, it’s very easy to go into the dull stage or feel a little tired, so I let the group that know I wasn’t,” James said. “See if they are going to feed off that, and they did.”

Golden State calls timeout, down by 14 points. The Lakers wind up winning by 26, with James sitting out the entire fourth quarter, having earned the rest and enjoying the company of new teammates Davis, Green and DeMarcus Cousins.

James offered this reminder:

“No matter who you play, you have the opportunity to be great

In my opinion, Lebron James is absolutely one of the greatest basketball players alive in the world. Just like what he describes himself, “I am more than an athlete”, he He has also gained a lot of achievements that others can’t do in many other fields. For example, his was born in a poor village called Cleveland and he led the local basketball team to the championship of NBA. His fame brought amazing economic benefits and attention to the town. Meanwhile, He is very concerned about the field of educating children, charity and fashion. There are billions of people are influencing by his speech and action everyday and I am one of them. My initial interest on basketball was lightened by Lebron James. I am so proud of him.

He can’t be great forever.

But right now he still looks like he will be.

Reference: https://www.nba.com/lakers/lebrons-mindset-every-game-opportunity-be-great

Basketball Basics for New Players

Recently, more and more new players came to practices. Under my observation, I found some of them were not familiar with basketball rules. In order to become an excellent basketball player, the first thing you should learn are the basic rules for this sport. I hope this blog can help the new members to learn what they should do or shouldn’t do during the game.

Fouls and Violations

Fouls

Hitting
Pushing
Slapping
Holding
Illegal pick/screen: When an offensive player sticks out a limb and makes physical contact with a defender in an attempt to block the path of the defender.
Personal foul penalties: If a player is shooting while being fouled, then he gets two free throws if his shot doesn’t go in, but only one free throw if his shot does go in.
Three free throws are awarded if the player is fouled while shooting for a three-point goal and they miss their shot. If the player makes it anyway, he is awarded one free throw.
Inbounds: If fouled while not shooting, the ball is given to the team the foul was committed upon. They get the ball at the nearest side or baseline, out of bounds, and have 5 seconds to pass the ball onto the court.
Five or more fouls per quarter: If the team committing the foul has five or more fouls in one quarter, then the fouled player receives two free throws.
Charging:An offensive foul that is committed when a player pushes or runs over a defensive player. The ball is given to the team that the foul was committed upon.
Blocking: it is illegal personal contact resulting from a defender not establishing position in time to prevent an opponent’s drive to the basket.
Flagrant foul: Violent contact with an opponent. This includes hitting, kicking, and punching. This type of foul results in free throws plus the offense retaining possession of the ball after the free throws.
Intentional foul: When a player makes physical contact with another player with no reasonable effort to steal the ball. It is a judgment call for the officials.
Technical foul: A player or a coach can commit this type of foul. Foul language, obscenity, obscene gestures, and even arguing.

Violations

Walking/Traveling: Taking more than ‘a step and a half’ without dribbling the ball or moving your pivot foot once you’ve stopped dribbling.
Carrying/palming: When a player dribbles the ball with his hand too far to the side of or, sometimes, even under the ball.
Double Dribble：Dribbling the ball with both hands on the ball at the same time or picking up the dribble and then dribbling again.
Held ball: Occasionally, two or more opposing players will gain possession of the ball at the same time. The referee stops the action and awards the ball to one team or the other on a rotating basis.
Backcourt violation: Once the offense has brought the ball across the mid-court line, they cannot go back across the line during possession. If they do, the ball is awarded to the other team to pass inbounds.
Time restrictions: A player passing the ball inbounds has five seconds to pass the ball. If he does not, then the ball is awarded to the other team. Other time restrictions include the rule that a player cannot have the ball for more than five seconds when being closely guarded and, shot-clock restrictions requiring a team to attempt a shot within 24 seconds.

Player positions

Center: They are generally your tallest players. They generally are positioned near the basket.
Forward: The next tallest players in the team will most likely be forwards. While a forward may be called upon to play under the hoop, they may also be required to operate in the wings and corner areas.
Guard: These are potentially your shortest players and they should be really good at dribbling fast, seeing the court, and passing. It is their job to bring the ball down the court and set up offensive plays.

Reference: https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/basics/basics.html

Huskies: A Brief Introduction

**The photo was taken** **in 2018 during the championship game.**

The team was organized in 2014 by some high school girls who were addicted to basketball. The original purpose of this team was to assemble the girls who were interested in basketball to form a team and play together. The name of the first leader of the team was Ellen Wang and our first coach was Miss. Kiko. In 2015, a new coach took charge of the team; his name is Mr.Patrick who had 6 years experiences of coaching basketball. He arranged three practices per week and made the team more formal. After he arrived, he brought cohesion and unity to the team. In 2016, the team competed with several other schools and experienced some losses since the players’ ability and cooperation were not so good. In 2017, more and more girls joined the team and participated well. We took part in the SSSBL league and we successfully entered the playoffs. However, we were also quickly eliminated. In 2018, our team improved a lot with some excellent new players joining us so we won the second place of SSSBL league, Shanghai Super 3V3 and ADRIANA basketball competition. We believe that we will definitely win all the championships in 2019 with all the efforts we put in training, competitive experiences and our faith in the team.

Our achievements

second place of SSSBL in 2018
The second place of 3v3 Shanghai Super Basketball Competition 2018
The second place of Just Ball One Day Tournament 2018
The first place of Just Ball One Day Tournament 2019

**The photo was taken in 2019 after we won the first place of Just Ball 5v5 One Day Tournament**

Our coach Mr.Patrick

Mr. Patrick came from America. He had 6 years experiences of coaching girl’s basketball team. After he became a EB teacher in Pinghe, the first thing he did was to ask whether Pinghe has a basketball team or not and showed great interest on coaching the team. Meanwhile, the former coach Miss. Kiko was planning to leave the school so Mr. Patrick took over her job. At the beginning, the girls treated the team as a club; many of them came to practices when they wanted to do so. However, things changed after Mr.Patrick arrived. He arranged three trainings per week and made a strict rule that everyone in the team should attend at least twice a week. He also organized several friendly games with other schools with the help from the captain of the team. Players have to earn their places by coming to practice so they can play on the court during the games. Our euphoria and the experience of training together every day brought us together as a unit. He is a very responsible and altruistic coach. He sacrificed his spare time to train us and he spent a lot of efforts on the team to make us become stronger. He is not only very concerned about our basketball skills, but also our school life. We always have dinners together after games which strength the bonds between team members and the coach. We are so glad and thankful that we have Mr.Patrick as our coach.

Our star players

Yan, a grade 12 student who was the recipient a variety of academic awards and the leader of several projects. She was also the captain of the team when she was in grade 11. She joined the team as soon as she started her high school life. Layups, attacking under the basket and defensing are her strong points. Yan is very helpful to other team members, she can not only help others to improve their basketball skills but also help with their academic questions. Meanwhile, she did so well as a captain of the team. She applied for funding from the school, booked buses for our away games and arranged meals during the competitions.

Katara is a grade 12 student who is obsessed with basketball. She was invited to join the team when she was in grade 8 and showed her talents in playing basketball during the competitions between classes. After she entered high school, she almost never missed trainings. Layups, playing help defense and organizing offense are her strong points. Katara is quite ambitious. Her goal is to win the championship of SSSBL with her teammates. At first, she was not performing very well during the game since she was so nervous and didn’t trust the players that were weaker than her. However, she realized the team wins by excellent team working and she is behaving as a great senior now.

Amber, a grade 11 student who had excellent results in IB while behaving well in the practices and games. She was the MVP of SSSBL in 2018. Her participation has increased our team’s hope of winning dramatically. Amber’s basketball skills are almost omnipotent that made her the key of our fast break tactics. She treats basketball very seriously so she is doing her best in every training and competition. What’s more, she is the captain this year and hopefully she will lead us to win the championship.