2018-01-06

【Aiden in English】

        New season, new me… sort of. I’m still quite mediocre at basketball, but at least I’m considerably taller than last year. Also, my team relies on my height a bit more, so I touch the ball a lot in the post. However, I can’t really say that I enjoy playing down low. That part of basketball never appealed to me.

        A new season approaches, bringing along quite some challenges. For one, this year’s league is a bit unbalanced. How do I know?

        Entering the first game of the season, our coach demanded an arrival 15 minutes prior to tip-off. Walking onto the court, we saw the previous game still going, and the scoreboard was malfunctioning… at least, that’s what I thought. After asking around, I came to the conclusion that the score was 39-3. Yes, we are playing basketball. 39-3 was the current score, to everyone’s surprise. While warming up on the other court, a thunderous boom of cheering came from the on-going game. They scored.

        Even though the township league isn’t taken very seriously, most coaches have some sort of coaching experience. Our coach coaches a local high school team, which makes him knowledgeable, experienced, and probably better than the other coaches. Furthermore, he brings a lot of schemes I’ve never seen before, like 3-2 offense, but I think I got down what was needed to know.

        As for the first game of the season, I couldn’t hit a shot. Perhaps it’s jitters or the first game of the season, but I really hope my shooting improves. At least I could hit free-throws, which is always better than nothing. The game itself swung in our favor, and the competition was close for good three-quarters. Then the other team went all-Atlanta Falcons on us and pretty much turned the ball over ten times in the third and fourth quarters. In fact, I want to say that one of our big men had a triple-double in points, rebounds, and steals. He also had three blocks in a row on one opponent’s possession. 

        By the end of the game, our team continued a dominating defensive stretch, not allowing any points for a good three minutes. The final score was a bit misleading, as the other team hit a few last-second threes to tighten the scoreboard. 

        As for my team, I can’t stop thinking about how this year’s team felt almost identical to the last year’s. For one, we have guards on guards, with a few big men, and everyone could dribble the ball. We play fast, outpacing, and forcing more turnovers than the other team. If these conditions hold up, this season could be special.

【红霞译文】

        新赛季、新面貌……有点气势。打篮球咱水平一般，但论个头起码比去年窜出一截，难怪球队依赖本人身高优势，结果让我在禁区有很多拿球机会。然而，我还真不敢瞎白话自己喜欢打内线，其实我向来对它有一搭无一搭。

        新赛季在即，相应的挑战也随之而来。明摆着，今年乡村联赛各队实力参差不齐，何以见得？

        本赛季首轮比赛开战当天，教练要求我们提前十五分钟集合。待大家走进球场，上一场比赛仍在较量之中，莫非比分牌出现故障……我禁不住犯起嘀咕，经过了解才搞清楚比分为39比3，说得没错，人人都在磨刀霍霍，这种战绩简直不可思议。我们在隔壁场地做准备活动时，赛场上响起一阵震耳欲聋的欢呼声，他们进球得分了。

        虽说乡村联赛不太正规，但多数教练还是具有一定的带队经验，而指导我们的则是来自当地一支高中篮球队的教练，他知识渊博经验丰富，可能比别的教练更有水平。此外，他满脑子装了不少我前所未闻的计划方案，诸如3—2进攻联防，但我觉得做好该做的足矣。

        话说本赛季首场比赛，我空投未进什么球，也许归咎于紧张或头次上阵，总之投篮技术有待提高，好在本人靠罚球涨分，总比空手而归强得多。比赛中我队略占上风，前三节双方角逐激烈，接下来对手宛如亚特兰大猎鹰队进行全场紧逼。到了第三、四节，球在双方队员之间反复易手，前后不下十次，多亏我队有位大个子无论在投球、抢篮板还是断球等每个项目上大包大揽十几分，而且连续三次拦住对方传球。

        临近终场时，我队继续发挥防守优势，足有三分钟未让对方得过一分，最后他们投进几个三分球将比分拉近，误以为能赢。

        说起本队，我不由得在想今年这支球队跟去年那支球队水平差不多，全是人盯人防守，再加上几位大个儿坐镇，大家都能运球，我们跑动又快，迫使对方连连丢球，如果照这样下去，那么本赛季定会非同寻常。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2014: Signal Hill in Cape Town, SA(南非开普敦信号山)

2013: Iguazu NP, Argentina(阿根廷伊瓜苏国家公园)

2010: 澳洲文化中心墨尔本(Melbourne)

Crosslink(相关博文):

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-10(2017年乡村娱乐篮球队第十场比赛)

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-9(2017年乡村娱乐篮球队第九场比赛)

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-8(2017年乡村娱乐篮球队第八场比赛)

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-5(2017年乡村娱乐篮球队第五场比赛)

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-3(2017年乡村娱乐篮球第三场比赛)

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-2(2017年乡村娱乐篮球队第二场比赛)

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-1(2017年乡村娱乐篮球队第一场比赛)