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.

【紅霞譯文】

        新賽季、新面貌……有點氣勢。打籃球咱水平一般，但論個頭起碼比去年竄出一截，難怪球隊依賴本人身高優勢，結果讓我在禁區有很多拿球機會。然而，我還真不敢瞎白話自己喜歡打內線，其實我向來對它有一搭無一搭。

        新賽季在即，相應的挑戰也隨之而來。明擺着，今年鄉村聯賽各隊實力參差不齊，何以見得？

        本賽季首輪比賽開戰當天，教練要求我們提前十五分鐘集合。待大家走進球場，上一場比賽仍在較量之中，莫非比分牌出現故障……我禁不住犯起嘀咕，經過了解才搞清楚比分為39比3，說得沒錯，人人都在磨刀霍霍，這種戰績簡直不可思議。我們在隔壁場地做準備活動時，賽場上響起一陣震耳欲聾的歡呼聲，他們進球得分了。

        雖說鄉村聯賽不太正規，但多數教練還是具有一定的帶隊經驗，而指導我們的則是來自當地一支高中籃球隊的教練，他知識淵博經驗豐富，可能比別的教練更有水平。此外，他滿腦子裝了不少我前所未聞的計劃方案，諸如3—2進攻聯防，但我覺得做好該做的足矣。

        話說本賽季首場比賽，我空投未進什麼球，也許歸咎於緊張或頭次上陣，總之投籃技術有待提高，好在本人靠罰球漲分，總比空手而歸強得多。比賽中我隊略占上風，前三節雙方角逐激烈，接下來對手宛如亞特蘭大獵鷹隊進行全場緊逼。到了第三、四節，球在雙方隊員之間反覆易手，前後不下十次，多虧我隊有位大個子無論在投球、搶籃板還是斷球等每個項目上大包大攬十幾分，而且連續三次攔住對方傳球。

        臨近終場時，我隊繼續發揮防守優勢，足有三分鐘未讓對方得過一分，最後他們投進幾個三分球將比分拉近，誤以為能贏。

        說起本隊，我不由得在想今年這支球隊跟去年那支球隊水平差不多，全是人盯人防守，再加上幾位大個兒坐鎮，大家都能運球，我們跑動又快，迫使對方連連丟球，如果照這樣下去，那麼本賽季定會非同尋常。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2014: Signal Hill in Cape Town, SA(南非開普敦信號山)

2013: Iguazu NP, Argentina(阿根廷伊瓜蘇國家公園)

2010: 澳洲文化中心墨爾本(Melbourne)

Crosslink(相關博文):

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-10(2017年鄉村娛樂籃球隊第十場比賽)

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-9(2017年鄉村娛樂籃球隊第九場比賽)

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-8(2017年鄉村娛樂籃球隊第八場比賽)

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-5(2017年鄉村娛樂籃球隊第五場比賽)

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-3(2017年鄉村娛樂籃球第三場比賽)

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-2(2017年鄉村娛樂籃球隊第二場比賽)

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-1(2017年鄉村娛樂籃球隊第一場比賽)