Hoop Dreams Unplugged

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An apology is in order.

I looked down upon basketball because of players’ height.  I thought it was a matter of this tall man getting to the basket and dunking the ball, which didn’t make sense either. Why the drama of slamming it with all you got when you are the same height as the hoop?
Store window ad.


What could be more difficult? I thought basketball was not mentally stimulating like tennis where the Centre Court crowd guesses how an unseeded player crafts his game to outwit the great Rafael Nadal from Spain.

 I thought basketball was as easy as taking candy from a kid, then something happened. Toronto Raptors happened. They kept winning during the 2019 NBA playoffs, which is a big thing in Canada and the U.S. as big as the FIFA World Cup if you like soccer.

 Let me watch this thing called basketball.  The tall guys are still there but let me look at the bigger picture, or the whole basketball court. You get punished for foul play which I wont go into because I don’t have a clue what fouls are.

 Mind games. Basketball is about mind games because I thought that guy was going to throw the ball in the basket. He didn’t. He flipped his wrist and gave it to his co-worker who scored. Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors fame did that so well, I became a basketball convert.  It also helped that he is not tall.
Toronto Raptors Kyle Lowry

Basketball is not as easy as I thought because players often have to drive through traffic (not my words, some sports commentator said it) around the basket area and still score.
  
Toronto Raptors Pascal Siakam and Kawhi Leonard gave us some memorable plays which led to the team clinching the 2019 NBA Championship, causing Canada (a hockey nation) to lose its mind.

I’m still a rookie basketball fan so the next lesson is trying to figure out foul plays and penalties.

 By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
(basketball fan by default, because Toronto Raptors won 2019 NBA Finals).

 

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