JOIN USIt’s not always that you see a 6’11’’ player jog around a basketball court, dominate proceedings and tap in baskets with ease in Indian women’s basketball. And it’s even rarer to see a determined centre outbox and outmuscle her towering opponent.
That was the spectacle Delhi’s Neha Joshi produced at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium with when she was up against the lanky Poonam Chaturvedi of Chhattisgarh in the quarterfinals of the 66th Senior National Basketball Championships.
Poonam ruled the paint in the first two quarters of the game, tapping in baskets without even a jump. But a tinkered game plan in the later stages saw a spirited Delhi side restrict the Chhattisgarh pivot from enjoying much time inside the arch, while ensuring that her team-mates didn’t find their star player with their passes.
“I don’t think that there is anything you can do with her (Poonam). Besides her height if you look at her legs, they are very tall. So whenever she gets the ball inside, she is in the basket,” admitted the Delhi assistant coach Sheeba Maggon.
“So only thing we could do is put pressure on the people who are passing to her. If those people are not passing to her at the right angle, then it becomes difficult for her to move. Coordination wise, she cannot bend down fast so our plan was to make it difficult for the outside people to pass to her,” she added.
The move meant Delhi’s experienced centre Neha was on her counterpart all the time, keeping her away from the basket, while her team-mates ensured that the champion team from the 2015 Nationals couldn’t find their star player with their passes.
“Obviously it is very difficult to defend against her, as she is so tall. The strategy was simple. Stick to a full-court defence on her, and for me to continuously bump her, because once she takes her position, it is tough to stop her.
“She is nearly seven feet, and when she raises her hands, it becomes even more difficult. So every time they played offence, I made sure to bump her 5-6 times, so that by the time she came to her spot, she was tired,” said Neha.
While the Delhi assistant coach Sheeba opined that she would have played with all her five players and not just depend on someone like a Poonam to earn her points, the Chhattisgarh coach Rajesh Patel believed it would be stupidity to not use a player like Poonam to her fullest.
“She might be slow to track back, but she is a real asset for any team when on attack. I have no regrets in playing her the way I did today. Ours is a very young side, while Delhi has a number of Indian internationals in their ranks. And that difference was evident. This is a learning experience for us,” opined Patel.