Basketball is tricky game. One game, you feel as if you can’t miss, only to feel as if you don’t even know how to play the next game. Inconsistent basketball is a common problem for many players, and learning how to get around this is very important. So what factors go into being a more consistent basketball player?

The key things when it comes to improving your consistency are physical factors (how you take care of your body), mental factors (how you mentally prepare for each game), keeping up with your skills, and last but not least, being able to adjust to different game situations.

Below we will go into different ways to master all of these in combination, in order to improve your consistency on the court.

Deep Dive Into Common Causes Of Inconsistent Performance

We briefly went over the different causes of inconsistent performance above, but not we’re going to take a deep dive into all of them.

Physical Factors

The first factor is the physical aspect of the game. One game it may feel as if your legs are under you completely, and the next game, you may feel as if you can’t get a lift on your jump shot.

Mental Factors Such As Confidence Or Focus

One game you may have a matchup you love so your confidence is sky high, where as the next game, you’re playing against a tough defender which makes you shy away from the game a little bit.

Keeping Up With Your Skills Correctly

You may want to pay attention to your schedule when you have a good game. What things did you do that week skill wise that made you have a good game.

For example, did you do dribbling drills the night before, which made you feel more confident in your abilities? Did you set a goal to make 500 jump shots that week, in return you felt more confident in your shot?

Being Able To React To Game Situations

Probably the biggest reason players are inconsistent is because every game plan from each opponent is different. One game you may be facing a zone, the next game you may be facing man.

This may get hard to prepare for, because maybe you’re a good three point shooter who plays well against a zone, but when it comes to man to man, you struggle.

Strategies To Improve Consistency

Now that we went over the various factors that could effect your ability to play at a high level all the time, we will now go over different strategies you can use to improve your consistency.

Physical Factors

We went over how one game you could have your legs under you, but the next game you could struggle. It’s important to find yourself a good routine to make sure you recover and are ready for the next game. You could do this by incorporating a good diet, staying hydrated, and not pushing your limits too much during practice to the point where it effects your game performance.

One thing you could do is talk to your strength and conditioning coach at your school to work out a good schedule that helps you recover properly, but also keeps up your performance levels so you are ready for the game.

Mental Preparation

This is probably the most important factor of basketball if I’m being honest. If you know the in’s and out’s of the game mentally, you may be able to still have good performances even if your not feeling 100% in the physical aspect.

You want to be able to visualize different situations. For example, if a team is going to play zone vs you, you need to be able to visualize what you’re going to do versus that zone. If you could instil these different game situations in your head before the game, it will make things much easier when you get into the game and are able to adjust accordingly.

Stop Over Thinking

One of the most common things with inconsistent players is that they overthink. When you over think, it’s hard to play consistently. Here are some ways you could skip the overthinking and stay in the moment.

Put The Game In Perspective: At the end of the day, basketball is just a game. If you could remember this, your chances of overthinking is very low.

Meditate Before The Game: Meditation puts you in the moment. If you want to play free and you have a problem with overthinking meditate for 10 minutes before the game (if you can). The key is to close your eyes, and clear your mind and try and not think about anything.

Take Calculated Breaks From The Game: If you’re constantly in the game, you could start to overthink and begin to get anxious. It’s important to have some calculated breaks. Do things you like to do like hang out with friends, etc.

Brushing Up On Your Skills

This goes hand in hand with mental preparation. For example, if you know a team is going to be playing zone, you may get a baseline shot more often, or a three point shot, depending on the type of player you are.

The key is to be ready for this by practicing these shots. The most important aspect of practicing these shots is to focus on good form, and consistent form. The biggest problem with players (younger players especially) is the fact that they don’t have consistency when it comes to their jump shot, so even when they get open opportunities, they come up short.

Leading up to a game you should practice all the shots you may get, and get a consistent form that gives you the best chance to make it.

Every day you should aim to work on your dribbling, shots, and more in order to stay fresh and up to date on the game. Muscle memory is one of the most important aspects of playing basketball, and taking the time to practice will give you an advantage when it comes to different game situations.

Example Of a Daily Goal To Hit Leading Up To Your Game

• 200 Dribbles In Each Hand (With Your Head Up)
• Make 100 jump shots per day (From Spots You’re Going To Shoot From)
• Make 5 sets of 10 free throws
• Finish off some light cardio to stay fresh

Being Able To React To Different Game Situations

This goes hand in hand with the mental aspect, however, many players visualize how the game is going to go before the game. When you do this, you sometimes tend to shut out all the other possibly aspects of the game.

You want to visualize success but also be ready to react to different game situations.

Keep In Mind That Even The Best Players Have Bad Games

Even the best players in the world have bad games. It’s important to keep in mind that you can’t have a good game every single game. Despite having a bad game, there are things you could do in order to make sure you’re not a liability. Those things include:

Hustling

Hustling regardless of whether or not your shot is falling is important. This could be the difference between winning and losing. Take one of the best blocks of all time as an example. Both the Warriors and Cavs couldn’t get the ball to go in, and on wild ricochet off the basket, the Warriors were about to get an easy lay up, but Lebron hustled back and blocked the shot, which ended up being one of the most iconic plays in NBA history.

This is just one play though. Hustling over the span of a game could end in more offensive rebounds, getting more loose balls, and more positive plays.

Also, when you make defensive plays, this may spark your offensive energy, so never hand your head, and hustle no matter what.

Take Care Of The Ball

Just because you can’t make shots, doesn’t mean you can’t take care of the ball. Focus on making smart decisions, and focus on getting the ball to your teammates in open spots. If you can do this, then even if you’re shot isn’t falling, your team still has a chance of winning.

Conclusion

Now you know exactly why your game is inconsistent and things you could possibly do to improve it. Always remember that bad games are possible, but there is more to basketball than the box score. Some of the best players of all time were great based on hustle alone.

If you found this post helpful, please share it with others, and if you have any questions or comments on how to improve basketball consistency I’ll be more than happy to hear what your strategies are.

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