Playing basketball (Read 568 times)

I'm training for the Indy Mini this May (goal of 1:45) and while I know I need to just flat out run more than I'm doing, I'm wondering the effect that playing basketball is having on my training.  I often go out to the gym with some friends and play pick-up games, most of which are pretty intense workouts.  I'm not the most skilled guy on the planet, so I have to compensate by playing with lots of defense and movement.  If I would rate these games as equally demanding to most of my running workouts, am I getting any benefits that might translate to running a half?  And if so, how would I go about quantifying and tracking these games?  Base it on time? Intensity?

Its probably closer to speedwork, I play a little ball here and there and it feels more like doing intervals than, say, a long run for example.  If you don't skip out on the long runs and can avoid twisting an ankle or something like that, you should be fine, although the pounding from basketball seems worse to me.