GL vs LS

Long story short, GL won in our game against LS. But it was not pretty at all. We jumped off to a nice 4 point lead at the end of the first. I was pleased. We even extended our lead to six at one point in the second. But then LS started pressing and the wheels came off. The team was just totally unprepared for their suffocating man press and that has to be chalked up as my fault. I said as much at half when we were either tied or down by 2. We cranked it back up in the third and extended our lead to 6, once again, before it started to get close. They got back to with-in 3, with 30 seconds left, but Brian hit a clutch free throw (and he was 1-6 from the line for the day) to put us up by 4 and seal the victory.

Overall I’m feeling pretty depressed about our performance. The press tore us up. We fell apart against a good man to man defense. We played good defense, they were forced to take numerous outside shots, which they missed, but then just got POUNDED on the boards. It was a very disheartening victory. We have so much to work on. We’ve now shown we have trouble against zone and man defenses, don’t always box out negating our aggressiveness against a bigger team, have trouble against a press. I’ve liked our defense, but the fact that we’re allowing so many points each game suggests that perhaps our offense is in better shape than it appears and it’s our defense that needs work. Oh yeah I forgot to mention we were 4-11 from the free throw line.

Fortunately we have two real practices this week. After this week, we go to having a half hour less each week and I certainly can use that half hour.

Individual notes:

Andrew – Was absent. This allowed me to really spread out the playing time nicely.

Brian – Killed us with his 1-6 from the FT line. He’s a liability on defense, for the most part. But did put up a good game on the offensive side overall.

Cameron – Played some real solid defense. He actually got some crunch time playing as a result. Is a complete non-factor on offense, at best, and against the superior skill LS showed, was a liability.

Dante – Once again was basically a non-factor. Had three rebounds, but was noticeably slower against their big men, who would often come far outside the post.

David – I’m pleased he didn’t get discouraged with himself when he struggled in the 2nd versus their press. He made some amazing shots for us in the 4th, and was the leader I needed him to be. Not to mention he set an all time high for the team with 5 assists. His play making was terrific.

Jack M – Did really well for us in the first. Unfortunately, after that he seemed to get intimidated by their big men and his efficiency went down. He missed several lay-ups which hurt us.

Jack P – Once again shot efficiently and well. Unfortunately, he played sloppily on defense and fouled, denying us his presence during crunch time.

Justin – The kid is amazing. Was 6-6 on his shooting. However, he only came down with 4 boards against a physical team, kind of what I was expecting from how he did in practice. I hope he’ll benefit the most from the blocking out practice we’re going to do this week.

Lucas – Just didn’t have it. Couldn’t find a way to contribute offensively, and turned the ball over a fair amount on the touches he did find. Defensively he was alright, but struggled against the bigger players that LS has.

Scott – He played well. Unfortunately due to some bad calls he got into foul trouble and ended up fouling out. His 1 rebound, an all time low for him, shows just how badly we were hurting on the boards.

Tom – I didn’t get him the playing time he deserved. The problem, as I’ve said before, is that while he doesn’t do anything too poorly, he doesn’t do anything well.