HP vs WM

Sorry that I’m a day late on this. I simply didn’t have time yesterday to write this up.

The notable event from warm-up is a warm-up drill that WM did. They had their players stand in an arc around the basket. Two players would have the ball. One would shoot. If he missed whoever the ball bounced to kept it. If he made it the coach passed it to another person. The other person would then shoot. It was a nice, low activity, warm-up drill.

WM comes out fouling. It is their first game, and it shows. They get into bonus, and double bonus, before the first period is over. Unfortunately the free throws all go to Jack A who is one of our worst free throw shooters and he only makes 1 of 6. Equally unfortunately, Josh gets into early foul trouble, which is a shame because he scored 6 points in the first. We go into the second up 8-6. In the second we extend our lead, with a variety of kids scoring. Josh basically sits the whole quarter out as he picks up a quick 3rd foul. With about 90 seconds left Jack A gets hurt and I put Josh back in. I tell him if he gets a 4th foul I’ll need to sit him the whole 3rd so he needs to be super careful. Right away there is one play that the ref rules a block but could have gone either way. Later on there is a play where Josh backs away. His dad, who is standing on our sideline, rather than sitting with the parents, yells at him. When there is a stop I explain to him that because Josh had so many fouls he was under instructions to be super careful. His dad apologizes to me and then as we are going out to meet at half, apologizes to Josh.

Since we’re only playing with 8 players, as Ben and Jon are in Arizona and Gavin’s at a hockey tournament, my big message is to just rest. We’re playing alright. Not terribly well, as our man defense is looking poor at times, but not terribly either. The good news is that we do a much better job of breaking the press than we had in previous games. The third quarter is basically a wash. In the 4th quarter they switch to a zone, and we struggle. We never lose our lead, but it gets mighty close. Part of this is due to the fact that we have two kids, Jack A and Danny, foul out and commit 14 fouls in the half, and so we are forced to finish with 6 very tired players. That’s just absurd and we’re going to have to improve on that as many of them were of the kind of fouls that aren’t great. With 30 seconds left we’re up by 4. They manage to get a quick steal and basket. They manage to get another quick steal but miss the shot, get the rebound, but Zach rips it out of their hands. He starts to dribble it up, gets the ball stolen from him. WM drives in, and in my opinion gets fouled, but there’s no call. We pull out the victory, but it was not a pretty win. The kids seems as despondent as I’ve ever seen them at the end of the game.

We have some clear areas to work on. The good news is that the effort we put into beat a press seems to have worked. The bad news is that we have a whole bunch of other areas to work on.

Taking a look at the players who were there:

Jacob – Without Gavin, and the twins, we counted on his inside presence more than ever. And while he showed a good court sense, he didn’t have the athletic ability to back it up. He got numerous balls stolen from him, in that he’d get the rebound and then they’d force a jump ball. His dribbling isn’t as good as everyone elses so that means when he’s open deep on a fast break he can’t convert. He was the only kid not to score.

Zach -- He struggled the most when they switched to a zone. His ability to drive was effectively neutralized and he had trouble, despite instruction, in making the switch in strategy. He did do a good job, however of basically locking down their best player during the 4th quarter.

Jack A – He continues to be a work in progress. I’m not sure we made any progress this week though. He needs more reinforcement about how to play man to man. His drives also weren’t as effective as normal, though I’m not quite sure the reason.

Henry – Played point for us a lot of the time he was in. Not a great point guard, but I think he’s got the most there so I’m going to be putting in the continued effort to try and grow his skills. He made two crucial free throws late in the 4th to put us up by 4 after they’d cut the lead to 2. He’s not a great free throw shooter so I give him lots of credit in coming through in the clutch.

Josh – Scored 12 of our 30 points. Would have had more if I hadn’t had to sit him so much due to the fouls in the first half. Like I said he’s a good shooter, though many of his other skills, such as hustle, dribbling, or defense, could be better. Does seem to understand, better than the rest, the key to breaking presses which is good. I gave him some time at point and we might try that some more to see how it works.

Danny – I didn’t think he deserved to foul out. Not quite sure where the fouls came from, in other words, as I thought he was playing tough, but clean man for most of the game.

Adam – A tad slower and less athletic than many of the kids out there. He tries hard, but the results just aren’t there. I’ve found that I’m giving him a lot of negative feedback, so I’ve resolved to be far more positive with him, despite there being less to be positive about.

Jack B – A solid scrapper. Probably our best defender at man to man. If he were taller he’d be a dynamo. Played exactly the kind of game I’d hope for him to play.

With that we’re off for the rest of the week. I’m not sure when my next update will be. GL starts it’s new Monday for an hour, Wednesday for an hour and a half practice schedule so there might be a practice update or two. Otherwise HP plays two games Dec 2 so look for an update after those.