GL vs WM

GL went into our game against WM with confidence. We had played them last year in the HP tourney and beaten them with some ease. WM was also was 0-2 entering into the game. Before the game there was a problem with Cameron, who had never received his away jersey, an issue I’d completely forgotten about. Fortunately, in the end it all worked out as Cameron wore Lucas’s jersey from last year, which only worked as a solution because Jack M had brought HIS jersey from last year.

I went with a starting five of Andrew, David, Dante, Scott, and Jack P. And with 1 minute gone we were up 7-0. This felt more like it. WM called a time out and that killed some of our momentum and they were able to claw their way back into it thanks to the efforts of their very talented #4, who my brother nicknamed “Andre” (as in Andre the Giant). At the end of the first quarter we actually were down 12-9. The good news was that because of WM’s awkward setup it was hard for players to see the score. We came out strong in the second quarter with Andrew, David, and Justin scoring all of our 14 points to take a 23-21 half time lead.

The third quarter was a quick quarter with our scoring only 6 points and their scoring 8 points, all thanks to “Andre”. We got down early in the 4th but clawed our way back into it. We tied it up for good with 30 seconds left in the 4th. We had done some full court pressure, but it didn’t work too well. We really will have to work on how to press because with our speed we need that tool in our arsenal.

We went into the 3 minute over time period and the other team just collapsed, unable to make a shot (and most of them were not very good shots), while we got 4 points, and a couple of other good looks. Fortunately for us the other team was not in foul trouble and so we basically just stalled the last 40 seconds of the game. They did get the ball back with 9 seconds to go and I told my players to basically just stand there with their arms up. Let them shoot the 3 or whatever but don’t foul. Our time dutifully complied, they shot their 3, which missed, and we won. Their coach, who was a real nice guy before the game, was less than gracious after the game.

Frankly we were a lot better than this team. I’m glad we got the win. The question is why we had a close game at all. Part of it was because they made a whole bunch of lucky shots (the ref commented to their coach during the 4th that he should buy a lotto ticket). Part of it seems to be that we let up a little after our initial run and couldn’t regain the energy. But part of it has to be on me. And the frustrating thing is that I don’t know what it is, so I can’t start doing X, Y, Z in order to improve myself or the team. I don’t feel like I made any costly decisions this game, unlike last, so that’s good, but I don’t think I did anything to help us win either.

But perhaps it’s simply exhaustion. This was the last basketball related activity I’d do for 3 weeks. And despite that I still woke up and my mind immediately went to basketball Monday and Tuesday morning. I love the game and enjoy both my teams. However, I need to break badly. After writing this post I am basically done with basketball until our game January 6th and so hopefully I can get recharged.