HP vs WG

After the very satisfying win against MP2, I was excited for HP’s game against WG. I know that they, based on their record, weren’t a great team. We would only have 7 players for the game, with Jack A at a soccer tournament, and family obligations for the twins and Gavin.

The good news was that WG wasn’t a big team, except for one player who was just an absolute monster. I knew he’d be a problem for us. The first quarter was a back and forth affair, ending up with us down 7-5.

Then in the second we took off scoring numerous baskets in transition and having the good fortune of having Adam, who has surprisingly emerged as our best free throw shooter, getting fouled on a couple of shots allowing him to go 3/4 from the line. Even better our defense was ferocious. We got their dominant player into foul trouble and the team just didn’t play well with out him. We took a 13-7 lead going into half. That’s correct: we didn’t allow a point the entire second quarter.

Unfortunately that’s all we had. Josh had sat out most of the first half after rolling his ankle in the first quarter, so he was fresh for the second half. Unfortunately their center, #50, took over the game. By the 4th quarter we were just sluggish. Our defense wasn’t as strong as we needed it to be. We were down by 5 with less than 30 seconds to go. We managed to get a lay-up. We then came VERY close to get a 5 second violation which would have set us up for a 3 point attempt, but unfortunately it didn’t work out. We then almost did get another 3 point chance at the end of the game, but Josh couldn’t make it happen and so we lost a disappointing game.

After feeling so good about the coaching I’d done with GL it was a particularly depressing game against WG. We committed a ridiculous amount of turnovers. Worse, I wasn’t on my coaching A game and Brian was there watching and commenting. In other words I didn’t look good in front of my boss. It was particularly frustrating. I went home upset at their lack of conditioning and upset with myself for not being a better tactical coach.