The (not so) Secret Sporting Life of Hoi - v2

Tuesday, 10th August 2004 - 7:19p.m.

Wow, it's been almost a month since I wrote here?

 

I do want to note that the reduction in my motivation for writing match reports here is mainly because after the last few matches, the whole team's had dinner together and we air out pretty much all we need about the matches - so there's not so much of a need to record a match report here. Still, here we go - let's see how many I can catch up here. I'll start from the first match I missed and catch up from there - some of these will be shorter than usual, if I can't remember what happened anymore!

 

17th June 2004 - Flavos Remix 20 d. St Marks 0.

 

St Marks forfeited this game, so not too much to say about this one, especially since I wasn't even here for the muckaround game (was still in Japan at the time). I was somewhat amazed, however, that you guys allowed them to score officially - should have made sure that the scoresheet recorded this game as a forfeit win for us, but on the scoresheet it said that St Marks won by 10 points because the muckaround game was scored as a proper game. That's what we ended up fixing eventually last week.

 

Apparently their big guy killed us, and he killed us again last week... but we'll talk about that in the relevant match report.

 

24 June 2004 - bye.

 

1st July 2004 - Super Sevens 41 d. Flavos Remix 30.

 

My main memory from this game was that we were outplayed. It wasn't one of those scrappy games where we were banged out of it, or where our skill errors racked up astronomically - they were simply more skilled than us.

 

From memory, I thought that Jerm and Chuck played well this game, and I had an atrocious game - I thought it would be bad, having stepped off a plane the day before, but it was a lot worse than what I expected. Their big guy had a strong impact on the game as well - Ashby in particular had problems getting shots over him. It was close throughout, but we never actually took the lead in this one - was playing catchup throughout, and we just didn't have enough on this night. Having said that, they're one of the better teams in the comp and I definitely think we have a strong chance of winning against them with a full lineup.

 

8 July 2004 - Flavourz 35 led Flavos Remix 29 when game was abandoned (scored on the table as a draw).

 

I get the ball from Chris Lau on the left wing, and drove hard towards the baseline. Their big guy shut off the penetration though, so I picked up my dribble and looked to pass back out. I was pushed slightly in the back by their young guard and he was pretty aggressive, so I tried to protect the ball in the standard ball protection position - ball at the chest, elbows slightly out. I brought the ball up to pass it, and my right elbow caught him somewhere. Suddenly not marked tightly, I took a shot, and then was shoved as soon as I landed by the young guy, who had a bit of blood on his nose. I shoved him back, then their And1 try-hard jumped in, then others jumped in, then their big guy jumped in, and lots of pushing and shoving ensued, and...

 

They eventually scored this game as a draw I believe on the table, because "neither team deserved to win for being idiots" (Val the organiser's words, not mine). What I really couldn't believe was that they allowed the big guy onto the court with 10 mins remaining in the second half - St George association rules has always been that no new players are allowed on after half time, but the ref (the "Hobo" - Ashby's words) was from Bankstown so he allowed him on - and they tried to blame us for it ("oh, you should have came to the desk and asked us"). WTF? The push and shove wouldn't have been nearly as bad if him and the other dumb shnit jumped in - I would be pissed off too if my nose was bleeding from being elbowed, but the young 'un chilled out pretty quickly because he knew it was a mistake. If the other dickheads didn't jump in, the situation would have been under control.

 

Hey, they're young, you know?

 

The game itself - we played against 4 players for a significant portion of the game and still struggled. I had another atrocious game - over this and the last game, I think I was something like 0/11 or 0/13 from the field, two points overall (!!!!!) - and our defense wasn't very good either; one play in particular stuck in memory: their big guy drove the baseline, and Fat Chris & Ashby somehow managed to screen each other out from the play and allow him a free layup?!?! Tim more than held his own inside though, and Chuck gave another dose of outside shooting; from memory, those two things kept us within touching distance for most of the game. Still, our offense was really struggling to get good shots a majority of the time.

 

Can those open shots, and we would have had this game. But that's been the case for a lot of games, hasn't it?

 

8th July 2004 - Flavos Remix 39 d. Chargers 38.

 

Pretty memorable game yeah?

 

This game started 3 minutes late, and we had a 6 point headstart to begin with - so they actually scored more points than us; having said that, anyone being late is a dickhead, because considering each team pays $60 every game, each team loses $1.50 per minute lost to St George Basketball Assoc; and we all know how much they deserve more money, don't we? ;)

 

(Sidenote - seriously, $60 per game?!?! They pay the (usually incompetent and/or too young) refs $15 - so if they have two refs - and we all know from experience that there's no guarantees two refs will turn up - that's $30 per game. That means that the two games are paying $90 to the Assoc for court hire etc. Hiring a basketball court at USyd, for instance - a much, much better basketball court with better facilities, i.e. not like a converted warehouse - costs $45 to rent for a hour. I wonder how much Hurstville Aquatic Centre actually charges for court hire? Where does the rest of the money go? What about the team registration fee, how are they used?

 

And we all know that the money isn't being used on efficient administration of the competition...!)

 

(Another sidenote - I have no problem with having young referees. Refs, after all, still have to start from somewhere. But it's a pretty bad idea to start young 15 year old refs in the open mens division; hearing complaints from our comp for a hour or two might very well be enough to turn potential refs off from refereeing for the rest of their lives. It's saying something when I say that our team is pretty average in the complaining division for the comp - we have Ashby, after all, haha. Actually, other than Ashby - who does most of the complaining - Bosco - who fouls way too much in too short a time and then complains, usually from the bench - and me - who does most of the loud swearing and polite but not too objective persuading/talking to the referees - the rest of the Flavos Remix aren't too bad when it comes to referees, haha).

 

We were a fair bit better this game on offense - we got mostly good shots, even if we couldn't always can them. Our offense was, however, marred by a lot of turnovers, especially from me in the first half. Some of those turnovers were bad. We also should have switched to man-to-man defense at some stage during the game - they had a few decent guys, but their big man just killed us - it seemed like whenever he wanted to take it in and get an inside shot, he did. Our zone wasn't really working against him, we weren't closing the gaps quickly enough, and I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up scoring half of their team's points at least. In general, a lot of their points came from either their fast-breaks - especially in the first half, from the glut of turnovers - and not closing the gap adequately on defense.

 

We did, however, knuckle down on defense over the last few minutes. Chuck had an amazing block of a layup on a fast break - Chuck, if you really wanted to, I am sure that you could have plucked the ball out of mid-air, because it looked like you blocked the shot with your WRIST - okay, that guy couldn't jump at all, but it was still an astounding block for anyone, let alone for your (rather mediocre defensive ;) standards. I prevented another layup by getting back flying in front of this game guy as he was about to shoot the layup - in fact, now that I think about it, that guy missed quite a few layups because he had less hops than Ashby, though he was still overall their second leading scorer I think. Tim and Ashby as usual held their own on the inside - without these two guys, our rebounding would have been screwed for the whole season; and Ip ran the floor pretty effectively, though some of the rust was pretty evident. Nathan did his usual run around energetically and fall on the floor a few times routine, and Jerm... did you play this game? Other than the turnovers, I think I played a lot better this game - very efficient all around.

 

That all sounds pretty mundane so far. What makes this game memorable - for me especially I suppose, but probably for every member of Flavos Remix - were the last 10 second or so, after Chuck's block and a few other stops down the floor:

 

11 seconds left - down 38-35, we get the ball at the right offensive sideline (or was it just in play? I'm not sure). Nathan passes the ball to me at the 3 point line, around 40 degrees to the hoop from the baseline. I pump fake once, go left, and was surrounded by 3 players; I pump faked another time, then leaned in to try to draw the foul on the play (not easy getting a pass out against 3 players, and I was confident that I could draw a foul on the play; obviously canning a 3 with 3 players on you is pretty damn hard). Amazingly enough, I did (there was contact and it was a foul, but from the flow of the game I would have thought that it wouldn't have been called. Go St George inconsistent refereeing!).

 

7.3 seconds - 3 shots at the line.

 

First one... in and out. Groans from the bench.

 

Second one... miss to the back. More groans from the bench. I could only shake my head.

 

Third one, with everyone expecting it to miss... make. 38-36.

 

They took their time getting the ball in, enough time for us to get into man-to-man defense. Their inbound guy probably didn't know the inbounding rules, because when he inbounded the ball he was still under the backboard - you can move along the baseline all you want when you are inbounding the ball from a made basket, and he probably should have done that to increase the angles he had for passing.

 

Instead, he stuck to his spot, and with everyone effectively picked up (good work people!), he decided to baseball pass it to one of his teammates, who was sprinting beyond mid-court. Only the pass was too weak, and it so happens that I was marking that guy. Picked the ball off a bit past half court - it pretty much came to me, really - and I ran back upcourt.

 

Chuck said later on that he had peeled off and waited for the pass like he always does at the 3-ball line; perhaps their defense was concerned with him, or Tim, or Ashby, or anyone else, because when I came back down court I was thinking about launching a 3 from the top... until I realised that no one was bothering to defend me at the perimeter, and that I had a free run to the free throw line (their big guys had massed at the basket). So I hesistated at the 3 line, saw the situation, and dribbled in, took a running shot from a bit inside the corner of the lane and the free throw line...

 

Got fouled from behind on the wrist...

 

And banked the shot in!!!

 

Everyone on the Flavos Remix (on the court and on the bench) erupts. Everyone on the Chargers starts blaming the guy that fouled me (that was pretty funny haha). I do sometimes try to bank my runners in because it softens the impact a little bit, but I honestly can't take that much credit for the shot - I shot it, it went in, and that's that.

 

Despite all the celebrations, it was still only 38 all. 3.8 seconds left, free throw to come, and after what seemed like an eternity... make.

 

Everyone gets back down court, and Tim does enough to harass their fouler out of the last second 3 point attempt (which was a little too close for comfort). Now that was a good ending.

 

[To be continued].

 

 

Sunday, 11th July 2004 - 11:47p.m.

I don't usually write on the NBA first here, because I need some catching up on my match reports; but anyway, here goes:

 

* Ousmann Cisse's a pretty nice story. I hope he makes it back to the NBA.

 

* Carlos Boozer and his agent are downright deceitful. I can't believe what happened here. Yeah, Boozer made an extra $28 million and you can't fault a man for looking out for his cash; but at what cost?

 

If Boozer's personal intergrity was a stock, it would be Enron. Okay, perhaps not so bad, but you get the point; if the probable scenario is true (and the chances of that, let's face it, on the available evidence, is pretty damn high), this is some genuinely dirty shnit.

 

I know, I know, he earnt a lot of extra cash, and it would definitely be tempting to do it if we were in his position. But still, I shake my head whenever I think about it... (I hope the Cavs, by the way, sign McDyess - one of the good guys of the NBA - and he can tear it up again, although he's probably going to Detroit instead - why? so you can stay on the bench? Go to the Cavs, Dice).

 

* I'm not so sure that the Shaq-to-Miami deal is good for either side.

 

If I was the Heat, I would just hate to give up on Odom, after the season he had (and he's young enough to continue to get better, especially if he can play his natural position @ small forward). I know, I know, Shaq is going to dominate in the East etc, but his recent injury history really isn't the best, and at THIRTY MILLION Benjamins... damn, that's a lot of money.

 

And if I were the Lakers, while Odom is an excellent player and Butler might get better (I'm not sold on him)... they're really becoming the Heat of the East, aren't they? Especially if Malone retires. In that case, they would have a starting five of Payton-Kobe (IF he comes back; if he doesn't after they have traded Shaq... well, the Lakers would be really screwed wouldn't they?)-Butler-Odom-Grant. That frontline might work in the East, but I doubt it would work in the West. With just about all the premier power forwards in the West, Odom is going to have a real tough time defending the post every night. And if Brian Grant can't do the job as a centre in the East, how is he going to do it in the West?

 

I know the Lakers feel that they have to trade Shaq; therefore, they're probably not going to get equal value. Still... isn't there a better deal out there? Somewhere? (I guess this is somewhat similar to the T-Mac situation... more on that later).

 

In short, if this trade goes down - I like the trade far better for Miami than the Lakers, believe it or not. Miami becomes an instant title contender for the next two years if Shaq doesn't opt-out, and while they lose Odom for the next five (and I really like Odom as a player), they do get rid of Grant's ridiculous contract... now they just have to find someone to take Eddie Jones' contract. As for the Lakers... I guess this is the best they can get, right?

 

* There's just crazy money going around everywhere in the NBA at the moment. Adonal Foyle for 5 years and $41 million?!?! Stephen Jackson for 6 years and $44 million?!?!?! Mehmet Okur for 6 years and $50 million?!??! Steve Nash for 6 years and $65 million?!?!?!

 

Phoenix will be really pissed about that Nash contract in about 3-4 years methinks. And Golden State will probably be really pissed about that Foyle contract... sometime this season?? I know some teams feel like they need to sign someone, anyone, but still... I'm glad Washington hasn't done anything stupid yet (although I really hope they match any reasonable offers for Etan Thomas) - please, please don't try to sign Erick Dampier to a ridiculous deal, please...

 

* T-Mac, Juwan Howard etc to Rockets for Francis, Mobley and Cato - hmmmm. It's not a good deal for the Magic if the analysis is based just on the players - Francis is a very good player and Cato is okay, but Mobley is way overrated (and a ball hog) and they are giving up a genuine superstar. But considering the fact that they could have potentially lost T-Mac for nothing at the end of the season and therefore didn't have as much bargaining power as they might otherwise have, it's not such a bad deal.

 

If they can get a system that suits Francis (and I'm not so sure what that system is, because Francis needs the ball in his hands a lot), it would have been a decent deal for the Magic, because Francis is a very good player.

 

Just not a franchise player I think, like McGrady. And that is why the Rockets have gotten the better of this deal. A strong case can be made for T-Mac being perhaps the best player in the NBA; next time I see you guys, I'll bring the Pro Basketball Prospectus along - a very strong argument was made in there about T-Mac being the best in the NBA.

 

The Rockets do, however, desperately need a decent point guard (Juwan Howard may do them some good at the PF position). Hopefully, for them, someone better than Derek Fisher...!

 

*****

 

There's a lot more to write about in the NBA, and I'm way behind on the match reports too, but I'll leave them for some other day... our last two games haven't been the best (and I've quite frankly been pretty atrocious). I promise to write about them soon.

 

 

Thursday, 17th June 2004- 10:35a.m.

Haven't written a match report for a few weeks. I started writing this on the 31st May and just got it finished haha - yeah, I got lazy for a few weeks... Now, let's see:

 

13th May 2004 - Flavos Remix 60 d. The Flock 26 (halftime: 35 v 2).

 

That halftime scoreline isn't a typo - it really was 35 v 2. I remember starting this game up 6 points because the other team only had 3 players (and had to borrow 2 players from another team, We Don't Get) so it was really 29 v 2. But still, 2 points in a half! Now, our defense was pretty good in this game, but it was helped a lot by their lack of shooting ability and energy on the offensive end. I wonder if we'll ever keep an opposing team to 2 points in a half again?

 

After that first half, there really wasn't that much to play for in the second half and the final scoreline reflected this. It was a pretty slow second half, and I don't remember too much of note from it. Overall, it was hard to take too much away from this game - one feature of the first half was that we got a lot of points on the fast break, and that's definitely something that we need to continue to do. Fast breaking goes hand in hand with good rebounding, so credit needs to go to the big men and the whole team in general for getting on the boards.

 

Player ratings (and there's not too much I can say, considering the game was so long ago):

 

BOSCO & CHRIS LAU - 6.5/10. Same standard game; I remember Bosco taking far more shots than usual, which is a good thing. Chris hit a 3 right?

 

CHUCK - 7/10. I remember you played alright in this game, although you missed a ridiculously easy layup because... you were too lazy =) haha. So that lowered your rating a little.

 

TIM - 7.5/10. Controlled the boards in this game against their big guy. You hit something like 1/7 3-balls in this game, however, so that lowered your rating a little as well haha.

 

ASHBY - 7.5/10. I think you played alright in this game but I don't really remember...

 

FAT CHRIS - 7.5/10. Did a lot of running in this game; also controlled the boards but did the usual running around everywhere thing as well.

 

HOI - 7/10. Pretty standard game, this one. Played well in the second half and didn't do much in the second.

 

NATHAN & JERM - N/A. Didn't play because of too many players?

 

It's been a while since this game so I don't remember too much of it anyway, but I have to say that this game wasn't a very effective indicator of where we are as a team. Still, keeping the opposition to 2 points in the first half is what I'm talking about!

 

*****

 

20th May - We Don't Get 49 d. Flavos Remix 38.

 

Giving the other team a 10 point head start because some players were 5 minutes late is NOT good. I don't have a match report for this game yet as I wasn't playing (haha ice skating is what I'm talking about! haha); if anyone wants to give me a match report, feel free to do so.

 

I only recall the fact that Tim played the whole game in tracksuit pants (?!?!?!) and that you guys caught up by the end of the first half, only to have them pull away again in the second half. Hmmm... really need to turn up 5-10 mins early to games, you know?

 

*****

 

27th May - Flavos Remix 34 d. Senators 31. (Halftime 26 v 21)

 

This game turned into quite a struggle in the second half. We were leading at half time and we had put up a respectable points total on the scoreboard; then in the second half, our offense just disappeared.

 

Our half court offense can sometimes become too stagnant and that's something that we definitely need to work on - while we've got a relatively sound spacing structure, we're not working effectively in terms of moving off the ball and cutting to the basket/open spots on the floor. That's probably something that we can need to work on in training if we ever have a session. What we do have to remember, however, is that against a zonal offense, it's best to attack the corners and the high post, as well as through the middle (casuing the zone to collapse in the middle); on the other hand, it's hard to attack from the low post because against the rudimentary defenses that we play against, defenses almost always collapse on the low post (because the low post defender usually doesn't know that they need to front the post to maintain the zonal structure).

 

Our ball movement needs to be better, and we certainly need to work on attacking the zonal defense, because that's the defense that we are going to be playing against the great majority of the time.

 

Our defense was not bad in this game, but we're still vulnerable to cuts towards the high post - the centre needs to step out a little more and one of the guards needs to be back there to protect the middle as well. They got a significant portion of their points from cuts towards the middle of the key.

 

Our fast breaking was good in the first half, and again that was the key to us putting up a good points total in that half. We didn't run so much in the second half - partly due to stamina and partly due to the rebounding from the whole team - and that was reflected in our points total. More off the ball movement in the half court offense would be good.

 

Having said all of that, it was good that we were able to win this close game - we had quite a few turnovers in the last minute, as we weren't too used to playing against a full court press. A bit more calmness under pressure would be good, but we did hold firm with solid defense and managed to get stops when we needed to.

 

Pretty happy to get out of this game with a win, overall - we didn't play particularly well but we scraped out a win against a team that wasn't particularly good, but they had a significant size advantage over us. I don't think we play them again in the competition, but I'm pretty confident that if we did, we would beat them by more in the next game.

 

This game was so long ago that it's hard for me to give any appropriate player ratings for this game... Not a great win, but a win's a win, right?

 

*****

 

3rd June - Flavos Remix 47 d. Crosstown Rivals 36 (halftime - 20 v 16).

 

What won this game for us was largely the start of the second half, when we switched to a full court man-to-man and hassled them into numerous forced and unforced turnovers. That was definitely a good tactical switch - in the first half, the game had slowed to a pace that didn't really suit us, as they were able to get into their half court set and use their height advantage to get a large majority of their points on the inside off short shots or offensive boards.

 

We had tried a zonal press at the end of the first half but that didn't really work properly, so it was good to see that the whole team thought we should go onto a full court man-to-man. As it turned out, it worked extremely well - we went from 20-16 to 36-20, and the game was largely over after that. We couldn't sustain the effort for the whole half, and towards the end of the second half they got some cheap baskets off our mental mistakes, but the game was largely won by that stage and we had probably switched off a little bit - not the best thing in the world, but probably understandable.

 

The main thing that was taken out of this game was that we should continue to use our advantages - namely speed - over a lot of older teams in our tactic against them (and this team was far older than us - while on the topic, what about that old dickhead that handled the ball for the other team most of the time? That guy is a dick - when I'm 50, I ain't gonna moan and bitch like he does to referees 30-35 years his junior, and you can slap the hell out of me if I do haha). While we are nowhere near the biggest team, we do have a speed advantage over some other teams, and also the fact that we sometimes (and I thought I would never type this, ever haha) have a fair few substitutes to put into the game. For instance, in this game we were able to put a fresh Jerm into the game in the second half for our pressing efforts.

 

Our offense wasn't the best again in this game, we struggled in the half court and got a large majority of our points from fast breaks. Again, we need more movement in our half court sets, and that's probably something that we need to work on eventually. Our rebounding was good this game, though - no doubt aided by the fact that our full court press fatigued them to the extent that they couldn't really get on the boards.

 

Player ratings... I don't really remember this game either, haha, not for everybody anyway so I might as well not give them out. I do remember the fact that Tim played a particularly inspired game in the second half when his WHOLE FAMILY turned out in force, and he didn't disappoint - hitting a 3 at the buzzer to cap off a memorable second half performance (well, anytime you have your whole family there to watch you, it's memorable right? Actually, anytime Tim hits a 3, it's memorable right? Haha ;) I thought the MVP of this game should be split between Jerm and Tim, Jerm set a lot of the defensive tone in the second half and did a great job hassling the ball handler as well as getting a lot of dirty rolls haha. I thought Chris Lau did a great job on defense as well.

 

Anyway, that's about it for this game. Definitely a satisfying win - very good team performance, we switched our defensive tactics effectively as a team and got a good win as a result.

 

*****

 

10th June - Bouncers 55 d. Flavos Remix 21.

 

Okay, I have no idea what happened this game since I am in Tokyo; a few players didn't play in this game (Chuck and me from memory, as well as Fat Chris... um... yeah haha). Jerm had a few points from this game but I haven't got it with me at the moment. I'll post it up when I can... pretty bad loss though - not sure what to say about this one.

 

Anyway, that's about it for the past match reports for now - hopefully Flavos Remix can get a good win this week against St Marks? I'll be keenly anticipating the result from Japan =)

 

 

Monday, 10th May 2004 - 1:18p.m.

Kismac 36 d. Flavos Remix 27.

 

Starting a game 6 points behind because we were apparently "late" is never the best thing in the world. But before I start - seriously, since when have they enforced that kind of rule? This is the association that has made us start our games 45 minutes late before, that have given us wrong game times, that have given us one referee repeatedly when we have paid for two... and the fact was that we were on the bench, waiting for the game to start. Apparently we paid late. Just a ridiculous situation. My love for this basketball association - minimal to begin with - is decreasing by the week.

 

We got out-hustled and out-rebounded. That was the story of this game. If you compare the skill level of our players against player, we're at least even; but the fact is, they were a lot bigger and when you combine that size advantage with the out-hustling bit, we were bound for a long night. The fact that the game ended up being so close (effectively they won by 3 points, and that was with a couple of garbage baskets when we were pressing late in the game) is probably more a testament to their lack of finishing ability than anything else.

 

We didn't play well, and I can't say we really deserved to win. When we're not on the boards - and rebounding is a 5 man thing - we can't run many fast breaks, and we need fast break easy hoops to win. Just a fact of our team. We're 2-4 right now - of those 4 losses, 3 have been fairly close and we would have pulled them out if we had more offense. Really need to find a way to get some easy hoops on the board again.

 

Our defense wasn't very good this game either, our zone is still out of shape. But at the end of the day, it's hard to complain too much about any of these issues - with us not practicing or playing much as an unit, and with no standout talent, it's hard to do anything spectacular really.

 

I thought the referee wasn't too bad. Bad calls' just a way of life in this association.

 

Player ratings:

 

ASHBY - 7.5/10. Worked hard on the boards, as always. Got a fair few baskets inside as well, but still struggling with the post-up situations. It's much harder to post up against a zone as opposed to man-to-man, especially at our level of basketball - quicker moves! Getting hacked down low consistently doesn't help either ay?

 

BOSCO & CHRIS LAU - 6/10. Same standard game - not too much to say. Did a good job on the boards?

 

FAT CHRIS - 8/10. Kept the side in the game with excellent board work and hustle inside. Forced too many shots up and centre of the zone was a little suspect, but gotta give you credit for the rebounding especially.

 

NATHAN - 6.5/10. Aggressive taking the ball to the hoop but couldn't get anything to drop all night. Good hustling defense as well, but your game was somewhat hampered after the heavy fall you took somewhere in the second half - that was a nasty landing on your hip!

 

JERM - 7/10. Same old game from Jerm. Not as much impact on offense as usual, but played good defense. Whassup with pump faking when you're way ahead of everyone else on a fast break?!?! hahaha I thought that was pretty funny =)

 

HOI - 6/10. Pretty ordinary game - nothing much to say about it really. Body wasn't really into the game - really have to stop swimming a few hours before most games. Head wasn't really into it either - can't remember too much from the game, full stop.

 

Okay, that's enough for this week. Hope we play better next week. Tightass St George Basketball Association...!

 

 

 

Tuesday, 4th May 2004 - 10:51p.m.

Just a couple of quick match reports from the last two weeks. The first one is just off the top of my head, from two weeks ago; the second one is just cut and paste from an email I wrote last week.

 

Flavours 38 d. Flavos Remix 28.

 

Getting beaten by young 'uns sucks! Our offense wasn't very good this game. Their offense wasn't very good either, but they got enough scrappy baskets to win, mainly through their tall guy and a couple of others who hit some jumpers. With 5 players, our legs were pretty tired by the end. Just couldn't get enough hoops to stay in the game - 28 points isn't going to get many Ws.

 

Player ratings - off the top of my head...

 

CHUCK - 6/10. 5 points... and that's about it?

TIM - 8/10. Did enough in the middle against the tall guy; held down the boards; quite a few hoops from in close, esp in the second half.

ASHBY - 7.5/10. Struggled against the defense at times; struggled even more with the refereeing. Trash talking with the other team... what can I say? Rebounding was excellent.

NATHAN - 7.5/10. Considering this was your first game in a while, you did pretty well, even if your legs were gone by the end =)

HOI - 6/10. Ordinary is the description of that game for me.

 

Chargers 47 d. Flavos Remix 42.

 

[Cut & Paste time].

 

We've been losing a lot of close games, and I'm not sure how we're going to get over the hump. I guess we should figure out our offense first and go from there, although now that I think about it, our defense tonight was also quite all over the place... especially on transition, we just got beat repeatedly down the court for layups. That's just terrible! Really need to work on our transition defense, they got probably almost half of their hoops from fast breaks or layups. Not good.

As for our offense, really need to get some structure into it. Need to work on our spacing in particular, crowding around an area is never going to do our offense much good and that happened regularly, esp when they went into man - we should be able to attack their man defense because I just felt I could get by them (my man at least) but poor spacing makes that tough. And our shooting... but that's every week, isn't it? Can't shoot properly if we don't play regularly, just a fact of life.

Ref was okay, very impressionable, wasn't particularly competent but had to feel sorry for her and at least was gracious about the bad calls. And since she's 15, where else is she going to get $15 per hour?

Not sure if I'll bother with a proper match report this week, I just can't be bothered writing these days. Anyway, in case y'all were wondering:

Bosco & Chris Lau - 6/10. Pretty equal and standard contributions from you two today. Gotta get you a bit more court time Bosco!
Chuck 6/10 - 6 pts, 2/10 shooting? Hit two threes and then shooting was off the rest of the game. Your form has been pretty poor this whole season - you need to play more to get some of your touch back man! And I'm sure you'd agree with me on that :p
Ashby 7.5/10 - wasn't shooting well at all but was extremely good on the boards. Hard to get you the ball with the type of D they were playing.
Tim 7/10 - not as dominant on the boards as usual, had a few blocks and shooting wasn't too bad. Seemed somewhat out of sync with the game.
Jerm 8/10. 10 pts, 5/8 shooting. Now that I think about it, your shooting was extremely good! Didn't do much in the half court offense, but ran the hardest out of everyone for fast breaks and got points out of it as a result. However, you really need to give up some fouls on breakaways... don't let them get layups!
Hoi 6.5/10. 12 points, 5/14 shooting I think. Took a few ridiculous shots. Shot 4 3s and 3 of them didn't hit the ring?!?!?! That's never happened before. Hit the tough shots and missed the easy ones; worked hard for everything in the game. Considering I haven't played regularly either, can't complain too much about the shooting. Had a fair few assists but lost count of the number of turnovers I had - really was the turnover king for this game. Just a shoddy (and tiring) game.

And I'm just going to have to add this:

Team Offense: 3/10. Felt like we had to work hard & scrap for every single hoop we got! Spacing, spacing, spacing...
Team Defense: 3/10. Half court D wasn't very good, and transition D was terrible. Something to work on I suppose.

Okay, that'll do me for this week. See y'all next week. We were 2-1, now we're 2-3... really need to get a win next week. I suspect we can't close out close games at least partly because our confidence isn't quite up there - and we also can't get hoops in tight situations. Really need to have a bit more structure to our play... hmmm.

BTW, tightass St George Association - they really should give us a refund on some of the $ if they're not going to give us two refs, but instead they say "get your own ref" - are you serious?!?!?! Part of the reason we pay money to them is for them to organise all this, if we have to organise our own refs, what's the point of coming to play??? We can get our own courts if we have to do that... this is definitely petition material. Tightass association. Still, they are in Hurstville - I just couldn't contemplate driving further than Hurstville for a game...

 

The game's still fun, and it's always good to talk to y'all before and after the game =)

 

 

Sunday, 18th April 2004 - 8:40p.m.

Flavos Remix 55 d. Super Sevens 41 (Halftime - 27 v 23).

 

TWO GAME WINNING STREAK!! Yeah, I just have to go on and on about it...

 

Now, a few disclaimers:

 

* The other team had four players, we had five (after Jerm got onto the court with about 17 mins left in the first half). Neither team had any subs.

 

* Neither of the two games we won were ever 5 on 5 - there were some 5 on 4, some 4 on 4, some 4 on 3...

 

* There was only one ref for both the games.

 

* Oh, and I did want to put in a note here - I remember what happened in the games pretty well and I can recollect them after the game, but the stats are really only educated estimates - I don't keep an active track of them during the game and I don't think anyone else does either.

 

Now, onto the game:

 

The game started 4 on 4, but Jerm turned up soon after the start and it became 5 on 4 - we had the 5. We were up against a team that I thought would be one of the better ones in the comp - I thought they would actually be in Div 1, but then they didn't have a few of the good players that I thought would be on their team that night. I guess their team has changed a fair bit from two seasons ago (ie. last year when I was organising our entry into this comp) when I watched them.

 

Of their four guys:

 

* One of them played like a guard, dribbled a lot and had very quick feet for a guy his size, though he wasn't so good a dribbler that he avoided turnovers - he turned the ball over a lot, especially in the second half (after he injured his foot - or did he?). Still, he was quick for his size - he got around me more than few times, and you would think that that wouldn't happen considering that I'm smaller than him and I'm not so slow myself (those big steps and the bulk...), and could finish his plays. It was also damn near impossible to get the ball off him when he was standing still since he was far bigger than me. However, he played very litle defense, not getting back often at all - that was exposed more and more as we ran up and down the court.

 

* Their other big guy stayed more on the inside, and got quite a few good inside shots with good moves. He could also finish his moves, and he had a decent mid range jumper. However, he didn't move well off the ball and was definitely not a perimeter guy, so unless someone gave him the ball in a good position he couldn't do that much. He's got quick hands on D, though - got quite a few boards and had quite a few blocks (mainly of Ashby, since that was his direct opponent most of the time).

 

* Their two guards didn't do much - they seem to have okay skills, but they didn't contribute much.

 

Random points from the game:

 

* Our rebounding was pretty decent, and it was good on the O-end in particular - but as we were going against four guys, that's to be expected.

 

* The benefit of having five on four is much more evident in half court offense than anything else - if we had any patience, we could get an open shot anytime since they had one less guy. It didn't help us that much on fast breaks - I know they had one less guy to get back, but their reluctance to run back anyway doesn't say much for them, regardless of whether it was 5 on 4 or 5 on 5 - and it didn't help us that much on defense - their offensive skills weren't actually that bad, and a lot of their points came from their big guys just taking it in and putting up touhg shots.

 

* Our fast breaks were excellent - we converted most of them. One of the benefits of having Jerm playing alongside me at guard is that he'll run more than Chuck - so if I'm on a fast break, I know I'll usually have someone to give it up to. Jerm deserves a lot of credit for finishing most of the plays, and Tim does for finishing some of them as well.

 

* Our defense was okay. I'll give them jumpers and I'll give them a few tough shots, but we gotta play better help defense I suppose. We'll work on that one.

 

* Our half court offense wasn't too bad - even then we were getting good shots, because they didn't work that hard on defense and so we were getting a lot of penetration inside the key.

 

* Having 5 or 6 guys per game - even though it means the game is more expensive - is all good, since playing time becomes easier to manage.

 

* Since we pay match fees for two refs, if they just have one ref, shouldn't we get some money back???

 

* Getting used to the winning feeling is all good =) In the old days, if the other team came back and made a run at us - as they did on occasions - we would fold, particularly on offense. However, this game we just kept on playing and kept on scoring - that's a good thing. 55 points is a good tally, especially considering we spent the last 3 minutes putting up... 2 shots? We just worked the ball around and fully slowed the game down (hey, winning is everything!).

 

* Hey Chuck - you're coming back to a winning setup haha I hope you don't distrub the chemistry! ;)

 

* We shot a pretty damn high percentage, and that's due at least partly to running the fast break so much - easy shots at the end of them was all good.

 

Player ratings:

 

CHRIS LAU: 7.5/10. Definitely one of the better games you've played this season. Rebounding was okay, defense was okay, but you finished a few plays under the basket and that should give your confidence an immense boost. Remember Chris - you get an O-board, if you are going to go straight up - don't hesistate! And on that note - if you get the ball while we're going up court and you're suddenly defended, take a jump stop and hold the ball - you'll find that you won't travel as much that way. We'll work on your jump stops some other time =)

 

ASHBY: 7/10. Got quite a few boards and scored a fair amount of points off bank shots, but you also got blocked a fair few times by the big guy and you weren't that big a part of the offense due to the many fast breaks that we ran. Was okay defensively - I would expect that their big guy could shoot over you anyway since he's got longer arms than you.

 

You played decent, but not a memorable game.

 

TIM: 8.5/10. Having some kind of a rebounding presence in the middle is always important for our team, and luckily you were far more active in this game - despite a bout of stomach unrest before the game - than you were in our last 10pm game. Also showed a lot of stamina in being able to get up the court and finish, sometimes after being the one that initiated the fast break by getting the rebound. Left hand hook shot was really working this game as well - finished a lot of plays inside, and that's important too. In short, played like you do a fair amount @ Blakehurt, and played like you should normally - good game!

 

JERM: 9/10. I think Jerm was our MVP this game. It's as simple as that - his finishing in the first half on plays were particularly decisive in us putting up a respectable point tally in the first half. You got a lot of good rolls on the rings, and I'm not about to put that all down to luck - I can see immense improvement in your game since a few years ago when we first started playing competition basketball at Bankstown.

 

Back then, you weren't that confident and not that skilled either - in short, the 2004 Jerm on the basketball court would beat the 2001 version, hands down. The improvement is fairly dramatic, and I really don't see anyone else on the team improving like that (of course, your starting point was pretty far back, but that's besides the point... =) - now, you have the confidence to take it in and try to finish plays, and despite the ugliness of your shot, you successfully finish a lot of them. You've always had the hustle on the D end and on the boards, but your offense has shown a lot of improvement, and that is also partly as a result of playing more and understanding the game better.

 

I realised all this whlie thinking about the game the other day - you've improved your game immensely compared to a few years ago. Your ball handling still needs a lot of work, but you no longer do the robotic arm swinging thing all the time and you can actually shoot okay. And I think that the guard spot is probably a better position for you - the fact that you keep running throughout the game gives us at least a few more layups and free points. So, basically, if you keep running, you'll get the ball =)

 

(Perhaps if this keeps up, we should think about changing our structure a little bit to accomodate three guards on the court at the same time; Chuck and Jerm both need to play guard because they're a bit too undersized to be battling inside and also because Chuck can handle the ball, while Jerm can get up and down the court consistently; and I need to play guard because I'm usually initiating the offense and making that pass upcort in the first place, as well as leading the break. Hmmm let me think about that one; most likely, when Chuck gets back he'll take one of the forward spots on the court, but that would depend at least partly on matchups - we need Chuck's long range shooting and ball handling too, but I have seen some signs previously that Chuck is willing to battle a bit more on the boards - wow... haha =)

 

HOI: 8.5/10. Let's see... I think 14 points, 11 assists, 10 boards, 7/12 shooting, and no forced shots hoisted! I'm going to give myself a triple double because I'm sure I had the points and the assists parts, and I think I had the boards as well (haha well, I'm going to call that a Bobby Sura triple-dip - not because I intentionally missed any shots to get it, but because I might have had it taken away from me if there were any tape of this game =). I had a really efficient game - not that many bone-headed turnovers, no forced shots, a couple of twisting left handed layups - really happy with how I played this game. Helped immensely that their defense was pretty porous; I do need to continue to improve my own defense, and my stamina for that matter - perhaps it's because I haven't played for more than 2 weeks and also because I was running the fast break so much, but I was really stuffed by half time... I got a second wind in the second half, but the last part of the first half was pretty bad for me.

 

Now, if I can ever get the 3 point stroke back...

 

So, that was a real good game. We're playing our imitators (the Flavours?!?!?!?) this week - should be good. If we can get a 3 game winning streak... wow, a dynasty might be in the works hahaha okay, I'm exaggerating. Regardless, I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for the Flavos Remix =) The joy of this victory should keep me happy for a while... perhaps until this Thursday!

 

 

Wednesday, 31st March 2004 - 12:43a.m.

Flavos Remix 72 d. Crosstown Rivals 40. (Halftime - 32 v 12).

 

I really can't say that we got our act together for this game, considering we had only four players! But this was certainly one of the more enjoyable games that I've played - not just because we won, although that is a significant part of it; but also because of the way that we played, getting up and down the court for easy hoops (although I'm sure Ashby would disagree - since he thinks that whenever he slowed the game down the team scored because of the slow down, but let's not get into that hahaha that was a rather arrogant statement though, wasn't it? =)

 

A brief synopsis of the game: basically, both the first and second half was spent largely getting up and down the court. In the first half especially, we were getting in position quickly, both in fast breaks and also in our half court sets. They didn't have two of their big guys - they were a large reason why we could only draw 33-all when we played them a few weeks ago - and as both teams only had four players, the court was far more open than it usually is when it's a 5-on-5 game, with more space for everyone to do their thing. That's an advantage more for our team, since they largely rely on crashing the O-boards for rebounds, whereas we rely on quickness and thus relish the space.

 

(Oh, and we started the game 20 minutes later than the 8:45 scheduled start because the opposition team only had 2 players!?!?!? And we only had one referee for the first half?!?!?!).

 

I got quite a few layups in the first half, their interior defense wasn't that great; Tim and Ashby got some points inside too, and Bosco got four points off two jumpers. They couldn't score at all, missing shots everywhere. Pretty happy going in at halftime with a 32-12 lead - has that ever happened before??!?!

 

The second half saw Bosco - already on four fouls from the first half (?!?!?!) - maintain discipline for a few minutes before hacking at the ball - causing him to foul out, with 16 minutes left in the game. Playing 3 on 4 the rest of the way, we - well, Tim and me mainly haha since Ashby was sacrificing his game for the good of the whole by staying back on D, and also because we get up the court quicker than him - still managed to keep scoring, and pulled away to a convincing victory.

 

Now, the other team isn't very good, but a win is a win and I'd take this result any day of the week. Random points:

 

* The court is just soooo much more open in a 4-on-4 full court game - the difference is amazing.

 

* Wow, our lineup of Ashby-Bosco-Tim-me is pretty dominating!

 

* And where was everyone else? If you guys can't come, can't you leave me an email or a message or something at least?

 

* We didn't get killed on the boards at all - we were about equal size and more than held our own on the boards.

 

* Our shooting % must have been pretty high today - we got a lot of layups.

 

* Ashby - it's all about the winning =)

 

Player ratings:

 

BOSCO - 7/10. I'll give you a 7 just for turning up and making sure that we could get on the court with four players; I'll also give you a 7 for your hustle on the court and hitting two jumpers - hey man, I was trying to feed you constantly partly so that you could get a new career high, but you need to take your chances and get better shots!

 

I won't give you any higher, though, because you fouled out with 15 minutes left in the second half - I have no idea how you did that, but I do know that most of your fouls were fouls and that you really need to either move your feet, or if you get beat, sometimes you just have to let them go, especially in the first half. If you are going to use up your fouls, use it in the second half?!?!

 

TIM - 8/10. Career high with 16 points. If you want to give me a stat line, I'll be happy to put it up; held your own on the boards, didn't have to do too much on defense and thus didn't get as many blocks as usual. Had a few questionable foul calls against you, but also got blocked once or twice but still got a foul call, so I guess they all even out.

 

Your free throw % was pretty low though, right? Good finishing on the fast breaks too, handled some hot passes from me and managed to finish. Good game, that one.

 

ASHBY - 8/10. 19 points - is that a career high for you? I'm sure both Tim and you got in double figures in rebounds, but anyway, not too sure about that one. Good game on the inside - got a lot of high percentage shots. Listen though - there's not much point complaining about me running the fast break too much when I was getting a lot of points from it, if I wasn't then your complaint would be more legitimate but I was running and getting good shots at the end. Winning is everything!

 

And I really wouldn't say that what you did to get past defenders were point guard moves - as Tim pointed out, they're far more like big man moves where you get by the defender with good footwork, rather than shaking the defender loose - but hey, as long as you're happy =)

 

HOI - 8.5/10. 33 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, 3-4 turnovers; 14/21 shooting, 5/7 free throws (?). TRIPLE DOUBLE!! I gotta give myself some credit for that one haha the game got pretty boring in the second half and I was able to count my stats. Got everyone easy shots, although that wasn't really too hard with their porous defense. Got a lot more rebounds than usual thanks to not only their willingness to take jumpers (and thus longer rebounds) but also out of necessity - had to go inside more to get rebounds since we had only 4 players. Not as many turnovers as usual, although still some boneheaded ones... as usual.

 

And 33 points is a career high too (sidenote - I think the end score was actually 72-40, because although that wasn't on the scoreboard, when I looked at the scoresheet I remember seeing 72; but anyway, I scored either 31 or 33), a great majority of the 14 shots (I didn't take a single 3 today - haven't done that for a while, better keep it up) were layups and shots from inside or near the key, hit a couple of jumpers and a few and-1s too. Pretty satisfying game, this one - running and finishing the fast break is all good.

 

That was a pretty good game - not against the greatest opposition of course, but hey, as I said, a commanding win is a commanding win. Hopefully we can keep this kind of form up on Thursday =)

 

 

Tuesday, 23rd March 2004 - 11:15p.m.

Bouncers 52 d. Flavos Remix 21. (Halftime 27 v 12)

 

Since the last game, there were a week or two when there were no games because St George Basketball Association can't get its act together; and there's been three utterly frustrating games (the first two were, I think, trials). The score for those games were 33-all, 34-32, and 34-33. They were pretty poor games, and I really didn't feel any desire to write about them at all.

 

Last week, though, was just terrible.

 

Terrible. Really terrible. 21 points! In 40 minutes of basketball! That's just ridiculous.That's easily our lowest points total ever, and that's saying something considering some of the poor offensive games our team has had.

 

21 points! I still can't believe it. What's even worse was the manner of this loss - we were absolutely lethargic, our hustle wasn't really there, and we got absolutely annilhated on the boards and on defense. Their offensive boarding just killed us this game - you would expect that to a certain degree though, considering their huge size advantage over us (especially with two of our best rebounders, Fat Chris and Ip, not being @ the game) - but our zone defense was horrendous. We constantly got beat down the baseline, we didn't get up into their face and try to take advantage of our speed advantage, and we left huge holes in the zone.

 

And... 21 points! A few random points:

 

* I expected to get killed on the boards this game with Chris & Ip out, but not that badly. We just got thumped. Tim was tired, and the rest of us were pretty much non existent on the boards.

 

* How the hell did they get more fast break points than we did when most of them were more than double our age?!?!? Can we get back on D?? Or run more??

 

* 10pm games just killed us - everyone seemed at least two steps slower. But c'mon...

 

* We really needed to hit some shots this game if we were going to win it - considering our huge size disadvantage. Our open jumpers didn't go down though - my jumpers should have went down a lot more often but didn't, and Chuck was throwing up bricks all night. Tim was getting nothing inside, and we just weren't creating anything.

 

Their zone collapsed every single time someone drove and it was hard work to get inside points, making it all the more important to hit jumpers. We had decent looks sometimes, but Chuck & me just couldn't bury them. Our bad. Having said that, we can't be forcing shots either.

 

* Our zone positioning needs to get a lot better. I have a feeling everyone was just too lazy - at a 10pm game - to get into positions. Can we improve on that this week at least?

 

Tell you what, that game was flat-out embarassing. Along wit hthe first game that Flavos played in in the St George comp, this must rank as just about the worst of all time. The other lop-sided losses we have had were all to significantly better teams - last time we played this team (with Ip but without Jerm) we lost 52-50. How do we go from a 2 point loss to a 31 point loss?!?!?

 

Couldn't help but laugh after that game. Just... ridiculous.

 

Player ratings:

 

CHRIS LAU & BOSCO: N/A. Chris was invisible pretty much throughout the game, and Bosco was hardly in the game, so really can't give anything other than that. Really don't remember anything from this game for you guys.

 

JERM: 6/10. Jerm hustled, at least. Hit two sweet jumpers too, though your influence wasn't nearly as great as last week when you were easily our MVP.

 

TIM: 4.5/10. I know you were tired, but if we're going to win we really need more out of you. Low rating is due mainly to the fact that I know you can play a lot better. Other than your rather stunning spin move on the fast break - looking more awkward than graceful, but stunning nevertheless - don't really remember anything you did in this game. Oh, and on the play where you were fouled and went to the foul line - Chris and me were open under the basket for the layup. Give it up! =)

 

CHUCK: 4/10. Chuck, you had a few assists; but your had a really large amount of turnovers, and you were throwing up bricks the whole night. At least committed yourself somewhat to the boards and to D, but we really need you to be averaging more than 2 points per game if we're going to ever win any games.

 

You've been playing pretty badly the last few weeks; really need to pump you up for this week's game =) Just keep on shooting those open Js, but really need you to cut down on the turnovers. If you're going to turn the ball over, try to do it on passes at least and not on dribbling.

 

HOI: 5/10. Scored 12 out of the 21 points, but that's not saying much is it? My shooting % was pretty bad, I really should be hitting more of those jumpers, and really didn't contribute that much in terms of passing and leadership. Really have to start being loud again. Really need to be playing better.

 

Just a terrible game, that one. I'm really strugging to think of anything positive to come out of that game... okay, I just don't think I can. Still, I'm real optimistic about this week's game - as long as we hit those jumpers - and I have to say that Hville Aquatic Centre is a terrible basketball stadium - we'll be in with a chance. And since the game is earlier in the night, we better hustle more!

 

(And Ip & Fat Chris, are you guys playing this week? Who's playing & not playing this week?)

 

 

Monday, 9th February 2004 - 9:15p.m.

Pub Life 54 d. Flavos Remix 47 (Halftime - 30-16).

 

(I'm missing match reports from the last couple of games that I didn't play in while I was in HK, so I don't really have any stats for our team right now).

 

Now, that's a good effort.

 

Quick summary of the game - the first half started with me sinking two consecutive 3s (!!)... and then our offense kinda went dead after that. That means that other than my 2 3s in quick succession, we scored 10 points the rest of the half. They had more consistent offense, getting a steady diet of layups and hitting a few 3s here and there (as they would for the whole game). They also hit the offensive boards consistently; and were assisted generously by some pretty soft foul calls.

 

In the second half, we were pretty tired but we managed to have a far more efficient offense; to be truthful, our offense in the first half wasn't that bad but we had some dodgy turnovers (bunny hop travels, stepping on out of bound lines etc) and also didn't hit many shots; in the second half, we hit more shots, got a few lucky bounces and the calls began to even themselves out (though I would still say that they got far more lucky calls than we did).

 

They managed to continue hitting 3s but our defense overall was a lot better in the second half, they didn't hit their shots either and while they probably got on the O-glass even more in the second half, we evened it out through pretty consistent running, especially from Fat Chris. While at the end, they won by an okay margin, if our stamina was better we would have been in with a good chance of winning this game.

 

A few random points to take from the game (I'm writing this in a hurry here, so I might miss a few things):

 

* Our game stamina needs to improve. By the end of the game, everyone was puffed out; and I guess that's understandable, considering we just resumed the season, but still... we just need more training to improve that I suppose.

* Zonal defense positioning could still improve substantially.

* And so could rebounding - box outs are pretty important and we didn't do that well in stages, although that is really a result of poor stamina and not necessarily no one wanting to get the boards.

* Our shooting was pretty damn good this game though - Chuck and me need to keep it up I suppose - and so was our ball movement. Looking for everyone is all good; remember, against a zonal defense, attacking the high post in particular is all good. A lot of open looks came from high post cuts.

* Our defense on people wasn't too bad this game actually. It's more the positioning - letting people make free cuts to the hoop etc.

* Referees were pretty dodgy this game - it was almost as if they were told to call every foul, because there were a lot of really soft fouls, that hampered our ability to play D. In the second half, the calls were more even, but we got killed in the first half; most of Bosco's fouls were pretty legitimate ones, but the ones on Tim and a few other people were all pretty harsh.

* Can we have this kind of ball movement every single game?

* St George Basketball Association is DISORGANISED (have to capitalise every single letter in that word for emphasis). Still, it's hard for me to justify playing anywhere else; it is, after all, in a pretty damn central location...

 

Player ratings:

 

JERM - 6/10. Didn't contribute as much this game as (from what I was told) you did in the past couple of games (when it was generally agreed that you were the MVP of those games). But then again, you didn't get that much court time - I'm sorry about that (that does show my point though, about not having more than 7 players at a game - it becomes too difficult to distribute playing time evenly).

 

Hustled hard, didn't get the ball that much, played solid D - all in a steady game's work for Jerm. Just can't think of any particular highlights or points for your game - pretty average game.

 

BOSCO - 6/10. You gave me a stat line but I forgot what it was? Hustled hard for boards and got a few; hit a shot when you faked out the guy that was marking you haha although as I was telling you on Sunday, he wasn't marking you hard at all - it seriously looked like he didn't respect your offense at all haha standing off you when you are maybe 6 ft away from the hoop??? Anyway, what contributed to the poor rating were some of your fouls - need to move your feet when you are playing D. Pushing to compensate for not moving the feet is going to get you fouls; if you get beat, sometimes you just have to let them go (although as I say all the time, no layups! Foul instead of giving up the layup if you have fouls to give).

 

Not too much playing time for you either, so hard to give anything other than an average rating. But it's good to have you on the bench in some ways - you can give us insights that we on the court might not always be able to perceive.

 

IP - 6.5/10. Came into the game late, and the lack of warmup for you showed on your shots - had a few easy shots that you clanked. Of course, the positive thing about that is that you got the easy shots in the first place - good cuts you made to the high post, your first step was usually too quick for whoever was marking you in the middle and you got those shots.

 

Also did well on the glass; not too sure how you were on defense overall, but your rebounding against consistent strong oppositions was definitely a positive of your performance. Now, with those shots...

 

TIM - 6.5/10. Didn't really ever get into the flow of the game; hit a few shots in the second half (one particular play I liked - I made a half-dodgy pass to you in the high post but you had quick hands - or lucky hands =) - and managed to get the ball for the layup), but defense and rebounding wasn't as good as usual. I have a feeling that you struggle to rebound against people that maybe a bit thinner, but are agile jumpers; you do better against people your size or even a little bigger, who may not have as much athleticism. Show your strength! haha

 

Those early fouls definitely didn't help you with your game; overall, an average game for you; you've definitely had better ones.

 

FAT CHRIS - 8.5/10. Good game, Chris. That was probably one of the best games I've seen you play. Extremely strong on the glass at both ends, managed to convert a lot of your offensive glass opportunities into points, tireless running - good all-around game.

 

I would give you a 9, but you still need to fix your tunnel vision. It sometimes works out, but a lot of times it doesn't! =)

 

CHUCK - 7.5/10 - good shooting, good passing. Could improve your D, but isn't that always the case? =)

 

HOI - 6.5/10. The four 3s (4/7?) masks the fact that I miss quite a few jumpers from inside the arc. Could have got a few more calls, but also forced a few bad shots as well. Quite a few assists, mixed in with quite a few turnovers. Good defense, though could probably do a better job on the glass. A mixed game, then!

 

Considering how well we played, those individual player ratings seem a bit low, but that was still a fantastic performance - if there was a rating for "team chemistry", we'd get a 9.5 for that game. That's it from me for this week - can't be writing for now. Not sure what time the game this week is... will keep everyone posted.

 

 

Friday, November 14 2003 - 10:30p.m.

Spartans 92 d. Flavos Remix 43. (Halftime - 51-18).

Current Record - 1-5.

For & Against - 267 v 364.

Average Score - 44.5pts.

Average Opposition Score - 60.7 pts

 

This is one of those games which illustrates why having only one division in a men's competition is not such a great idea.

 

The gulf between the Spartans and us, just on physical skills, is not that apparent. It's not as if they were bigger than us or small than us - it was pretty equal. They were quicker for sure, but overall, it wasn't the physical factor that killed us in this game - it certainly wasn't as big a factor as, say, against the old guys, where we got beaten up pretty bad in the paint by guys whose cumulative weight may well be nearly double our cumulative weight!

 

No, what killed us this game was the skill factor. It hasn't happened that much in this competition thus far - we got whipped pretty badly the first week by almost the same scoreline, but considering our disorganized state in that first week, I am prepared to somewhat disregard that one. This game, however, we just got killed all over the court in terms of skill. And their defense wasn't even particularly hardcore - the pattern of the game would basically be they shoot a 3, they score; we come down, turn the ball over/miss a shot, they come down, they shoot a 3, they score; etc etc. Okay, so that didn't happen all game, but it happened a damn lot.

 

What can you say about this game? There's not really that much that we could have done differently on the night of the game itself. It'd be pretty stupid for me to just say that "well, we should hit more shots" or "well, we shouldn't turn the ball over so much" - those matters are really matters of skill, and matters of playing regularly (we play maybe once a week these days if that; those guys probably play around 3-4 times a week if I'm guessing correctly). By the way, they are apparently the St George Mens representative team - probably not that great a team in terms of reps, but in our league they are obviously a dominant force.

 

All in all though, I thought the game was okay. I certainly didn't enjoy it, but then again, it wasn't the worst game ever and I guess it could have been worse - I was hoping, hoping, hoping that they wouldn't get 100 on us, and thank God, they didn't. Not that it makes that much of a tangible difference, but having 100 scored on your team. I guess it's one of those pride things, more than anything. At least we prevented that.

 

Not really going to bother summarizing the game. We can probably all still remember it and there weren't too many highlights in there. Some points to be taken out of the game, however:

 

* We need to work on preventing fast breaks. Obviously we need someone tracking back when a shot goes up - that should be the person that is closest to the top of the key and wasn't shooting. We also need to learn how to prevent the rebounders from getting a good outlet pass - one of the reasons why we don't fast break as much as we would like is because most other teams doing a decent job pressuring the ball when the rebound is gained by us, preventing the rebounders from getting a good ball out to us guards for the fast break. We gotta do the same against the opposition.

 

* Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. Catching the ball cleanly, making good passes, being aware of where the defenders are around you - those are all skills that can be practiced (at the very least, the first two) because they are related to the fundamentals of the game. The third aspect is largely gained through playing a lot, and that isn't so easy to do; but the first two can certainly be rectified with greater attention paid to the fundamentals of the game.

 

Their defending was okay, but let's face it, their defense wasn't that hardcore and we probably should have scored a fair bit more than 42. Our shooting was off, and that's also something that we really need to work on - they shot a pretty high percentage, not only from inside (that's more of a defensive lapse) but also from the outside - if someone keeps on draining 3s after 3s, that's mainly skill. We just need to improve our shooting conversion rate by a lot - we had a lot of shots lsat night, combined with a lot of turnovers, and while I'm not saying that we could have won if we hit all of them ,the fact remains that we should have accumulated a lot more points. And while our defense wasn't that fantastic, they just hit shots everywhere - that's what we need to work on, hitting a decent percentage of our opportunities.

 

So yes, next practice session - whenever that is - we definitely have to work on converting contested opportunities inside (espeically you, Fat Chris - need to get your legs under you and convert those layups!) and also work on catching passes, footwork, all those sorts of things that help you convert your easy opportunities. As for long range shooting... that's more of a long term goal. Just have to keep playing for that to improve.

 

* What happened to our fitness?

 

Being puffed out after 40 minutes of running is more than understandable. Being puffed out after 15 minutes is, well, not a particularly high standard to say the least! Not playing usually means that your skills are rusty, but the natural fitness level should mean that you can still get around the court. I must say here that yesterday's game was very much an up-and-down affair so it's understandable that we were all more tired than usual, but still... 15 minutes of the first half?!?!

 

Once the exams are over, I guess everyone will hit the gym and improve their stamina, so that's all good. But our fitness level definitely has to improve for our skill level to improve - need to be at least be at a physical level that enables us to execute our skills. Not much point practicing long range shooting, for instance, if we are so tired that we can't get up the court to get the shot off in the first place!

 

* We can also work on our man-to-man defence. Eventually it would be good to play mainly man-to-man defense, it promotes individual responsibility and makes sure that everyone is more accountable to the team. However, our skill level and awareness - especially in helping teammates who are beaten by their man - has to improve before we can significantly improve our defensive scheme; in the meantime, we'll be playing majority zone.

 

Help defense is just as important as the defense on your own guy, espeically in a man-to-man defense - too often in this game, someone got beat off the dribble and no one helped out. Sometimes, however, we cheated too much off our own guy, resulting in an open jump shot. Man-to-man defence is exhausting too, so the stamina level has to be up; definitely needs to be worked on.

 

Our execution wasn't really that bad, but overall, we should have put a lot more points on the board - just by hitting the layups and easy shots that we got, we could have easily had 55-60, and wouldn't that be a much more respectable scoreline? Anyway, onto the player ratings:

 

JERM - 8/10. I thought Jerm played pretty well this game - he probably deserves the prestigious Flavos Remix man-of-the-match award for this game (shouldn't we get a sponsor for that award, by the way?) Now, there wasn't much competition for that award in this game, but I digress - an achievement is an achievement!

 

Back to the game, I thought Jerm had a pretty good game. He had a fairly sound defensive job on their hyperactive small guy (whose name is Charity, by the way - not as bad as Action Kenny I suppose...), he still got some points but Jerm followed him around and did a good job. Cheated off him a few times and got hit with a few 3s in return, but overall, definitely a strong defensive effort and hustled a fair bit as well, notwithstanding a few lapses. Still needs to work on the ball handling some, but scored more points than usual which is always a plus - I think Jerm could get at least 2-3 buckets a game just by hustling for fast break points, but we'll work on that. So, ball handling is still an area to be worked on, along with shooting as always and awareness of the whole court, but strong game overall.

 

BOSCO - 6/10. 0/8 shooting, 0/4 FT, 5 boards, 4 fouls. Bosco... where's the shooting touch that you show occasionally in Blakehurst? Why don't you bring it to Peakhurst?

 

You just need to keep shooting them I suppose, but firstly we should work on your shooting form - you really need to stop fading away on your standard jump shot, it's somewhat understandable if you are being marked but when you are wide open, you need to learn to go straight up and down on your jump shot - none of this jumping back and forth, cock your body up at 30 degree angle shnit. Just gotta get some orthodoxy on your jump shot - you're not Shawn Marion, so no you can't adopt an unorthodox style =) It was a bit unfair to match you up with that guy at the start, I thought you could do a decent job on him but he was way too quick for you and didn't take that many minutes to figure that out. Still, I know you fancy yourself as a defensive stopper, and if you are going to be a stopper, you need to be able to stop a wide range of people. Hey, Mario Elie was slow, but he still stopped a lot of quicker guys!

 

I didn't really remember too much from your game. I do know that you were puffed out a lot by the end of the game - time to hit the gym again.

 

TIM - 7/10. Played alright. Got a few hoops, especially in the first half. Didn't contribute much for stretches of the first and second half, I think partly because you were too puffed out and partly because it was an up-and-down game which isn't really your style.

 

Truth be told, I really don't remember that much from your game. You got quite a few defensive boards, hit a few shots, made a few decent passes but overall, just didn't make that much of an impact on the game. Not nearly as many blocks as usual, probably because of the skill level of the other team. Just a standard, normal Tim Robotic game - decent, nothing more and nothing less. When are you going to have a breakout, dominant game? Or do you need Ashby on the team to be inspired? =)

 

IP - 7.5/10. Ip played alright. I remember that you had a pretty strong impact in the first half, got quite a few offensive boards and converted those and other chances into points a good percentage of the time. Didn't see nearly as much of you in the second half, you were off for some of it and again, as it was an up and down game you probably didn't see as much of the ball as you liked.

 

Again, putting you on that guy is a little unfair because his footspeed is quicker than yours by a fair bit - only thing is that you should have given him a bit more room to shoot the 3, because you got long arms and good hops so you'll be able to challenege the shot if he does shoot the 3; and if you laid back a bit the chances of him getting around you isn't as high. He's a very good player though, so no shame in him scoring a fair bit on you.

 

Still can be stronger on the defensive boards and help defense, but overall, solid game.

 

FAT CHRIS - 6/10. Not as strong as usual on the boards - I guess you were just too puffed out? All those computer programming late nights are getting to you man... =)

 

So the rebounding impact wasn't as greaet as usual, defense was okay but positioning can improve slightly and you didn't have one of their greater impact players. I'm still pretty concerned about your offense - once in a while you need to just pull up for a short shot instead of trying to take it all the way, I could see a lot of the time that you were jumping into the opposition player and somewhat looking for a foul but it's hard to draw one if they are going straight up on defense - pull up and take the short shot.

 

Which gets to the most important point... make your shots! I know your legs aren't under you, but we really need you to convert more of those easy buckets. Hitting those layups and short shots would make a significant difference to the scoreline the past two weeks; as soon as you get your legs back, I'm sure you will be fine, but in the meantime, time to get you to do some Mikan drills =)

 

CHUCK - 6.5/10. Got your 13 points. Offensively was decent, made some chances as well as converting some. Still, I can't give you anything over an average score unless you start performing on defense! Some of your indiscretions on defense were... inexcusible, haha. Seriously, you got faked out real bad on one or two shots, and that breakaway foul - where you just decided to slap him on the hand loudly - was pretty poor as well hahahaha I found it pretty amusing on the sideline, I must say, but gotta make up your mind early - foul or not foul.

 

But yes, at the moment, Chuck is one of the shining beacons on the offense - producing consistent scoring for the team. So that's definitely good, but that defense... needs work =)

 

HOI - N/A. Only played most of second half. 2/8 shooting is not very good at all, 3 assists with 2 TOs is decent, but overall, just didn't have that much of an impact on the game. Calmed the team down somewhat on offense, but can't explode off any direction and therefore just couldn't play as well as what I would like. Might as well have not played at all and let everyone get more minutes.

 

But props to me for being the leading foul-getter of the comp and the 6th leading scorer of the comp! That's right, there's a league leader on our team hahaha YEEAHHHHHH LEADING FOUL GETTER!!!!!! HOLLA BACK AT YO' BOY!!!!! In fact, the top three foul getters are all on our team haha what a bunch of dirty mofos (Tim and Bosco are second and third, respectively - Bosco, you don't play as much as other guys half the time, so I don't know how you rack up so many fouls) and Chuck is the 8th leading scorer of the comp, though he would have overtaken me after this week I'm sure.

 

No game next week. The week after, we go up against one of the top teams in the comp... it'll be nice to have a proper training session before then, so hopefully we can all organise something for either this or next Sunday? I don't think I'll play next game either, so we'll work according to that and see how it goes. I think this season is a good learning experience... next season St George will probably have enough teams to get into two divisions and we'll be in a division that will be more reflective of our ability (although I'm happy to say that we've been more than competitive in 4 of the 6 games that we have been in so far... but not so happy to say that we're not able to eek out those close wins), and by then we should know what we're doing. By the way, they want our team registration and bond fees - so that's $70 + $60 (team registration is payable every season; bond is transferred over from season to season) so that's $130 in total, divided by us having 8 players - so that's $16.25, we'll collect it next time we're all together or at the next game - but we'll have to pay it next game I'm sure.

 

And with this kind of performance... how are we going to get more people in our entourage?!??!

 

 

 

Wednesday, November 12 2003 - 11:02p.m.

I've wanted to put my NBA predictions up for a while now, but I haven't had a chance to do so. I'll put some quick picks up here, and I'll write more about them after the exams.

 

Slept-on players that Hoi will follow the stat lines of & watch with great interest. (Emphasis on slept-on here, so I'll try not to include any superstars in there, although I'll put a few in here anyway).

 

PG - TJ Ford, Milwaukee. Don't sleep on him: he's got a chance to be absolutely fantastic one day. Blinding quickness and excellent court vision; jump shot still has a long way to go, but he's going to be good (don't put too much into those too-short-to-make-it comments - if you're good enough, you're tall enough. See: KJ, Isiah Thomas, Tiny Archibald, John Stockton). People say he came out too soon; I say that some day soon, some teams will regret passing up on drafting him @ #8. He might not be absolutely fantastic, but at the very least he'll be very good.

Honourable mentions:

Rafer Alston, Miami - can Skip To My Lou finally make it big in the NBA?;

Jason Williams, Memphis - still one of the more entertaining players in the NBA, now let's see if his improvement continues - got nearly all the skills in the book (bar defense), but needs to keep his head in the game.

Kirk Hinrich, Chicago - let's see if he can beat out Jamal Crawford by the end of the season;

Marko Jaric & Keyon Dooling, LA Clippers - which one will become the Clippers' PG of the future?

Gilbert Arenas, Washington - he's not really slept-on, so he doesn't count technically, but I'll definitely be following his progress and see if he can live up to his huge contract).

 

SG - Larry Hughes, Washington. Once (part of) the future of the 76ers backcourt; once the future of the Warriors backcourt; might finally get a chance to be an ever-present in a NBA backcourt. The only time he got a chance to be a bona-fide go-to SG in the league, he averaged (over 32 games) with the Warriors in 1999-00 - 23 pts, 6 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, 3 TOs per game @ 41 mins & 39% shooting. Since then, his shooting has improved significantly (last season he shot naerly 47%), making a mockery of all those that says he can't shoot. Defense is more than above average, rebounds well in the backcourt, plays within the team (having sacrificed in recent seasons as a wannabe PG) - just a fantastic, underrated player. Let's see if he shines this season.

Honourable mentions:

Michael Redd, Milwaukee - can he make it as a starting SG in the league? One of the best shooters in the league already, now let's see if he can become one of the best scoring shooters in the NBA.

Manu Ginobili, San Antonio - half slept-on. Exploded onto the scene last year at World Championships, but rookie season disrupted by injury, this year, the real Ginobili might be ready to stand up.

Vince Carter, Toronto - okay, definitely not underrated, but still much hated. Time for him to produce; early signs are extremely encouraging.

Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers - pretty obvious, ain't it?

Rip Hamilton, Detroit - worth $63million over 7 years? We'll see. Fantastic scorer, doesn't need the ball, underrated defender, but where's the passing & ball handling?

Dwyane Wade, Miami - one day, people won't just think of LeBron and Carmelo when they think of the 2003 draft.

 

SF - Andrei Kirilenko, Utah. Has spent the past season or two cementing a reputation as one of the best defenders around. Now that Stockton and Malone are gone, he gets a chance to show that he's an emerging all-around talent. Long arms, mad hops, great instinct for the game; offensive skills & smoothness needs some work, but defensively and on the boards he's a menance already. Has spent considerable time carrying the Russian team; he now gets a chance to show if he can carry a NBA team. (Yes, Harpring is a SF too, but if they're on the court together, he'll likely switch to SG).

Honourable mentions:

Matt Harpring, Utah - can he get his and help the team win without Stockton and Malone?

Carmelo Anthony, Denver & Lebron James, Cleveland - not underrated, but pretty obvious why I'll be watching their stats with interest, isn't it?

Jarvis Hayes, Washington - not so far behind the aforementioned two.

Rasheed Wallace, Portland - not slept on, but it'll be really interesting to see how he copes with the SF position on a regular basis.

Rashard Lewis, Seattle - is this the season he'll become a superstar?

Ron Artest, Indiana - ditto.

Tayshaun Prince, Detroit - was last year's playoffs a fluke, or the start of something big? Hook/scoop shot in the paint is virtually unblockable; now getting 3 point range to go with that.

Lamar Odom, Miami - shouldn't have left the Clippers; isn't it time to deliver on all that potential?

Keith Van Horn, NY - wow, him in NY - that's a combustible mix.

 

PF - Kwame Brown, Washington. If you've talked to me about the NBA before, you probably know that I'm a big fan of his. Not only because of his talents - gets up and down the court like a gazelle, as quick & athletic as any big man in the league, mad hops, good instincts around the basket, solid jump shot and quick post moves when he's confident & focused - but because he's spent the last couple of years being the whipping boy of MJ and Doug Collins when he really hasn't deserved it. Now that they're gone, replaced by a friendlier regime, it's all up to him - still needs to concentrate more and stay in the game. A lot of haters doubt whether he can become a superstar, but I say he will be one day - much like Jermaine O'Neal. It might not be this year, it might not even be next, but I expect that this season he'll be solid and that some day soon, he'll be an All-Star (hopefully with the Wizards). (Yes, blind faith sometimes gets me into trouble).

Honourable mentions:

Zach Randolph, Portland - big wraps on him, largely due to last year's playoffs; early signs are encouraging, but let's see if he builds on that.

Vladimir Radmanovic, Seattle - can he become another Nowitzki? I say he won't be as good, but if he comes even somewhat close, Seattle is a dark horse in the West.

Michael Sweetney, New York - he was an absolute monster last season with Georgetown, more dominating than just about any other college players I got to watch in the USA; probably won't get too many minutes this year in NY, but he'll be good one day.

Drew Gooden, Orlando - Jerry West gave up on him; can he prove him wrong?

Stromile Swift, Memphis - #2 pick in 1999, has shown tantalising glimpses of potential; can he put it all together? As athletic as they come, knowledge of the game is gradually coming around.

Elton Brand, LA Clippers - one of the most underrated big men around; can he carry the Clippers on his back (with help from Maggette, Q etc of course) to an unexpected playoff appearance?

Troy Murphy, Golden State - injured at the moment; much improved last season, if he shows the same rate of improvement this season - watch out.

Antonio McDyess, NY - who doesn't want him to come back successfully? When healthy and on song, one of the most dominant PFs around; but who knows when he'll be healthy?

 

C - Yao Ming, Houston. Okay, he's not really slept-on; but you know I had to include him in here. 13 points, 8 boards was good for a rookie season, but much more is expected of him this season now that he's used to the NBA. Not too sure about forcefeeding him the ball as some have suggested, but certainly needs more touches - one of the best passers in the NBA at the pivot, good defender, good post moves although needs to get them off quicker and improve upper body strength, solid rebounder. But there is so much improvement that can be done. If he can dominate most opposition centres this season on a regular basis, Houston will make significant noises in the playoffs.

Honourable mentions:

Dikembe Mutombo, NY - how much has he got left in the tank?

Jerome James, Seattle - surprising skills for a big man, but never uses them consistently. With Seattle's donut situation this season, he'll get a strong chance to prove himself.

Michael Olokowandi, Minnesota - probably the most important player (after KG of course) for the Wolves to succeed this season.

Etan Thomas, Washington - just so much fun watching him play - intensity everywhere. He'll be good one day - starting this season?

Eddy Curry & Tyson Chandler, Chicago - all eyes on these two. They'll be good one day, but they're expected to be good now. Watch out for Chandler especially - not as skilled as KG offensively, but can be even more of a beast on the boards & defensively if that can be believed.

Nene Hilario - ditto.

Vin Baker, Boston - probably belongs in the PF section. Anyway, heart-warming story - but can he make the comeback complete?

 

That's definitely a lot of players that I'm interested in. But hey, I'm a pretty big NBA fan, so that's what you would expect.

 

Quickly:

 

Dark horse - Eastern Conference - Washington Wizards. (Maybe Toronto, if they can get any sign of an offense going!).

Dark horse - Western Conference - Seattle Supersonics. (Maybe Golden State/Memphis - either of these teams may very well make the playoffs in the East. Even Utah, perhaps - damn the West is deep...)

 

Eastern Conference, 1-8:

1) Indiana

2) Detroit

3) New Jersey

4) New Orleans

5) Philadelphia

6) Orlando

7) Boston

8) Washington

 

Eastern Conference Semi Finals - Indiana v New Orleans, New Jersey v Detroit

Eastern Conference Finals - Indiana v Detroit

 

Western Conference, 1-8:

1) LA Lakers (although they won't win 70 games)

2) Sacramento

3) Dallas

4) San Antonio

5) Minnesota

6) Phoenix

7) Houston

8) Portland

 

Western Conference Semi Finals - LA Lakers v San Antonio (although I'm really tempted to put Minnesota here), Dallas v Sacramento

Western Conference Finals - LA Lakers v Sacramento (IF Webber is healthy)

 

NBA Finals - Indiana v LA Lakers

NBA Champion - LA Lakers

 

Leading Scorer - Vince Carter, Toronto. (Maybe Paul Pierce/Tracy McGrady).

Leading Assist - Jason Williams, Memphis. (Maybe Jason Kidd).

Leading Assist/TO ratio - Jason Williams, Memphis. (Maybe Jason Kidd).

Leading Rebounder - Ben Wallace, Detroit. (Maybe Tim Duncan/Kevin Garnett).

Leading Blocks - Ben Wallace, Detroit. (Maybe Tim Duncan).

Leading Turnovers - Paul Pierce, Boston. (Maybe Tracy McGrady).

Leading Steals - Allen Iverson, Philadelphia. (Maybe Ron Artest).

Leading Minutes - Paul Pierce, Boston. (Maybe Allen Iverson).

 

Defensive Player of the Year - Ron Artest. (Maybe Ben Wallace).

Coach of the Year - Jerry Sloan, Utah (Maybe Eric Musselman).

Most Improved Player of the Year - Zach Randolph, Portland (Maybe Mike Dunleavy jnr/Andrei Kirilenko/Ronald Murray).

All-NBA First Team - Jason Kidd, New Jersey; Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers; Kevin Garnett, Minnesota; Tim Duncan, San Antonio; Shaquille O'Neal, LA Lakers.

All-NBA Second Team - Stephon Marbury, Phoenix; Tracy McGrady, Orlando; Vince Carter, Toronto; Jermaine O'Neal, Indiana; Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas.

All-NBA Third Team - Allen Iverson, Philadelphia; Paul Pierce, Boston; Peja Stojakovic, Sacramento; Shawn Marion, Phoenix; Ben Wallace, Detroit.

(Caveat - I originally put Nash in the PG role here but I totally forgot about AI; he's a surer chance of selection, though I still think highly of Nash's game and by the same token, not such a big fan of AI's - note I am not a big fan of his game only, I'm a big fan of his work ethic and courage etc. Also, if Chris Webber can come back and dominate immediately - they say he'll be back in December but with his dodgy knee, who knows? - he'll get a spot on this team - probably at the expense of either Peja or Ben Wallace, though Marion and Phoenix better wake up soon...

 

And for Vince Carter's sake, I hope Toronto's offense wakes up real soon or he might not even make any of these teams! Hard to have a fantastic season if he's going to get triple teamed for most of the games).

 

MVP - Kevin Garnett, Minnesota (I'm not really sure who will get this, but KG deserved it last season, so I'll predict him here). (Maybe Shaq).

Finals MVP - Shaquille O'Neal, LA Lakers. (If Lakers win the Finals - which I think will be the case - Shaq will get his due).

 

All-Underpaid Team - TJ Ford, Milwaukee; Larry Hughes, Washington; Michael Redd, Milwaukee; Troy Murphy, Golden State; Etan Thomas, Washington.

All-Overpaid Team - Howard Eisley, NY; Anfernee Hardaway, Phoenix; Eddie Jones, Miami; Tom Gugliotta, Phoenix; Calvin Booth, Seattle.

 

 

 

Thursday, November 6 2003 - 11:14pm

We Don't Get 47 d Flavos Remix 42 (Half time - 25 v 15)

Current Record - 1-4.

For & Against - 224 v 272

Average Score - 44.8pts

Average Opposition Score - 54.4pts

 

That was a really, really low energy game. The word "lethargic" was probably designed with that game in mind.

 

With about 12 minutes left in the first half, the game was about 12-all. Up to that point, nothing too significant had happened - our inside game with Tim and Ip was working well, they had a couple of guys that got some layups and free throws. Nothing too important coming out of that first 8-10 minutes, though I was already becoming a bit concerned about our low energy level. While we were relatively even on the scoreboard, somehow the team seemed to be moving through the motions.

 

By the end of the first half, we saw that on the scoreboard. The score was 25-15 - they put a 13-3 run on us to end the first half. While this is a little misleading, in that they didn't fully dominate us during this stretch of time - one of their guys hit 3 3s during this period of time, and our shots weren't falling like they usually do - we still got out-worked in most aspects of the game. It was all a little disconcerting.

 

Switched to man-to-man for the second half, and the results were immediate. They didn't really take care of the ball - perhaps they were a bit shocked about seeing any man-to-man defence in this league! - and we started running, running, running. We got a lot of layups during this time, and we generally outworked them in the key and so on. With about 8-10 minutes left, the score was 37-31.

 

They went to man-to-man defence then, and that probably helped them; but we went through another barren offensive stretch. We really didn't hit too many shots for the rest of the half - our offense wasn't in sync, and they started getting a lot of rolls again. They also went to the free throw line regularly, and managed to sink a significant portion of their shots. By comparison, I think we only got to the free throw line 7 times this game - and I had 5 of them. More on that issue later.

 

But overall, our offense just wasn't in tune for the rest of the half, and once that happened we started getting outworked again. In hindsight, it probably would have made sense for a different substitution pattern - Fat Chris could have came off, Chuck could have came off (although I didn't hear you calling for yourself to come off like you said - I would have dragged you straight away if I did since we had seven players) and Chris Lau probably should have stayed on a little longer. But I digress.

 

Anyway, they started getting a lot of free throws again, and at the end of the game, our execution just wasn't right. After we got to 42-all, we turned the ball over a few times and they managed to get a go-ahead layup. We came back down, turned the ball over, and they came down and hit am and1 layup (although it shouldn't have been - the foul was way before the shot - but more on that later).

 

So that was the story of the game. It was, in truth, a very poor game to watch. We were pretty lethargic, and the other team just wasn't that good - they had two decent guys who hit some shots but the rest of the team was just not anything above average. We probably could match up to them to our advantage but our sum in this case was less than the parts. It was a very scrappy affair and that really played into their hands.

 

It's easy to get frustrated with the refereeing, but in this game it probably affected our concentration on the game itself - we just have to play to the whistle. All referees miss calls, and that is just part and parcel of the game. Having said that, it was frustraing to see how many calls were missed - the referees missed a tonne of calls today, and to be truthful it hurt us a lot more than we hurt them - there were a lot of those slapping on the arm fouls that may seem insignificant to some people, but they are just really frustrating when it happens on a regular basis.

 

I personally had two layups where I got blatantly fouled - I'm not talking a slap here, I'm talking being dragged down on the shoulder and a hack - and the referee was right there... and didn't make the call. Chuck had one, and I'm sure a few other guys have one. I guess it doesn't really pay to complain about calls on a regular basis, but this is one of those games when I feel that it is a genuinely legitimate issue. They missed a tonne more calls on them than on us, and we suffered as a result. There is no way in the world that there should have been a 20-7 free throw disparity (it might have even been more but no one was counting obviously).

 

I wouldn't go so far as to say that the female ref was racist. I will say that she is a little biased, and that more importantly, she has a serious attitude problem in her communication with players. I know that I wasn't trying to abuse her at all when I tried to speak to her, but most of the time she just put up a bitchy face and told me to shut up in a roundabout way. As a referee, it's important to communicate to the players and explain some calls when they are questionable - explain to a certain point and end the argument unequivocally, sure, but it's important to explain calls, and she didn't do it at all this game. That makes her seem bitchy, and what's worse is the fact that she just missed an abnormally large amount of calls, and we suffered badly as a result.

 

Now that's frustrating, but there's really not that much that can be done about it. Refereeing is a pretty thankless task, and while I am frustrated about it, just got to move on (by the way, refereeing is pretty damn difficult - I ref U14s games sometimes on Saturdays and I find myself missing calls as well, although as I'm the only ref sometmies that cancels it out somewhat). I'm really not pleased about the fact that they missed so many calls today - both refs did, although I thought the female ref missed more - and that the female refs had such an attitude about her in her communication towards us. That's not right.

 

(And having scores scored wrongly is also fcuked. Fcuk that. But what's there to be done? Just have to whine and whine about it until someone notices - took a damn long time in that game).

 

Anyway, enough of that. Other issues:

 

* I really would like to get up and down the court more - fast breaks are fun, and we can do them on a regular basis. They are, however, extremely tiring. We did run a tonne in the last game that we won, but not this game. Admittedly it's against a better team, but I still thought that overall, especially as we did well on the boards, we could have got up and down more. We definitely need more fitness if we're going to do that on a regular basis, however.

 

Still, with more training, I think our half court offense can improve. It works sometimes, and sometimes not. Today it worked sometimes - Tim and Ip in particular had some nice passes inside - but sometimes it didn't - Fat Chris, don't get your head down too much when you want to shoot, look for other options as well.

 

* Our man-to-man defense was decent for a first time. It's good playing man to man, but need to take more responsibility with the defending - for instance, don't defend so far up the court and help out others on defense - and it's also more exhausting They shot well today, but it must be said that they got a lot of dirty rolls.

 

* I guess everyone to some extent is worried with the upcoming assessments and exams. I know I am, and it's understandable that that affects the focus sometimes. So I wouldn't worry too much about that.

 

Having said that, we definitely need to play with a greater amount of energy. I thought that was the most important thing we were missing today - we just weren't playing that hard. Yes, we were getting up and down and we were trying to play and all that - but the game pace just felt rather lethargic. Maybe it was a stop-start game as well, and that contributed to it.

 

Outworking people though, definitely wins games. See how Utah Jazz have done so far this NBA season? They haven't got that much talent, and they won't sustain the pace, but they've won games this season so far against better teams mainly by outworking them.

 

* Need to hold onto leads better. 3 games now where we had a strong chance of winning and we didn't take it. Need to get better at holding leads, working our offense, and getting a good shot up. Also need to work on getting stops, but most importantly - composure and experience. We need those two factors - it'll serve us well.

 

Player ratings (can't say anyone deserves more than 7.5 for that game):

 

CHRIS LAU - 7/10. 2 pts, 1/2 FG. I thought Chris played pretty well - in most aspects of the game he did a good job. However, Chris, still need to work on your boxouts on the boards - still missing quite a few of those boxouts, leading to offensive rebounds for the other team. Perhaps that is a technique thing and we can work on that next time we have training. Defense was good, offensive movement was sound, didn't try to force too much, hustled - good job.

 

FAT CHRIS - 6.5/10. 4 pts, 8 boards (?), 2/11 (?) from the field. Chris - gotta stop putting your head down when you charge into the key! Keep your head up and look for other options! You've been doing this for the longest time now, and it is effective for you sometimes, but on nights like tonight, it just doesn't go. The main thing about your performance tonight is obviously your shooting though - you missed a lot of easy layups, but I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you. It's just one of those shooting nights from the field. Have to hit those layups obviously, but it's just one of those nights; more importantly, need to get your fitness up - but you know that already =) You played well in most aspects of the game other than that - rebounded solidly, had good hands on defense - but those layups... wish you could have had them back ay? Still, with better fitness, you'll hit those layups, and they're the main reason why the rating is lower than what it should be. And we know that you're sitting on your ass too much for assignments, so it's all good =)

 

TIM - 7.5/10. 5 pts (?). Nothing too exciting about your game, nothing too bad either. Good job on the boards, decent job defensively, hit a few sweet hookshots, even had a couple of good passes to Ip underneath for layups. Not really a game-breaking impact today - but played better than most of the rest of the team.

 

Gotta work on your outlet passes though - look up quicker & spot the guards quicker - but good job, overall.

 

IP - 7.5/10. 10 pts. Movement off the ball was sound, aggressive on offense, got a lot of good shots - some dropped, a few layups didn't, but good game on offense definitely. Got some sweet dimes off Tim for layups.

 

Defense was decent - one of the majority that didn't get tested too much in the man-to-man defense. As with most of the rest of the team, zonal positioning remains a little bit of a concern. And Ip - you know that you gotta be more aggressive on the glass. With your height, reach and hop, you could get more boards definitely. Keep up that offensive aggressiveness though and we'll be sound, and we'll work some on your help defense - you can definitely be a major shot blocker for our team.

 

JERM - 7/10. You actually didn't play badly at all. Your defense on the guy was pretty good, your rebounding was sound. Can't give you a higher rating, though, unless you improve your offense. I'm not so concerned about your shooting - you'll hit some, you'll miss some. More concerned about your movements - get rid of the ball quickly if you don't want to do something, make cuts, make yourself a nuisance in general on offense. You'll get a lot more easy shots that way.

 

But good game, overall. We could definitely use you as one of the fast break outlets.

 

CHUCK - 7/10. 14 pts, 5/8 shooting (4/6 3-balls). Shooting was on today. Hitting 3 balls is all good. As the PG, however, you probably need to create more offense for the rest of the team as well. Need to take the ball to the rack more and get more fouls, make more passes to open people etc. And you really shouldn't cheat on defense so much - play the man straight up, and unless he's REALLY good, don't go over screens - you'll get killed every single time doing that.

 

Didn't think you had as much an impact on the game as usual, despite the shooting. May deserve a higher rating... but probably not. As with me, gotta work on reducing turnovers; and diversifying offensive game would also be good. Keep the shooting up, though - you shoot like that and you can shoot as many times as you like (maybe =)

 

HOI - 6/10. 7 pts. 3/6 shooting, 1/5 FTS (what the fcuk is that?!?!?!? 3 shitty rolls on FTs, but that's just an appalling statistic. By the way, we need to get on the line more - gotta be more aggressive taking the ball to the hole and drawing fouls. Soft play ain't gonna cut it). That game went by like a blur for me - my heart just wasn't really into it. I would say that I was lethargic for that game. I'm somewhat worried about my upcoming exams, but more importantly I wasn't in the best physical shape for that game - my back was aching a little, and that's always a significant concern.

 

Could have shot more and taken it to the hole stronger (friggin slapping fouls are frustrating). Could have played better defense. Could have been more of a leader and created things for other people. Just need to get better & more consistent, but it's hard to do that when I'm physically ailing a little and not completely into the game. Stayed off 12 minutes of that game, and probably could have stayed off for longer. I'm probably not playing next week, btw - exam the next day, and my body needs the rest probably. We'll see. Could have done a lot better in this game in general, and that creates the low rating.

 

One more thing. 7 players - it was quite a struggle today to get decent playing time for everyone. I think everyone did play enough - Jerm probably played the least, followed by Chris Lau and me, but I think the court time allocation was okay. Any more than 7 players though and we'll have difficulty with that! So I think 7 players is an optimum amount. With our lethargy today though, we certainly could have used Bosco!

 

That's all for this game. I'm still feeling tired. Better stop the swimming before the games! I definitely would like to do that game again, but right now, I'm just rather... lethargic. We'll talk more about it next time we meet up. Y'all up for training on Sunday or not? We'll go somewhere quiet and work on our game this week. Holla back.

 

 

 

Saturday, October 25 2003 - 10:31p.m.

Flavos Remix 50 d. The Chief 35. (Half time - 16 v 10).

Current Record - 1-3.

For & Against - 182 v 225

Average score: 45.5 pts

Average opposition score: 56.25 pts

 

Going into the game, we had no idea of we were playing. None of us has ever seen The Chiefs play, and we were therefore curious about what kind of game we were going to have.

 

Warm-ups didn't provide much of an indication. The first half certainly did. At the end of the half, we had gone through the lowest scoring half of our four games so far. The fact that we had kept the opposition to our lowest half total as well wasn't that much of an encouragement, considering the fact that they were... not very good. They were slightly physically bigger, and got a few scrappy layups that way which constituted the majority of their score; but they just weren't very good. Our defense was doing a lot better than last week structually, however - the opposition were nowhere near as good, but we were holding our structure better and the forwards in particular were not getting caught behind anyone in the low post.

 

Our offense wasn't that fantastic, but we had our chances in the first half. We had a few fast breaks going; Chris was on his way to having a monster game on the offensive boards, and he converted a few of those into subsequent layups; and Bosco came on and hit the first 3 ball of his career, indicating the vast potential that he has in his reserve, hahahaha. (What potential is that, exactly? You guys can say what you like =) Still, overall our first half offense was rather spluttering - Tim missed a few layups, we struggled to work the ball around, Chuck and me had our usual lion's share of turnovers and we were struggling to convert our opportunities.

 

The second half turned out fantastic. We continued to work the boards - Chris was killing it on the O-boards, as even when he didn't get the board he caused disruption in there; Chris and Tim also worked the D-boards, and Tim held it down with some nice interior defense. Chuck and me began to get out on the breaks a lot, primarily through the good work of the other guys on the boards with a few forced turnovers from them helping a lot. They started to get really tired, and if it wasn't for their banked 3 pointers (there were at least 4-5 of them, and they were all from rather ridiculous arcs and angles wtf?!?!) and for the fact that we let up a fair bit towards the end due to fatigue, the scoreline difference would have been a lot greater. Their interior defense was not that great in the first half, but it became a lot worse in the second; we just went into the key at will, and they gave up layup after layup. How else do you explain my 23 pts in the second half?!

 

They weren't very good; but overall, I'm really glad to get the W under our belt. More importantly, I think we're getting better every week - that's what even some training gets you. Training is good; I don't see any point in going and being lambs to the slaughter; and it's easy to make a few hours in a week for basketball, it's enjoyable and it's good exercise. Team sports also has a lot of camadarie - one of the reasons I wanted to play even though my back doesn't feel that well and it's an expensive exercise (relatively) is that it's a good chance to see people once a week and have some fun while trying to do well at something with a collective spirit.

 

Anyway, player ratings:

 

BOSCO - 7/10. 3 pts, 1/4 FG, 1/3 3-ball, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 foul (season - 1/15 FG!!!). Didn't do as much this game as last game. Not that much significant to speak of about his game, actually; played better positional defense, did a decent job distracting people on the boards... of course, we have to mention that he hit the first 3 of his career. Gets off the bench... and hits a 3 straight away. The whole team erupted, of course (I would say the whole stadium erupted, but really, with about 20 people in there including the players, that would be an exaggeration of the most ridiculous kind). He didn't hit another one, but hey, that was probably the highlight of the night =)

 

CHRIS LAU - 7/10. 3 pts, 1/4 FG. Decent game on the boards (I haven't got a stat line from him yet), not that many proper rebounds but a lot of solid boxing out, though did get beat badly on a couple of occasions - still learning. Better defense too, managed to get more deflections. Also hit a 3 - almost as big a highlight as Bosco's... but not quite =) If fitness and basketball instincts improve, could be the third person on the break after Chuck and me. With more confidence, some of those post moves will come off too - getting decent separation from defenders usually due to strength, but mediocre footwork means that he's not set for some of his shots off his post moves and on the move. More practice will be good for that.

 

I think with Bosco and Chris Lau, confidence is key - they can't get shots on the move at the moment, but with set shots and the feet under them, with more practice they can definitely hit those, and it would relieve a lot of pressure on Chuck and me in particular if we can kick the ball back out and know that there's a good chance the J will go down.

 

TIM: 8/10. 0 pts (0/6 FG), 11 rebounds (3 O-boards), 3 blocks, 2 steals. Very good game on the boards and on defense. Gradually getting the legs back, and did more running up and down the court as a result. Rebounded well, and managed to erase some shots on defense; just as importantly, got a couple of steals through hustle. Main blot was some missed layups on offense - just one of those nights when the rolls weren't going right. Hurt ankle near the end of the night was another blot, but nothing serious; should be back for the game in two weeks. Probably should have gotten the ball a bit more in the post but then again, sometimes it was difficult getting it in there in the first place. Needs to have more confidence making moves in more competitive games, however, and needs to get rid of the ball on the fast break so that you're not the main ball handler and therefore become afflicted with tunnel vision =)

 

FAT CHRIS - 8/10. 8 pts, 15 rebounds (8 offensive), 0/2 FT. Monster game on the boards - absolutely killed it. Would not be an exaggeration to say that we would have won last week if you were around. Solid scoring figures in the first half, but not sure if you scored in the second? Good defense too. Still has tunnel vision sometimes on offense - I'm not sure when that will improve with Chris quite frankly, it's been like that for a long time haha. Running through a few players may work against this opposition, but not a great idea against others, and doesn't help the shooting percentage. You are allowed to take those shots, however, if you are always going to get the offensive rebounds after them and put it back in =)

 

CHUCK - 7.5/10. 8 pts (4/10 FG) (season avg: 14.5 pts), 0/2 FT, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 7 TOs, 3 steals. Solid game. Shooting wasn't as good as what this season has brought thus far; missed most jumpers, got points mainly on fast break layups. Needs to learn how to land better, so not to hurt ankle in future =) Passing skills still needs work, but it'll improve eventually - some nice early passes over to me for layups. Probably more suited to playing off guard than point guard due to lack of creating shots for other people in half court and being a more consistent shooter than me, but his handle is better than mine, so it'll end up just being a combo guard setup I suppose in our backcourt. However, if Chuck and me keep running, hopefully we can get at least 12 points a game off fast breaks. That would be nice, and it certainly happened this game. Good & quick hands led to steals, although positional defense still needs work.

 

HOI - 8.5/10. 28 pts (10/17 FG, 3/4 3-balls, 3/4 FTs) (season avg: 14.75 pts), 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 7 TOs, 2 steals. What can I say? Their interior defense was soft, especially in the second half - they didn't even bother trying to block half my layups, whassup with that? Ran the fast breaks and got some layups that way as well. Shot the 3-ball better than normal which helps enormously - it really helps to get points that way instead of being banged around in the key. Should've had at least two more assists, but thanks to Chuck's running mainly (and Bosco's 3 ball haha) I got some at the end. Still really need to cut down on those turnovers and defense can still improve, as can recognition of rebounding opportunities; as with the whole team, fitness can improve also. Overall though, good game. (BTW, I guess I might dictate too much during games sometimes... but hey, someone has to lead, and it might as well be me =)

 

So there's another week of balling. No game next week - the Peakhurst stadium is booked out for HSC exams - so season resumes in two weeks time. If enough people are enthusiastic about it, maybe we can organise a proper scrimmage sometime during the week, 5 on 5 stuff - go to a court somewhere and do our thing, get some practice. Things to work on include passing, shooting under pressure, and recognitions of zonal offense and defense (yes, we all need some Basketball 101 - thank Bosco for the link. Interesting stuff). Training hopefully this Sunday at Blakehurst - Tim's ankle is sore so he can't turn up properly, but hope to see everyone else there?

 

We're definitely improving though, and that's probably as much self-satisfaction for all of us as anyone needs =) So far, this is probably easily the most enjoyable basketball season over the last few years - I just didn't enjoy the Bankstown comp as much as this one. A good team, enjoyable personalities, team spirit is there so far - winning is always fun but it's not everything - and probably just as importantly, the drive is just so much shorter! But yeah, we're doing well. We can always get better, and we will, but we're doing well =)

 

*****

 

On a sidenote - there's been occasional talk of getting more players into the team. However, I'm not so sure whether it's so prudent. I know that not everyone turns up every week; but quite frankly, having 6 or 7 players every week is the ideal number, and more than 7 is virtually impossible to manage in terms of equitable playing time. Having around 6 or 7 is a very good number - I prefer 6, some prefer 7. I don't want it so that some people don't play that much when they come - there's no way of getting better if you're not getting court time, right?

 

So I think that, with 8 people on the roster and around 6 people turning up every week, we're fine with roster size. However, we can talk about this more the next time we meet as a group? If anyone has any opinions, holla back.

 

 

Saturday, October 18 2003 - 1:08a.m.

I'll try to put a Flavos Remix game report up after every game that we play from now on.

 

*****

 

Heading into the game against "Bouncers" at 9:15pm on Thursday Oct 16, we were feeling pretty comfortable about our chances. Against a team that, in Bosco's words, consisted of "real estate agents" (i.e 40-50 year olds), we felt that we could outrun them and had enough skill to more than combat their significant advantage in bulk (their combined weight must have been almost double our combined weight) and experience. We had a good training session last weekend that focused on fast break skills, and overall, feeling pretty confident.

 

The game started (not particularly promptly - an aside: it's good to be playing at a close-by venue at Peakhurst instead of having to venture out to Bankstown every week, it's a 40 minute round-trip saving at least on travel time; but St George Basketball Association, at the moment, is just not very organised; one good and bad thing though, depending on your perspective, is that they are not too strict on uniform. I've never been a big fan of being too strict on shorts colours - as long as they are similar e.g. dark blue & black, that's all that matters; what next, regulating shoe colours?! - but some of the jerseys have been just shocking for an organised comp. Bonds singlets with numbers written on them?!?! At least, please, insist on jerseys of the same colour!), and their advantage in girth over us became obvious. Befitting their age, they had absolutely no hops, so we got our share of rebounds; but as the game went on and the big men (Ip + Tim) became more exhausted, their girth enabled them to knock us out of position on box out.

 

Anyway, back to the game. The first half was a pretty poor offensive display by us in parts. We had another slow start - I don't think we ever get out of the gates quick. I had my normal share of turnovers to start the game, and no one was shooting well. Eventually, Chuck started hitting some outside jumpers, and Ip found some room inside to get some short jumpers. Our passing, however, remained pretty suspect, and our poor defensive positioning enabled them to get free for open corner jumpers or alternatively post up on the forwards.

 

Chuck hit for a good amount of shots in the first half. Ip and Tim ended up with some buckets inside as well. Bosco and Chris Lau conributed some defense and rebounding, but Chris in particular got in pretty quick foul trouble (along with Ip) - slow reactions and poor positioning on defense meant that each were saddled with three fouls at the half. I played good defense and cut down on the TOs towards the end of the half, but my shot was terrible and way off on this night - I must have went 1-8 in the first half.

 

Still, at the half we were down 26-19 (or around there - I forgot the exact score, but we were down by 5 or 7). A lot of their points were coming off inside points (off short post-ups and offensive boards) and corner jumpers. A few defensive adjustments and we'd be on our way. Chuck and me were running sound fast breaks but where was everyone else? In any case, our fast break skills were suspect, with Chuck losing his handles on a couple of occasions.

 

Second half - Bosco came on court and contributed some valuable rebounding, holding his position well on the defensive boards. Tim and Ip by this stage were pretty tired though, and it showed on the boards - the opposition's girth were beginning to knock them out of position, and the majority of their points in the second half ended up coming from offensive boards.

 

Now that I think about it, I couldn't even remember how we got so many points in the second half. I ended up with 13 in the second half, Tim had about 6 off various scrappy rebounds, Chuck hit a couple of 3 balls I think and Ip had some scrappy baskets. (Chris had one off an O-board but I forgot if that was the first or second half). However, our offense still needs work - we don't move the ball around quickly enough and our positioning still leaves something to be desired.

 

Chuck and I kept on hoisting up 3 balls. As the end of the game approached and they once again jumped out by 7 after we had taken the lead, some of the 3 balls became extremely forced. Nevertheless, we kept on coming back and kept on defending.

 

Here's where it gets interesting. About two minutes left - this is from memory.

 

- They were leading 46-42. I slapped the ball away from the ball handler at mid court from behind him. Ip got the ball, passed it forward, I raced ahead for a layup. 46-44.

- They came down, shot, got an offensive rebound, and scored a layup off that. 48-44.

- Came down. I launched a three ball that was off, but Tim got the O-board and put it back in. 48-46.

- The bald guy comes down, stops right at the mid-court... cross-court violation. About 45 seconds left at this stage.

- Ball comes out, goes around quickly, Tim gets the ball at the low post and is double teamed. Passes back out to me, who launches what must be (at least) the 7th 3 ball of the night - finally, one hits. 48-49. 25seconds left.

- They came down, took a shot from the corner, misses; battle under the boards, they knock it out. Our possession, about 19 seconds left.

- Ip takes the inbound pass, passes to me; I hold the ball and gets fouled immediately. Bonus free throws.

- I hit the first one... and airball the second one (sorry y'all - ball just slipped). 48-50.

- They come down, I mark the ball handler full court but he manages to draw a (pretty dodgy) foul on me. Bonus free throws for them. About 15 seconds left.

- I started screaming out instructions to all and sundry, right behind the free throw player; he misses the first. Their team becomes pretty pissed off with me, especially one hefty Aussie who let me know in no uncertain terms what he thought of that. I respond curtly with a few choice words.

- As the player hits the second free throw (49-50), I kept on swearing at the opposition player, finally letting out a "fcuk you, bitch ass punk - who the fcuk do you think you are?". Unfortunately, it was rather too loud (yeh, it could have been heard from outside the stadium probably); ref had no choice but to give me a tech foul. One free throw for them + possession. More importantly, I'm fouled out. (No, going off the court swearing loudly at the opposition team wasn't too classy either).

- Their player misses the tech foul free throw.

- They get possession. The team doesn't set up properly on defense - who's playing forward on the left side? Their players gets the lob pass, gets fouled on the layup. Two free throws. Ip is fouled out too on this play (although he should have been fouled out a minute ago!)- 4 players left on the court.

- Misses the first... but hits the second. 50-50. About 12 seconds left.

- Bosco inbounds to Chris Lau, who passes to Tim, who then passes to Chuck. Chcuk takes the ball up, tries to go through a double team... and dribbles the ball off the opposition player.

- Opposition retreives the ball; despite close attention from Chuck and Tim, passes the ball 3/4 of the court to a running player who had gotten behind Bosco... and hits the layup as the buzzer sounded. 52-50.

 

And that all happened in the last two minutes of the game.

 

A few observations from the game.

 

- Sorry, y'all - my bad. That tech foul was one of the most boneheaded things I've done in a long time. If I hadn't gotten that tech foul - I wouldn't say we would have won for certain because we don't know that, but our chances would have been a lot higher. Just got carried away on the emotion after hitting the 3 ball earlier.

- Chuck - don't dribble through double teams for a while. At the end of the game, just have to hold the ball, get into positions, isolate yourself and go for a shot. Need to get a shot off AND make sure the opposition don't have time to get a shot off as well.

- This is a game where we could have really used Fat Chris. With him, I say we win definitely. We needed one more guy to rebound against the girth. In the second half, we got knocked out of position too much on the boards and inside.

- This is also a game where we could have used another outside shooter. Chuck is the only one that is shooting rather consistently - I shot really poorly in that game, and no one else can really hit jumpers.

- Our boarding wasn't that bad, considering the circumstances - Ip and Tim did well on the boards. Chris Lau and Bosco both held their box-out positions as well - good stuff.

- I think we're getting a lot better as a team - the improvement since the first week is tangible.

- Our fitness level, however, has to really improve. 40 minute basketball game may not seem like a long time, but it is if you're trying to get up and down the court. Our quickness is a trait that we can use, but not if no one gets up the court on fast breaks!

 

That was a really tough loss, and it's hard for me to take personally because that was just a stupid tech foul at the end. Still, I think we're gradually improving. Considering we have two beginners to competitive basketball on the team and that we're giving up a lot of girth to some teams, we're not doing badly at all. Just have to take the positives out of the game.

 

Player ratings:

 

IP - 7/10. Did a good job on the boards. Played well in the first half especially. Fatigue got the better of him in the second half. Needs to work on defensive positioning and off the ball movement (i.e. getting in open spaces). The team must also focus on getting him the ball more at the right places inside, but that's something we'll work on in training.

 

BOSCO - 7/10. 0/1 shooting, 0/2 free throws, 4 boards, 3 fouls, 2 warnings from refs haha. Came on and did a great job on the boards - held position well. Also irritated other team, which is always a bonus. Defensive positioning still needs improvement, but hustle and aggressiveness is always appreciated; so, doing a good job as a sparkplug off the bench. Still needs to get a clue about positioning on offense and general offensive skills, however - you could start by getting yourself a basketball man =)

 

CHRIS LAU - 6.5/10. Held position well on the boards in the first half, but didn't see nearly as much from him after he got into foul trouble. Defensive positioning remains a worry. We'll also work on your jumpers - I know you hit them in training, now we need to put you under pressure while you shoot it. Good hustle inside, especially in the first half - impressive aggressiveness in the post.

 

TIM - 7.5/10. More than held his own under the boards - impressive rebounding on both ends. Defense wasn't too bad, didn't get into big-time foul trouble and had a few nice blocks. Offensive positioning and awareness of others need work - passing directly to the opposition when they are not me AND they are wearing a different jersey is just not on =) Might be worthwhile trying to establish you on the other side as well - I've noticed that you shoot most of your shots from the left side? But since you're left handed, you might be better off going to the other side more often.

 

CHUCK - 7/10. 7/18 shooting (3/8 3 balls), 2/2 free throws, 2 rebs, 2 assists, 4 TOs. Shooting was pretty good in the first half. Not so good in the second half, and you must have been watching me too much because your shot selection deteroriated noticeably in the second half. Still need to work on passing and getting other people good shots. Think you might be better off playing shooting guard but you're a better dribbler than me which doesn't help... Defensive positioning needs work (see a common theme here?)

 

HOI - 5.5/10. 4/15 shooting (1/8 3 balls), 6/10 free throws (these are rough figures from memory only - people, if you have your own stat lines, send them over and I'll post them up), 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 7 TOs, 2 steals, 5 fouls, 1 tech foul (roughly, from memory). Had my usual rash of turnovers in the first half (why do I keep doing that?) but it got a lot better in the second. Shot selection, however, was terrible. I guess I'm too stubborn - I keep on thinking that I have to hit a 3 ball sooner or later... and I hit the last one, most of them were good looks too, but nevertheless that's a terrible % overall. Defense was good, leadership was good, passing was okay (although I should move the ball quicker inside if I can), got some people open (and got Chuck his fair share of open jumpers), could keep running the whole game, drew a lot of fouls; but that stupid, stupid tech foul at the end automatically takes a fair chuck away from the end rating.

 

TEAM RATING - 6.5/10. A lot of positives (rebounding, hustle, heart, sticking to offensive structure); a lot of things to improve on as well (shooting, defense). The last minute was self-destructive behaviour - first me, then the team (no forwards - how can someone get the ball for a wide-open layup in the last 15 seconds, off an inbound pass??!?! Lucky he was slow and we could foul him), then Chuck. Still, I think we are definitely improving, and that's a positive sign. Even though that was a really frustrating game and I lost sleep over it last night, there are definitely positives to take out of it.

 

At the end of the day - personally, I'm really enjoying this team basketball experience. And that's what it's all about, right?

 

 

 

P.S. Yeah, that was a rather boring game report... I'll just focus on the main points to be drawn from the game in future weeks. But that was just such a frustrating loss that I have to write about its specific details... it's rather therapeutic.

 

 

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