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Chinese American Athletic Association Basketball Tournament
www.chineseballers.com
40+ Division |
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In early 2003, Ken Nipp contacted me and proposed that we form a team for the CAAA tournament in the age 40 and up division held twice a year here in the LA area. He would invite five of his friends and I would invite five of mine to fill out the roster of 12. Our team name would be K&J, named after our first initials. The first season we had a roster including Ken Nipp, Melvin Lim, Gary Yue, Mike Yee, Jimmy Lee, Philip Lee, Bennett Lee, Donny Yep, Mark Nakakihara, another Mark, Kim Lee, and Russell Young. I think we went 6-1 and took first place. One game we lost we had to file a complaint because we noticed an illegal player. We did quite well considering we felt we were at a height disadvantage most of the time. When we formed the team, we didn't know how we would match up, but we felt we would do fine as long as we pressed and played man. Melvin and Russell would be our inside game, and Gary, and Donny our outside game. Melvin is a sturdy 6-1 and one on one is tough to guard inside. Donny is only about 5-5 but a three point phenom. Phil loves to tell me about the time Donny put in ten treys including the winning basket from five feet beyond the arc to win a championship game in the Las Vegas tournament a few years back. Phil would be the point guard. Phil was a star point guard for the Lincoln High School "C" and JV teams, and easily breaks down man to man defenses by taking his man to the hoop for a short left handed jumper. Mike was chosen because he was one of those guys who did all the hard work and little things to get the win. Bennett has a nice outside touch. Ken can shoot the three, I remember one game at Walnut when he torched us with seven treys.
The next season we replaced Kim Lee, Russell Young and the two Marks with Steve Umemoto, Bick Wong, and Tony Jue and Robert Loo. Russell I found out had been having problems with some type of arthritis and had pretty much retired. About seven years ago, he was our center and MVP in the InterChurch League Ken had in Anaheim, when our team went something like 35-4, winning two league championships and only losing one in between because Russel was out for the championship game. Russell is about 6-2 or 6-3 and has a very nice pump fake. Tony would be his replacement and at 5-11 though not as tall, but much stronger and effective at the post shooting and rebounding. People hit him and he doesn't say anything but as the game goes on, he makes sure the other player knows that if thats the way they want to play, then he is quite ready to return the favor. I asked Robert to join us because of his speed and hustle. Anyway, for this second season, we went 5-2 and ended up in third place. I wasn't there, but the game that did us in was losing to the first place Jazz on a desparation heave at the buzzer. That one lucky basket was the difference between first and third place.
Season three, we lost Robert Loo, Mike Yee, and Steve Umemoto and recruited John Yoshitake, Herbert Wong and Nelson Lew. 5-10 Herbert is another great three point shooter and 6-1 Nelson is a great rebounder and defensive player. John is an amazing player at age 42 or so - not really tall, maybe 5-9, but he can still easily grab the rim. He is super quick on the break and has a stop on the dime short jumper. It is so rare to find a guy with a middle game. He is really quiet and I have never heard him say anything to the refs. He must have averaged 25-30 points for us. With John racing for fast breaks and hitting the short jumpers, Herbert and Donny connecting on threes, and Nelson giving us the extra inside presence we lacked, we were pretty much unstoppable and regained first place with a 6-0 record. We even whipped a young team that illegally subbed in for one of the 40+ teams that couldn't make the game. Gary made a rare appearance and helped us beat our main competition, the Jazz. Gary is a money shooter but seems to have lost interest in playing. In that pivotal game, Herbert was fouled at the buzzer going for a three. The last game didn't matter so John was missing for the game, or was he late? Somehow we lost that game. I missed that game. I don't recall the name of this team, but they have beaten us every season. This season, we may want to try less press and see if this will get us past them. They seem to have our number but they always lose to the Jazz. So we ended up 6-1 but were again the champs.
Season four began Oct 2, 2004. This season our only roster change is losing Herbert and getting back Steve Umemoto. 6-0 Steve, Phil's friend, was a walk on on the USC basketball team and played with Gus Williams, and an AA NAU player, and now coach at Lincoln High School. He is our oldest player at 50 but still the number one or two player on our team (and on any Asian team he has played on). He is fierce on defense, loves to drive to the hoop, and a great passer. I am amazed at how his body can handle all those fouls people pound him with when he goes inside. Everytime I get on the court with him, I feel really inadequate because I know I am so out of his league. Really, the only way we won't defend our title successfully is if Steve or John don't show up for games. And that almost happened in game two, which I will shortly talk about.
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Season Four
For our first game on Oct 2, 2004, we could only muster up five guys. Fortunately, two of them were Steve and John. Melvin, Nelson and I made up the other three. We played Saturday, 1:00, at the old little Alpine gym, which I think was helpful for us so that we wouldn't tire as much. I hadn't played in that gym probably for over 25 years and it looked cramped, but once the game started, I didn't notice any difference since I really don't run and jump all over the place. We were playing a team called "Thursday" which was probably made up of some old Alpine guys that play together I would guess on Thursday nights, maybe at Marshall HS. We saw them last season and it was no contest. The only one I knew on that team was Clifford Wong, a guy who I think played on the Marshall "C" basketball team and used to eat me up on the court. John was about five minutes late to the game so we started with four. It was close until he showed up and then we blew them off the court. I think we had a twelve point lead at the half, maybe the score was something like 31-19, and minutes into the second half, it was over pretty quick. They had absolutely no inside game and just shot outside. On D, Steve switched at the half to center but he was jumping out so it looked more like a 3-2 defense than a 2-1-2. Steve also played point on offense and I got plenty of easy looks from the wing. John probably scored 27, on his usual fast breaks and short jumpers. Steve maybe 10 on drives to the hoop, Melvin maybe 12, Nelson maybe 4 and I scored about 8. I had one fast break lay up and three outside buckets, not sure if any of them were threes. The final score was 61-38. For me, it was a fun game. I probably passed up too many shots. It was a little embarrasing for me on my first shot, a turn around base line jumper that hit the side of the board. I blame the slippery ball, which we switched a little later. Hey, I'm just trying to have some fun. But we looked good for some old guys.
Our second game was on Oct 10, Sunday 2:00 at Campus gym in Walnut. This game I was really worried about because both John and Steve would not be able to make it. We had five guys again, Bick, Phil, Ken, Jimmy, and Nelson. I was thinking to myself the days before that I would have to shoot a lot, since no one was really a shooter. In their earlier years, Phil or Bick would have been designated shooters, but age and concerns for other matters have eroded their skills. Bick had been a point guard at Lincoln High School with my brother Bennett and had a nice touch. Only about 5-9, his strength and leaping ability allowed him to easily play against players much taller. I was so relieved when the league announced we could bring in extra players not on the roster. I was able to bring in friends from church. Wayland Chew, a 6-1, would help us by blocking shots and scoring. I also brought in Nick Hill, who at 5-10 was inexperienced but had a nice touch. At the last moment, Melvin was able to get out of work, so we had eight guys for the game. The other team was called "Hangtime" and we have played them before but I don't really recall much about them, except blowing them out. Chou, my relative, is on the team, but he just coached. They had lost to the Jazz last week by twenty points. I am not absolutely sure, but here is how the game went. We started out ok by going to Mel and Nick with four from each of them, but they adjusted by collapsing and took that away. So we tried our outside shots which they let us do and that was a disaster. I think for the game we went one for ten from the three point line. They were physical and took it to us at times and we just couldn't score. For the those ten minutes, we could only manage three free throws, two from Nelson and one from Bick. The half time score was 12-11 in their favor. I was a little upset that the timekeeper didn't know if the clock stopped the last fifteen seconds of the half. But they were just young girls and probably spoke broken English. We decided to switch to a man to man full court press to start the second half. Bick would guard their best player and that worked well because that guy didn't score again. The man to man press worked with Phil getting a nice strip and them taking wild shots. We went on a 7-0 run, two from Mel, two from Nelson and our only three from Bick. We were up 18-12. Then it seemed like we let them back in. They went on a nine to four run, our only two baskets from Wayland. They had some unimpressive slow fellow and an old looking bald guy make some shots. And they got within 22-21. We went to Bick and he stepped up, making four straight free throws, on one plus ones. We also continued our good D, with Nelson getting a key block toward the end and we won 26-21. The web site says 40-37, but that is wrong. Bick scored 8, Wayland 4, Nick 4, Nelson 4, and Mel 6. I went 0-3 and blame the slippery dusty wood floor. I had two assists to Mel, a couple of rebounds and some steals. An ugly win. Glad it was at Campus gym where nobody saw it. Slow, with lots of missed shots and turn overs. We looked awful and every bit our age. People were on the floor. Phil almost got into an argument with one of them. We should have beat them by 20 because they had nothing. Aaron video taped the game and I am not really excited about watching it. But I would still rather play in an ugly game than to not play at all. I am a true basketball fanatic. People always want to know why I play so much, and I tell them because the doctors tell us to exercise at least three times a week and I would rather play three basketball games than walk around the hood (maybe thats why my legs are so white), or go to a gym and ride on a bike that doesn't go anywhere. But I know one of these days I will have to hang it up. Anyways, we should look better our next game. |
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Our third game was on Oct 23, 2004, Alpine, at 2:00. We came with John, Bick, Donny, Phil, Bennett, Nelson, Wayland, and Jimmy. The opponent was Bell Security. I recognized Sam Kim and Tao Sung. This was the team I had my highlights with last season. The first thing they did was ID John. After that they tried to take it inside on us which worked at times. We started with Wayland, Nelson, Bick, Donny and John in a zone. The first 8 minutes or so was rather poor play for the team we had and it was more or less tie score, perhaps 10-10. I subbed in for Donny and at that time, we decided to go man. It worked and we got up a lead. I even made a three on my first shot. I missed my next three attempts, though they felt good, but I did get two free throws in the second. I was hustling hard, not bad for an old man, but only for five minute spans. They really didn't have a good ball handler. I think we were up by a dozen or so at the half. John made his first shot, then missed a few, but soon got hot. He ended up with about 34 points. Donny was off in the first half but soon looked himself with nine points on three treys in the second half. Nelson had four, Phil had two, and Wayland had two (my assist). Bennett hadn't played for almost a month, and it showed, as he was a bit slow and his timing off. There was one play where they batted our ball out and the refs gave it to them, we complained and they gave us a Tech. They never got closer than ten and it was pretty much a blow out. Donny must have had 10 assists, most to John on the long throw. Phil who didn't play til the second half also must have had quite a few assists. The other team knocked the ball from him on his penetration dribble a few times, which would never have happened in our younger days. Nevertheless, it is good to know that we can get out there and still do it. I had fun. With Donny and John, we looked pretty good in front of the Alpine fans. Final Score: 56-41. Team record: 3-0. |
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We played 3-1 Green Horse today Oct 30 at BestFit Saturday 2:00. This is the team that has beaten us three straight games. They have a talented guard that was able to break our man to man defense down. He could go to the hoop or he would make a nice dish to their talented 6-2 big man. We started the game with myself, Bick, Phil and Lincoln. I had called Lincoln last nite to help us out, knowing we would be short. It could have been a forfeit if I didn't because John, Nelson and Melvin were late. In fact Lincoln made our first four points, and then Bick made a three point play and we were only down 8-7 when John showed up minutes later. We played some more zone but couldn't get past them because they were shooting pretty good. Also, we didn't really get the outlet to John very well. Since we were not playing our game, I yelled out to switch to man to man. John took the lead and finally the others joined in and we went on a 7-0 run to take the lead by seven. They hit some big threes to keep it that close, I think they had six or seven treys in the first half, four by this one guy who just stood outside. But we could adjust to that easily. So the second half, we started with Phil, Bick, John, Melvin, and Nelson. We shut down their threes and John wore them down. We got up by maybe 15 at the most, and pretty much owned them, but eventually won by nine. I think the pace was just too fast for them, and our big guys were big enough to handle their inside game, which beat us in the past. At the end they asked for the ID of John, as he was pretty much dominating. He is the only one out there running up and down and shooting jump shots. The rest of us are pretty much set shots. I don't recall us attempting any three point shots, which is unusual, but we had to go to our strength. I didn't take any shots and I think I just got a few rebounds and assists. I was kind of holding back a little because of my ABA game at 4:00 and also because I felt the chances were better with going to the other guys. Final score was 51-42. Johnny probably scored 30, Mel maybe 6, Lincoln 6, Bick 5, Nelson 2. We looked good, and now we are 4-0. We have a game tomorrow with San Diego 50, no John or Steve. Donny will be there so we should do well. But it might be a low scoring game. |
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Oct 31, 2004. 2:00 Sunday Bestfit. Today we played 0-2 San Diego. They looked really old, but they played ok, getting back on D and hitting some nice shots. A bit short though. But I knew we would beat them, and in part because I didn't shoot yesterday and in part because John wasn't coming, I had decided I was going to shoot and cherry pick, pretending to be John (although he did show up late). I didn't want a repeat of the ugly game. I am comfortable at the BestFit gym, and the traction is better there than Campus or Alpine. We started with Lincoln, Nelson, Bick, Phil, and myself. We get the tip but I dribble into the key and throw it away and they come down and score, 2-0, their only lead in the game. Bick comes down and hits a nice 15 footer and then I cherry pick a lay up on a long pass from Bick, and then Phil hits a trey. I almost blew the lay up but I rebounded and put it back it. We had started zone but quickly went man. Soon it was 19-6, and our biggest lead was 25-11. I gave a nice pass to Bick on a fast break but he missed so I lost my assist. I got a nice steal when I poked the ball out of this guy's hand which Bick picked up and threw to Phil for a nice lay up. Pretty much an easy game and we were up 25-13 at the half and it would have been worse but I was just letting them shoot out of mercy. To start the game, I was pressing and Phil said I was out of position and confusing him. Later, Phil told me to stop cherry picking and driving to the hoop. And when I was running down for a fast break with my back to the guys and they threw a short pass to me which I didn't see, he asked me where I was going. And then he told me to bounce pass instead of throwing little floater passes. I must have been really frustrating him. Bick told me to space out a little more on the offense. Some stuff I need to keep in mind and work on. Since we were doing fine I guess, John didn't come into the game until three minutes left. The guys let me play the whole first half and I scored ten points, though I missed a lot of easy baskets. Sorry about not converting those nice assists guys! I even didn't say anything to the refs or scorekeepers. So I sat out the first eleven minutes of the second and re-entered to play another six minutes before some guy tripped me sending me tumbling. John pretty much took over the second half, scoring 15 points. They did get as close as 33-26 with nine minutes to go. San Diego is the worse team of the league, no doubt, and we would have beaten them with any 5 guys. They hit me a lot, but they were nice guys. I thought we played ok. Phil had a good game. Even though Bick played less than half a game, he also looked good. He had to go to a game at Shurr HS. Nelson did his usual good job on the boards. We had nice passing. Wayland, Nelson, Lincoln and Melvin are intimidating their inside shots, and controlling the paint. I have no doubt that we could probably play in the C and D divisions of this tournament and take the C. We looked much better than we did the last game without John and Steve. Its nice to know we are going to get all the rebounds because of our height. But even our guards can rebound because we know how to position and block out. Final score was around 52-40. I am surprised they were that close. Ok, we are 5-0 and again on a course to meet the Jazz for the championship. Aaron came and video taped the game and I have the following approximate stats. I don't think I will record the turnovers, but I remember at least two for me, one at the start of the game and one bad pass to Melvin on the fast break.
pts Threes FG FT A R S B
Bick 4 2/3 2 2
Phil 7 1 3/7 3 5
Nelson 1 0/4 1/2 10 1
Jimmy 12 1 4/14 3/4 5 1
Lincoln 0/3 2 1
Donny 3 1 1/1 4 5 2
Wayland 3 1/3 1/2 2 1
Melvin 5 2/5 1/6 3
John 17 7/12 3/5 3 4 1
Team 52 3 20/52 9/19 14 36 5 2
(38.5%) (47.3%)
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Records as of Nov 18, 2004 - Final
Jazz 6-0 58-40 (HT) 53-45 (BS) 38-26 (GH) 62-56 (WH) 41-35 (KJ) 71-47 (Th)
K&J 6-1 61-38 (Th) 26-21 (HT) 56-41 (BS) 51-42 (GH) 52-40 (SD) 35-41 (Jz) 50-41 (WH)
Green Horse 4-3 52-41 (SD) 40-34 (Th) 26-38 (Jz) 56-26 (HT) 42-51 (KJ) 45-49 (WH) 53-43 (BS)
White Horse 4-3 2-0 (BS) 53-41 (Th) 56-62 (Jz) 40-37 (SD) 49-45 (GH) 49-52 (HT) 41-50 (KJ)
Bell Security 2-5 0-2 (WH) 62-51 (SD) 45-53 (Jz) 53-40 (Th) 41-56 (KJ) 61-68 (HT) 43-53 (GH)
San Diego 2-4 51-62 (BS) 41-52 (GH) 40-52 (KJ) 37-40 (WH) 35-22 (Th) 53-41 (HT)
HangTime 3-4 40-58 (Jz) 21-26 (KJ) 26-56 (GH) 68-61 (BS) 41-53 (SD) 53-31 (Th) 52-49 (WH)
Thursday 0-7 38-61 (KJ) 41-53 (WH) 34-40 (GH) 40-53 (BS) 31-53 (HT) 22-35 (SD) 47-71 (Jz) |
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We lost to the Jazz. And along with that first place. Game was Saturday at 2:00 BestFit gym, Nov 13. We were in trouble as we came with only six players, Steve, Wayland, Nelson, Lincoln, Phil and me. Good enough to beat all the other teams, but not enough for the Jazz. They were quite tall, their front line about 6-1 or 6-2 and even their guards were fairly tall at about 5-10. They had it all, threes, inside passing, layups, one on one. We played a slow walk up game and got only one fast break basket, really not our game, but they dictated the pace and got back on D very well. We lost because we shot poorly, had lots of turnovers and played rather poor defense. We had three treys to their five, including one at the half time buzzer. We played zone the first half but was losing 20-16 at the half. We then switched to man in the second but could not make a dent. Man to man is better to play them, but today we just did not have the right people to match them. They had balanced shooting, but their skilled players are a guard (#3) and their lanky center (#6) and another lanky forward (#20). They are good one on one players. We had the two lady refs, which I don't particularly care for. I think most of my losses are when girls ref. We led the first 16 minutes of the first half. Our biggest margin of victory was with 7 minutes to go in the first half, 14-8. Wayland hit 3/5 and Nelson and Lincoln hit their first shots as well. With five minutes to go, and us leading 14-10, Phil subbed me out. By the time I got back in we were down 14-17, seven unanswered points in a 2 minute span. We would never have the lead again. Wayland hit two free throws to get us 16-17, but then #3 hit the trey at the buzzer. In the second half we got to within 20-22 but they upped it up to 21-30. With three minutes to go, we got it down to 29-33, but we missed several opportunities to get any closer. Wayland hit a trey with less than a minute to go to make it 33-37 and I put in a one footer to make it 35-39 with seconds to go, but #3 kept making their freethrows so we lost 35-41. For the game we made 8/11 while they made 9/13 from the charity line, all in the second half. A bitter lost for me. Nelson scored four points all in the first half, and missed his last four shots. Lincoln scored three, his first basket, then missed his next five shots. Steve scored seven, mostly free throws, all in the second because he didn't take any in the first. I asked him to drive in the first, but Phil said Steve needed to pace himself. Phil had an off game, missing all six of his attempts, but making one free throw. Wayland was great, shooting 6/12, including two threes, scoring 16 points. I scored 4 points, missing my two first half long shots, but making my two second half layups. I made one layup after they missed a free throw with an assist from Phil. My second layup was actually a one footer after Lincoln missed his shot and I picked up the rebound. We had 13 turnovers to their 8. They have long arms and just kept taking our passes. If we would have had either Bick, John or Donny, we would have won. Oh well, its just a game, and of zero importance. Here are the stats from the film by Hannah.
Pts FG FT A R Steals Blocks Turnovers
Nelson 4 2/8 2 9 1 2
Steve 7 1/1 5/7 3 8 1 4
Phil 1 0/6 1/2 2 7 2 5
Wayland 16 6/12 2/2 1 4
Lincoln 3 1/6 1 1
Jimmy 4 2/4 1 1 1 1 |
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Sunday, Nov 14, 2004. We play White Horse for second place. They are rather tall, starting with a stocky 6-4 center (though slow and can't jump), two shooting forwards at 5-10 each who were somewhat mobile, and a decent set shooting guard, and another guard who didn't do anything (toke only one shot and missed). They were tired having played a game against Hangtime before us (lost to them too). Later, they had some other players, another 6-5 guy and some other decent but less talented players. Made no difference as we started out with a man D and shot well. Bick hit his first 4/5 shots and Donny hit a trey, Mel hit his first two layups and even Linc hit his first two shots and we led 9-2, they caught us at 11-9 but we built up a 30-11 half time lead. Second half we pounded them some more, but they scored too and the final score was 50-41. I gave them four points on a double technical. Those guys kept fouling me and the refs never whisteled them once, so since the game was over, I let them have it, with two minutes to go, and a 17 point lead. Sherman threw me out. But I must say this was the worse refs I have ever had. Both this guy Pete and Sherman must be blind, or their reactions are so slow becasue of their old age. One fast break, I missed a lay up because I felt the refs were giving them a green light to hit us, so I was afraid the guy was going to smack me. Even the game before us I could see all kinds of physical rough play. It was as if the refs were friends with those guys. These guys also played as Soleus Air in the D division and did ok. Big but rather slow. We easily beat them with our man D. I thought we played well and Bick especially in the first half looked really good, much better than his first game with us against HangTime. Bennett was also improved but not quite there yet. Donny really got us moving with his all around game, leading us in assists, steals and rebounds. I like having him in the game, he really knows how to pass the long ball, and he will pass to anyone open, and never drives to the hoop, rarely dribbles, with very little turnovers, perfect for my kind of game. Phil prefers to go to the shooters. Though we are not as tall as some of the teams, our front line is more than enough to handle these guys because we are more mobile, so that allows me to run out on the fast break more. Hard to believe I shoot so much. 50 points is fairly decent for a 40+ team without John. We only had two treys. Melvin though shorter was more mobile, and had his best game. A little press and they do not have the guards to handle it. Aaron taped the game. Here are our stats:
Points FG FT A R Steals Blocks
Nelson 4 2/6 3 6 2 2
Bick 13 5/9 3/4 4 2 1
Donny 3 1/5 7 8 4 1
Jimmy 6 3/9 4 1
Bennett 3 1/4 4 3 3
Melvin 17 6/12 5/7 5
Lincoln 4 2/7 2
So we end the season at 6-1, not bad but not good enough for us. Oh well, we should get back our title next season. Maybe I will ask James Wong and Jimmy Dang to join us.
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