 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Asian Basketball Association
www.asianhoops.net |
|
|
|
Now that I had found a whole bunch of good basketball players through my Walnut league, I became intersted in playing in more basketball leagues. I thought about entering the Las Vegas Invitational, but the cost was prohibitive, and kind of short notice. I also thought about the CAAA league, but again time was too short. My friend Billy mentioned to me that he had played in the ABA league, so I checked it out. The guys in charge said that I could still enter a team in though they were one week into the new season. Impulsively, I said ok and five days later we played our first game. After a few days of email, my roster of 12 included Billy Min, Jeff Fu, Melvin Lim, Kelvin Zee, Keith Luong, Nick Wang, Brandon Kwok, Hanley Liu, Jason Lee, Jimmy lee, Kaman Cheung, and a week later, Stanley Sumanti.
Billy at 6-2 is unstoppable at the low post, a high percentage shooter, great passer, and shot blocker. He is one of the few players who can play with their back to the basket and has a nifty Tim Duncan bank shot. He is my number one choice at center. I saw some of the centers at the Las Vegas tourny this summer in the AA Gold division, and to tell you the truth, I didn't think any of them were better than Billy. In our championship game at the crosstrainers league, he went nine for ten and scored 19 points and totally dominated. My other mvp on that team was Con Luong but he is nursing some nagging injuries and has to play less.
Brandon is a 6-0 gifted guard-forward, with tons of experience. He plays for Teo Chow and has gone on basketball tours. A great defender, passer and three point shooter and quite able to penetrate on the dribble. But he plays a lot of games on Saturdays, so he is a little tired for our game. It would have helped to have Johnny Phan, my best point guard, and that way Brandon could start at the two guard, but he is unavailable. So Brandon will play the point which he is also effective at. I should probably rest Brandon more during the games, but I feel better with him running the team.
Stanley will play the shooting guard spot and power forward spot. In high school, he had to play against some future NBA players. A 6-2 leaper, he is awesome to watch when he decides to take over the game. He shoots jumpers from beyond the arc off the dribble and has nice handles. You can just see the opposing players with helpless looks on their faces when Stanley shows his stuff. I have to encourage him to get in a little closer to draw the fouls. I just hope his back and legs hold up over the course of the season. He likes to dunk during practice and I think that might wear him down whenever we play more than one game. Stanley is very polite and has a nice smile.
6-0 Kelvin has the shooting forward spot. He can't jump as high or fast as before, but still can hit the threes and rebound. He is not the shot blocker he used to be and also is missing his short range jumper that gave him his 25 point average years ago. Every now and then, it appears again. But he is a great guy to have and I love passing the ball to him. He understands my game as we have been together for over ten years, when he first joined us at age 16. He took a couple of years off and gained weiight. One thing he needs to do is look for the offensive rebounds but he likes to stand at the arc in hopes of another three point shot. I like to go to him when teams start fouling at end of games.
The rest of us are support players. Strong Nick will help us on the boards; I was suprised when he told me he was 5-11, he rebounds and blocks shots a lot taller. 5-10 Jeff can shoot when he puts his mind to it. 5-8 Keith is limited due to his work commitment but is quick and loves the three, sometimes too much as when he should be going to the hoop on a two on one fast break; probably too many police officer leagues. 5-8 Jason is young and speedy, knows how to finish at the hoop, and will help when we need a fast break and extra movement. Melvin, a good post up shooter, and Hanley, a good outside shooter, are for emergency purposes. I am still waiting to see how 6-2 Kaman will fit in but from watching him at Walnut with MCC, I am hoping he will fill in the shooting forward spot, slithering in for those easy lay ups that Con is so good at.
Just to be safe, I communicated to the ABA that we were not that good of a team. Since I had never seen any of their teams, I really didn't know how my line up matched up with them. The ABA arbitrarily gave us a number ten ranking in the Western Division, probably based on Billy's name, or maybe because we just hadn't lost yet. After they saw us for the first game, they effectively ranked us last, giving us odds of 5000-1 of winning the Western Division. There are 26 teams in each division.
|
|
|
|
Game one was on Sept 18, 2004, Saturday at 6:00 against the then number 6 ranked Stinkbugs. Last week they had beat Dysfunkshunal 53-52. We car pooled and found out at the last moment that the gym was Fullerton JC, not Cal State Fullerton as I had thought. Then we got a little lost. But we had left really early so were ok. I had only formed the team four days before and on such short notice, I was only able to bring in Brandon, Kelvin, Keith, Jason, Hanley and myself. No real center, one forward and four guards. Didn't look good but I still thought we could be competitive. Kelvin used to play center all the time and can still do it. Brandon could also easily play forward on D. But the other forward spot would be a problem. I tried Hanley but soon had to switch to Keith. Hanley is taller but Keith is stronger. They were just driving in and offensive rebounding like crazy. Kelvin took some hard charges and had some nice blocks. They said we were outrebounded 39-34 but it seemed like 50-20. This league is a lot more physical and aggressive than any other league I have been on. It seems like all the players are young, buff, quick and fearless leapers. We managed to keep the game close but were down with a few minutes to go. Then Brandon took over and went into the zone scoring threes and driving to the hoop. We got up by about eight but then started throwing the ball away and allowed them to get back in. We were up by three with seconds to go. Then a kid by the name of Gian scored a nice looking three over two of our players and tied the game with just under two seconds. We called time out and I asked Kelvin to inbound the pass. I know he would be valuable to shoot but he is a good passer when he focuses. We should have went to Brandon on the alley oop. But he was tired and covered. Keith was open and he took one dribble shoving out his defender and heaved up a one handed shot put prayer from thirty five feet. The horn went off and the ball floated in the air. And bam, it went in. Wow, what a win. Brandon was the mvp scoring 28 including five treys and 7-9 at the line. Kelvin had nine. Keith had nine on three treys. Jason had seven and Hanley had two. Walnut 55, Stinkbugs 52. They were led by Lawrence Chua and Gian Santos with 18 points each. Though we won, the ABA was not impressed, as evidenced by the odds they later posted on us. Anyway, Walnut was now 1-0 and ranked 6. |
|
|
|
For Sept 25, we had a double header to make up missing the season opener, one at five against Scoregasm and then at six against Sleepers. Scoregasm was 1-0 having beat Stallions 51-46 in OT last week with an illegal player, and given a ranking of seven or eight. We came with Stanley, Kelvin, Nick, Jason, Hanley and myself. However, they were favored by 4, with a total score of 89. Stanley was impressive and the guy in charge, Damien asked me within five minutes of the game where I found him. Still it was a tough game, especially for me, since I had to play point guard almost the entire game. I didn't dribble much and passed the ball as soon as anyone got near me. I don't recall very many turnovers on my part so I did ok. But the ref really was upset with me for questioning his calls. They said I had four assists and five rebounds. I also got one point when two guys fought over a missed free throw. I think we were ahead much of the second half but never by much. They got within two with a minute to go but we went on to win 58-51. Stanley dominated with 29 points, with two treys, and 11-13 on the line. Kelvin chipped in 16 with three treys. Hanley gave us two treys, Jason had five and Nick and me had one each. They were led by Jon Nguyen with 18. It says we were outrebounded 29-24. Stan and me were pretty much used up and unable to play the second game.
Melvin, Brandon, and Jeff showed up for game two against the 0-2 unranked Sleepers. We were pretty much up the whole game but were quite sloppy missing lay ups and turning over the ball. We should have beat them by more, I was a little upset and started yelling at the guys to slow it down. Sleepers played good enough to stay within striking range, and we never really got up by much, but really they were outclassed. They hit some nice threes against us is the best you can say about them. No inside game, too short and old. Still, for whatever reason, the ABA had favored them also by 4, with a total score of 87, which I thought was pretty disrespectful. But maybe arguable based on the Walnut team they saw last week. We won 54-47. Kelvin had 21, with two treys, and a clutch 9-11 at the line, much of them at the end to seal the game when they started fouling. Brandon had 10 with one trey, Melvin had 9, Jeff had 7 (he got really mad at all the reaching in), Jason had four, Stan had two, and Nick had one. They were led by Nhan Le with 18 and four treys, and Duc Le with 14 and one trey. They shot 7 treys to our 3 treys. At the foul line we outscored them 17-26 compared to their 5-8. And we outrebounded them 29-20. I think though that if they tracked missed lay ups and turn overs, we would have did really bad. Anyway, we were now 3-0 and had earned a number two ranking ... but still no respect from the ABA. |
|
|
|
We played game four on Oct 2, 2004 at 6:30 against unranked 1-1 Dysfushunal. Again we were underdogs by 4 with a total score of 96. (Later, after we had beaten them, the odds were changed to show us as the four point favorite!) We came with Stanley, Brandon, Nick, Kelvin, Jeff, Jason and myself. We had to play the short court but at least we had two refs. They jumped out to a 23-16 or something lead in the first quarter including two nice treys. Then I subbed in Jason for Nick and the chemistry for our team clicked and we actually held them almost scoreless for the second quarter. I think the half was something like 31-25. So I kept Jason to start the second half and we just kept pouring it on. Stanley just wore them out, offensively and defensively, blocking their penetration shots. They got so frustrated, they just grabbed Stanley on one jump shot and pushed him, which I protested. After the game the guy apologized to me. Because I had played in the CAAA game at 1:00, I hardly played this game, just the last four minutes when they made a mild run and got within 14 or something, after Stanley had to come out for blood from being scratched. He put on a T shirt to cover it up. I did get fouled after a rebound but missed the one on one. Stanley scored 21 with three treys and 6/9 on the line. Brandon had his usual good game with 14 including two treys. Jason had a breakout 12 and one trey and I felt I had finally helped him to develop into a better player. Kelvin had 9 with one trey. Nick had two. They were led by an aggressive but tired out Andrew Bok Choy with 15 points. We had 7 treys to their 2. We had 9/16 at the line to their 2/6. They outrebounded us 29-23. Walnut 58, Dysfushunal 35, our only blow out so far. We were now 4-0 and maybe the ABA would believe we were for real? Well, actually we really hadn't beaten anyone that good, and had benefitted from a really nice schedule. But we now had a name, and later, Damien told me how the undefeated number three Appetizers were asking for us. |
|
|
|
On Oct 9, we faced unranked 2-2 Freestyle. As we later found out, they were much better than theri ranking and record indicated, and maybe we were over ranked at number 2. They brought in their whole team and came out after us. They opened up with a trey from a guy who we had seen last week shoot a bunch of air balls. Perhaps it was because the ABA had finally made us the favorites by a five point margin and a total score of 105. It looked pretty bleak just minutes before tipoff, because Stanley was not there, and all we had was five guys, Brandon, Kelvin, Jason, Keith, and myself. But much to our relief, Billy walked in, his first game with us in this league. Jeff later came, so we had seven. Still, Freestyle led the entire game, until the end. When I was in the game, it was pretty even. But then Jason subbed in and they would jump out to a lead. This happened in both the first and third quarters. Jason did get an important trey when he first entered the game. But in the third quarter, Jason was just out of it, throwing away passes and mishandling the ball. I decided to bench him for the fourth quarter where we faced a twelve point deficit. Slowly we chipped it down to 5. I played some good defense, got a few rebounds including one that lead to an assist to Billy. Brandon and Keith hit some clutch threes during the comeback. I had to sub out and went with Jeff. They listed me as having one steal and six boards (second highest to Billy who had ten). We were able catch them and finally take the lead with about a minute to go, our first lead. Importantly, Keith made 5/6 from the line. We had used up all four of our time outs and maybe an extra one to get there. We ended with a five point victory just making the margin. It was a total team victory, but it was obviouse to everyone there how dominating Billy was. He just powered the ball in and those guys looked like children. True, they were rather short, I don't think any of them were past 6-0, but they were strong, athletic, and leapers, but they just did not have an answer for him. Until the last minutes, they were pretty upbeat, almost arrogant, but when we caught them, you could see the change. At the end, Brandon was spent, having just come from a game at Eagle Rock and a long tiring drive, and was stripped twice by his defender, so Keith began bringing the ball up. It was one of the few times he asked to be taken out for a few minutes. Still Brandon made his trey at the end as did Keith. To win a game after it looked so impossible at the fourth quarter gives you this satisfied feeling that is so good. Kind of like the feeling when we had finally won the CrossTrainers League, after so many heartbreaks. I truly thought we had lost. They were led by Steve Watts with 17, Dominic Negrete 16 with two treys, and Elmer Lauron 10 with two treys. For us, Brandon scored 6 with one trey, Keith scored 10 with one trey, Kelvin scored 14 with three early treys, Jeff got a free throw, Jason had one trey, and Billy had 22 points and two blocked shots. They shot 9/14 from the line while we had 16/25. They had 21 boards and we had 28. Treys were 6-4 in our favor. Final score was 56-51. And now we were 5-0. How long can the streak continue? |
|
|
|
Game six on Oct 16, we faced the 7th ranked 3-1 Stallions. They had scored a total of 196 points over four games for an average of just under 50 points a game. Looking at their roster, I noticed that none of them were listed over five foot eight. Their ages ranged from 20-26, so I knew they could probably run and jump. But I must admit, I came into the game over confident. One reason was because we had scored a total of 281 points over our five games for an average of 56 points, six more than them. The ABA agreed and gave us a seven point margin with a total score of 98. But the main reason I was over confident was because of their lack of size. We came with Stanley, Nick, Melvin, Brandon, Jason, myself and Kaman. This was Kaman's first game and I was really happy to see him finally join us. Kaman has a smooth jump shot at about the 10-15 foot range, and at 6-2 had been the center on his team that played at Walnut. With four of our guys six foot and taller, I felt it would be an easy game. So I started myself, Stanley, Brandon, Nick, and Kaman. I wanted Kaman to start to let him know how important to the team I felt he was. But because he was unsure of how to play with us, he was tentative, and in hindsight, I think it would have been better to let him watch for a while. Well, those Stallion guys just took it to us. Only Brandon and Stanley shot the ball, and Brandon missed all his attempts, and Stanley was only a bit better. We had a lot of missed shots and turn overs. Around the eight minute mark, we subbed in Melvin for Nick, and Mel immediately helped out, scoring a couple of baskets. I was able to help a little by stealing a ball on a fast break and taking a charge. But the first quarter was something like 19-7 in their favor. When I got back to the bench, I was happy to see that Billy had arrived. About two hours before the game, I wasn't sure Kaman and Billy were coming, so I had called Mel and luckily he was available. As it turned out, it was good that Mel came, because Mel scored very well against them and made a huge difference for us. With Billy there, I must say I felt relieved and I thought we could then take over the game. Billy, Stanley, Melvin, Jason and Brandon started the second quarter. The game indeed changed but not fast enough to suit me. On offense, I pleaded for the guys to take it inside and use our height advantage. But we still tried to fast break and shoot outside. On defense, I barked out to go after them at the arc and force them inside where Stanley and Billy I felt would stuff them. But the Stallions hung tough and all we could do was get within 6 by the end of the first half. I think it was something like 25-19. Still, I felt the battle plan was correct and we again went with the same five guys and the same strategy to start the second half. But soon Stanley got his third foul and forgetting that the league allows six personals, I subbed him out with Kaman. Fortunately, Jason had a great quarter, I remember him scoring a three and a couple of driving jump shots. And finally we caught them at around the 33 point mark. The third quarter ended with us behind by a one or two points, maybe 38-37. I again went with the same five for the fourth quarter, and finally we wore them down. It also helped that we hit some treys, one by Brandon and one by Stanley. Brandon also got an offensive rebound put back, which is pretty rare for him. He also had a driving lay up. We had forged an eight point lead very quickly into the fourth and so I was able to take Melvin out and get Nick back in. Nick went in and immediately scored a duce on a nice drive to the basket. As the other team became desparate and started pressing, Nick also helped with the ball handling. Billy made some shots and hit some free throws. We were able to sustain our ten point lead for the last five minutes and I was able to play the last minute and a half, subbing a very tired Brandon out. I wasn't able to do much as they kept pressing. But it didn't make a difference for them as the game was pretty much over. Looking back, I think the Stallions played very well, and I think there may have been two guys on their team who were six footers. They played well for three quarters, but finally in the end our size was too much for them. When Billy came, we were twelve down, and at the end of the game, we were six up, a twenty point difference with him. Yet both Billy and Stanley told me after the game they felt they had played poor games. Give credit to the other team for part of it. But still, a poor game from them is still more than enough to win the game decidely. That's pretty awesome when you win a game even when you feel you had a bad game. Next week, we play the undefeated third ranked Appetizers. Lets hope Brandon, Billy, Stanley and Kelvin come. I think I will see if Melvin can come. No question that Nick, Jason, Jeff, Keith and Kaman will be important as well. Those Appetizer guys score a lot, mostly on the transition when the other team misses shots. So I think the way to beat them is take high percentage shots and get back on D. Again, they don't appear to be really tall, but this time I won't be over confident. The Appetizers are real and deserve their pre season number four ranking in the Western Division and an 2-1 odd of winning the Western Division championship. If you recall, Walnut was ranked 26th out of 26 teams with a 5000-1 odd of winning it. I think it is fair to say that next season, we will have better pre season respect. Anyways, I am happy we have another victory, again a come from behind one, and now 6-0, I think we have secured a spot for the "Big Dance." According to the league stats (which are not totally reliable, except for the points), I had two steals, one assist, and three rebounds. Melvin had 10 points with 4/4 from the charity line. Stanley had 12 points with two treys, and four blocks. Billy had thirteen points with 5/6 from the line and also four blocks. Brandon had 11 points with one trey and 2/2 from the line. Jason had 9 points with one trey. So score wise, we had a balanced effort, which is a good sign. Game totals, we had four treys, 11/12 from the line, 27 rebounds, and 8 blocks. Stallions were led by Rob Ricaforte with 18 points, Jandrew Taala with 10 points, and Eric Tumapias with 8 points and two treys. They had three treys, 5/6 from the line, 3 blocks, and 26 rebounds. Final game score was 57-51. The day after our game, the number one ranked team in our Western Division "Eat Thos" unexpectedly lost to "The Show" 74-86. As a result, Walnut as the only team with a 6-0 record, has assumed the number one ranking in the division. The toughest games remain ahead. |
|
|
|
October 23, 2004. Here is what the ABA wrote about us as we were featured in "This Week's Top Profiles. Big West/No 1 Team Walnut. At 6-0, Team Walnut holds the best record in the Big West. Last week Walnut continued it's win streak as they beat the Stallions 57-51. The win along, with a loss by Eat This moved Team Walnut to number one. The win also secured Walnut a tournament bid into the Big Dance. Currently, Walnut holds a 1-game advantage over second ranked, Appetizers who sit at 5-0. Only two games remain in the regular season for Walnut. Team Walnut is already garneted a top eight seed into the Big Dance. A win this week would guarantee Walnut a top five seed." We had been scheduled all season to meet the Appetizers, but a few days ago Damien changed our opponent to Scoregasm. I asked Damien why and he said it was because I had requested late games when I first signed on. So we will have to wait til next week to play the Appetizers. Scoregasm came in with a record of 2-4 and a point total of 284 for an average of 47 points. They were given odds of 1000-1 to win our division, just above us, so the ABA didn't think much of them, as they did for us. They are indeed one of the weaker teams in the ABA, though not the worst. Last week they beat the Stinkbugs 64-54. They really had only one main shooter in their point guard and no real post players so it was easy to know how to defend them. Why the ABA gave us such an easy game, I don't know why. All the other good teams were playing one another. So our team record was mostly good because of the nice schedule the ABA had given us. Which is fine with me. We had scored 338 points in our six games for an average of 56 points. For this game, the ABA gave us a 10 point margin with a total score of 106. Today we had Stanley, Jeff, Nick, Kelvin, Keith, Jason and myself. Brandon was tied up in the CAAA game and Mel was working. They had about ten guys there, which is too many and hurt them. Kel was a few minutes late, so we started with Jason off the bench. Jeff got us rolling with a freethrow. Then Stanley made a basket. They were playing man to man, and I was able to break my man, but he blocked my shot. Suddenly Keith got hot from three land. The first quarter we were up something like 17-10 and we added to it and got to about a 15 point lead into the late third quarter. Kelvin got hot in the third quarter and hit some treys, in fact one on the entry pass to begin the second half. Maybe our second game that we started out well. I thought that without Billy and Mel, that the game would be tight, but that we should win. Since this was our second meeting with them, I kind of knew how they played. We were doing so well that I decided I would play a little more than usual, so i ended up playing the entire first and perhaps all the third quarter. I accidently neglected Jason's playing time and I will have to make it up to him in the future. Stanley had picked up three fouls early in the second quarter, so I asked him to cool it on D. That may have hurt him and us, because then those Scoregasm guys started making their shots because we were not challenging them. Kelvin and Nick seemed to always be out of position (although Nick did get one nice block) and Stanley just kept his hands away from them. Then they started to press us, sending out double and triple teams as we crossed the center court. I threw away the ball twice, and I traveled. Stanley was stripped a few times. Nick threw away a ball. Keith lost the ball twice. We never even got to shoot the ball. This guy on their team was hot and making threes. And suddenly they had made something like a 12-0 run and they were within 4 with five minutes to go. So I myself subbed out and just as suddenly as they had scored, we began to score and order was restored with two quick layups, one by Kelvin who had not gone back on D and another by Jason on an assist from Nick. We made some freethrows and soon we were up again by double digits. I think except for those brief moments in the fourth we played well. The guys were kind to put up with my yelling, though Jeff did tell me to cool down. We connected on a lot of threes and Stanley was intimidating (though always humble and friendly). At the end of the game, you could see that they were impressed with Stan, talking to him, and almost seemed like they wanted to recruit him. Overall the other team was nice, but they did give one hard foul on Jeff that I didn't like. I think we won something like 60-48. This is our highest scoring game because of our high percentage shooting. Stats come out Tuesday. We are now 7-0 and still ranked one for the time being, and get to be the top profile again I would suppose. Stats say I had one steal, one assist, and two rebounds. Keith had 14 points with three treys and 5/5 at the charity line. Stanley had 26 points with two treys, 4/6 at the line, and one block. Kelvin had 19 points with two treys, and 5/5 at the line, Jeff had 7 points with 3/4 from the line, and Jason had 4 points with 2/2 at the line. Team totals were 7 treys, 19/22 at the line, 5 steals, 2 blocks, and 28 boards. They were led by Ben Lauries with 24 points and Rico Rios with 11 points and three treys. They had 3 treys, 12/13 at the line, 13 steals, 2 blocks, and 36 boards. Final score was 70-53. |
|
|
|
Oct 30, 2004. Our game was 4:00 against the Appetizers. They were favored by four points. I knew we were in trouble because Brandon, Stanley, Keith, Kaman and Jeff were out. But Billy showed up so I felt with Mel, Kel, Nick, Jason, Hanley and myself we would have a good chance to beat them. They had also just played a game against the Old Timers and lost by 15 points. Jason had been saying he would have a good game and lead us to victory. Partly because I owed him from last week, partly because I am old, I listened to him and started him along with Nick, Mel, Billy and Kelvin. It was a disaster. They came out man to man and we choked, missing everything. I thought Nick could play point and pass the ball to Kel and Jason at the wings, and keep them from fast breaking us, but it didn't work. In fact he threw away the ball a few times. We couldn't get the ball to Mel or Billy. Kelvin and Jason kept missing. I remember one play where we couldn't even in bound the ball because no one was moving. First quarter was 21-3. Hanley and I subbed for Nick and Jason, and believe it or not, we were able to chip down their lead to eight. Hanley hit a nice one handed turn around in the key. They pressed me a little and Billy saved me with a Time out when I couldn't get the ball up court. But other than that, I didn't have any turnovers. I had called time out with them at the free throw line with 12 seconds to go, so that we could get the last shoot from the midcourt. Kelvin asked why I didn't call it at 30 seconds and I explained to him that I didn't want them to get a shot off after ours. Him being a shooter, he rushed a shot from nearly midcourt and they rebounded and threw a long pass and then Hanley fouls them with one second to go, and they hit two free throws. So we were down by ten at the half, something like 28-18. It could have been only a six point game. I was hopeful for the second half as right away we got a steal and Jason made a fast break lay up. But then we started missing again. So Hanley and I went back in, this time a lot sooner but we still couldn't get it under ten. In the fourth, I decided I would stay in and somewhere in the fourth, Kelvin got hot, and we got within three, 40-37. Then it fell apart. I should have subbed myself out and coached. Hanley fouled a three point attempt, this guy hit two threes in my face from the baseline and we couldn't shoot a lick. They ended with a 25-8 run and we lost 65-45. The 18 point lead we spotted them in the first quarter was our undoing. I learned a few lessons today. I need to improve as a coach. I let the game get away once in the first quarter and then again in the fourth. I have to figure out some way to stop runs from other teams. There were so many reasons we got beat, and all these little things added up to a big lost. Don't start with a kid, there is no leadership. It wasn't Jason's fault that we lost, even if did shoot something like 1-10, but I think it will be better to have him come off the bench as we have been doing. I will need to recruit another point guard for when Brandon is absent. The other lesson is to space out Mel from Billy. It was just too crowded down there for him to operate. Everytime he touched the ball, they double teamed in, so we need more spot up shooters or slashers. So I probably won't start out the game with Mel when Billy is there. I will also need to explain things to Kelvin more, some moments on the bench resting will be good for him to gather his thoughts. Sometimes he doesn't help out when our guards are in trouble. He is spoiled from me in our younger days where I would just deliver him the ball when he stood there. But these ABA teams are a little closer on him. One time he went in for a layup when he brought the ball down, so maybe I will let him do that sometimes. Nick didn't step up for this game either, I found out he just can't score very much, and he seems a little slow on D. I kept waiting for a big block from him, and control of the boards, which is why I recruited him, but it never came. But he was dependable for showing up for games, and still can rebound well, so he helped a lot this season. Jason pointed out that I fouled too much, just shows that I am too old and not good enough to play with the better players. Once Brandon is back, I can just coach more I guess. Well, we really didn't need to win today, but I always want to win, so I was a little unhappy. Especially since billy made the effort to show up and I couldn't put together a good cast around him. Still, its just a game and really nothing in the important things of our lives. So far we are doing ok, I am happy with our team overall and the future looks bright for next week's playoffs. I was just hoping to make the NIT playoffs for this first season, but we did well, and I think I put together a pretty good team. All our big guns will be coming Saturday, and I can't wait to start planning out our game plan .... and win!!! I like our chances. My prediction is that for next week we will end up in the third seed spot and meet the Light. And if we beat them, we will probably rematch with the Appetizers again who will be seeded 2, and should beat Slow Ride. Eat This should be the number one seed. Just as well we are not seeded one, because I think the Show will be seeded 5 and its better not to be in their bracket. The Appetizers hit a lot of threes so we may need to play them man, the stats will help me decide how to handle them if we should meet them again. But first things first, meaning Saturday. |
|
|
|
Our first playoff game is this saturday at 7:00 pm. As the third seed, we are playing the 6th seed, a team called "The Show." This is one of the teams I didn't really want to face. They are tall and can shoot the three, and the only team to have beaten "Eat This," the number two seed, who we likely have to face if we get past The Show. After that would probably be the rematch with the Appetizers. Wow, a tough road. But all I can think of now is trying to figure out how to win tomorrow. Fortunately, Billy, Stanley, Brandon, Keith, and Melvin are coming this Saturday, with Jason, Jeff and myself as the subs. Kelvin, who would have been helpful is out because of a wedding. If we are hot, we can get past the Show. We will need to depend on Stanley to penetrate and Brandon to hit the treys, so that it opens it up for Mel and Billy below. If they are hot, we could get spanked. I wish I knew how those guys play, but I guess I will have to pay special attention during the game so that I can make the necessary adjustments early enough to make a difference. I think they are run and gun and not used to the patient passing and defensive game, so maybe that will help us. Here is the entire playoff picture:
West Division-Dance East Division- Dance East Div NIT West Div NIT
1. Appetizers 7-1 1. Highsmen 7-1 9. Outlaws 5-3 9. Bakers 5-3
8. Slow Ride 6-2 8. Prescas Players 5-3 12. Killer Beavers 4-4 12. Gee Unit 5-3
5. Metro Pop 7-1 5. Balco 5-3 10. Cross Over 5-3 10. Audio Fx 5-3
4. Scrubs 7-1 4. Color White 6-2 11. Shadow Ballers 5-3 11. Spoken 4 5-3
3. Walnut 7-1 3. ShowTime 7-1
6. The Show 6-2 6. Afgan Rush 5-3
7. Green Light 6-2 7. Riverside Inc 5-3
2. Eat This 7-1 2. Beat Noxxx 7-1 |
|
|
|
Saturday, Nov 6, 2004. We won! Something like 97-85. We were down most of the first half, as much as 14 points. But I wasn't worried. Why? because they only had 4 players. I thin they were missing their second big gun 6-2 Nava and perhaps 5-10 Garcia. I knew their legs would give out on them in the second half. Just as important, we had our full starting team, only for the second time this season. To start, we had Billy, Stanley, Brandon, Kelvin and Keith. Jason, Melvin and I were the able subs. Jeff just had a baby and Nick was out of town on business. But they kept the game close most of the game because they were on fire from three land. Their big gun Tracey Lundy had about nine treys and one other guy, #32, had seven other treys. They must have had twenty treys as a team, more treys than twos! I could not believe they hit them so much. It really kept them in the game. They would just dribble a little, we would double team or just get of position and they would get it to the open man and connect. Just before the half ended, we switched to a man to man leaving Billy in the middle. At the half, we led 51-49. We had fouls to give and we let them run down and hit a three to end the half. And then they opened the second half with another three to take the lead. But they just could not play defense, and we were able to hit our shots, with Billy picking up rebounds. We missed some easy lay ups, and poor Jason was again out of it, making one out of six. Melvin didn't play a lot because of their nice passing, I elected to go with people a little quicker. And he had made a special effort to show up. Sorry Melvin! Kelvin helped out. He had a wedding to go to, but came out to play, and so was late to his wedding. Kel helped a lot as he was hot from threes. Offensively, we were pretty awesome, so I hope it carries to tomorrow. Just about everyone looked good. Approximately, Billy had 24, Stan had 24, Kelvin had 24, Brandon 13, Keith 8, Jason 3, Mel 2. I did not play and did my best to coach. I could have, but I wanted all the other guards to play a lot. My most significant contribution was calling time out in the early fourth quarter when they had gotten within three. Had to put back Stanley and Kelvin and we were able to get past them again. Stanley had to guard 6-2 Lundy (although he looked more like 6-3) and pretty much quieted him down in the second half, but the guy probably had about 35 points. I didn't want to go man too early because I didn't want Stan to get tired chasing that guy. So we were lucky they only had four. Early in the week, I had emailed Brian and Damien, to make sure they would not add players to their roster. Because if they did it, then I was going to bring in ringers too! That team should have put more players on their roster, instead of just six players. They have only themselves to blame. But they were nice guys. Ok, game tomorrow at 3:00. Everyone is coming back and we meet I think another team I didn't want to face, Eat This. The main problem will be how to rest our guys for the other games and yet still beat them. |
|
|
|
Sunday, Nov 7. Sad news, we lost our game. I am not sure who we played, whether they were Eat This or Green Light. They looked like Eat This but the league says Green Light. They didn't seem that good. But we were ice cold from three land, Stan was probably 0-7, Brandon 0-7, and Kelvin 2-7. Or maybe they had good defense, because it seemed like they always had us covered and Billy seemed to be Double teamed all the time. Stan ended up with two points, Brandon probably two points, Kelvin maybe 8 points, Keith was ok with 6 points, and Billy maybe 16. The score was something like 52-34. We looked lethargic, and often went one on one. We lived by the three and died by the three. Saturday, we were on fire, and we thought we could do the same Sunday. The worse game I think this team could ever play happened. I was confident throughout because I know how good we are, but our game never showed up. We were down from the get go, I think the first quarter was 17-7. They had this slow overweight 6-1 Mexican looking guy who just could not miss from inside. I really don't know how he kept hitting. And they hit their threes when they needed to. They also had a 6-1 black fellow, not as good as the guy we played last night, but he was solid scoring probably 20. It was unfortunate that Melvin didn't know we were in the back gym, I wonder if having him in the middle would have opened it up for us? We should have switched to man, but Brandon and Stan looked so tired. They had a lot of fast breaks because our guards just did not get back. This game did expose some weaknesses in our team that I can try to correct. First we need a middle game or someone who will slash to the basket so that Billy has someone to pass to when they double him. We have four outside shooters who just like to camp outside. So I think I will have to get back Con and hopefully he will be able to play at least for the playoffs. Keith's friend Ed I hope might help us in that area too. I wonder if Jimmy Sidarta might be available again. Next, we need a point guard. The pressure really showed on Brandon, as he had no one to help him direct the team. I will have to go to Johnny and hope that he can help us for the playoffs. Wow, I really thought we could go all the way, but now I see that though this team could take every other league I am in, this ABA league with all the non-Asians is really tough. We could easily beat 40 of the 52 teams, but there is probably a handful that could beat us on given nights. We did ok, going 8-2, averaging maybe 55 points (well maybe more since we scored that crazy 97 points Saturday). Its still hard for me to believe we lost. and did not take the championship. I really believe our team is better. Lets see if this lost makes us hungry or causes us to give up the ship. Next season starts next week. |
|
|
|
The results of the playoffs according to the ABA league web site: Appetizers win Dance, ShadowBallers win NIT.
Dance
Appetizers vs Slow Ride 74-68 Appetizers vs Scrubs 67-47 Appetizers vs GreenLight 63-51 Appetizers vs Showtime
Scrubs vs Metro Pop 41-39 65-63
Walnut vs The Show 97-82 Green Light vs Walnut 52-34
Green Light vs Eat This 59-49
Highsmen vs Prescas 45-32 Highsmen vs Balco 59-51 ShowTime vs Highsmen 66-50
Balco vs Color White 62-44
ShowTime vs AfganKush 66-52 ShowTime vs BeatNoxx 49-48
Beat Noxx vs RiverSide 51-
NIT
Outlaws vs Beavers 2-0 ShadowBall vs Outlaws 60-44 ShadowBallers vs Bakers 2-0
ShadowBall vs KrossOver 55-46
Bakers vs Beef Cake 48-26 Bakers vs Spoken4 47-38
Spoken4 vs AudioFx 2-0? |
|
|
|
Link back to Home Page |
|