First, mahalo to Shawn's mom for bringing Spam musubi! That was good.
Now, about yesterday's game ...
This was a case of lots of heart (by the Thunder) and not enough brain (by me, your coach).
Tough loss, guys. The effort was there. The rebounding was much better. We played with heart. Unfortunately, as your coach, I underestimated two things: 1. With only 8 players instead of the usual 10, our fatigue in the second half was a serious factor, and 2. we probably would've put the game away if I'd called for a spread/four corners.
On the fatigue, it's clear to me now that it was really avoidable. I asked you guys to do a lot. I had you press fullcourt and halfcourt practically the entire game. We hadn't done that in our previous six games, even with 10 players. It worked, of course, for awhile. We were in a pretty good groove until midway through the third quarter. Then the score was 37-32 (our lead) and froze there for a few minutes.
We hit a wall and I didn't even consider that we might be peaking and running out of gas. With the rule as it is, we had only one sub available in the third quarter.
At the same time, we were still going full tilt, or trying to. By the start of the fourth quarter, with the Heat chipping away, it would've been prudent to step back and just run some time off the clock, to call off the fullcourt and halfcourt traps and catch our breath. That would've put pressure on them to chase us. Instead, they kept battling and made free throws. We made mistakes and they got a comeback win.
There's plenty we can look back on and feel disturbed about for a moment, but in the end, we played well as a team for almost 3 quarters. But a simple strategic adjustment on my part could've spared us the decline of the fourth quarter. More than anything else, it was coaching, and I apologize, guys. I should've recognized the fatigue and allowed you to spread the floor and manage the clock rather than continuing to keep my foot on the gas pedal.
Rather than dwell on a loss, I would really like each of us to look at what we did well and what we didn't do well, and then improve on those areas. I know we rebounded fairly well until our legs got tired in the fourth. We shot 6-for-9 at the free-throw line.
Areas to work on? Well, it depends. If we want to continue playing at a high tempo, we need to eliminate the reaching and start moving our feet defensively, and do this consistently rather than rack up fouls. Otherwise, we might as well be another slow-tempo team that sits back in a zone all game long.
Nothing wrong with vanilla zones. I should've had us switch to a 1-2-2 and 2-3 in that fourth quarter. If we are tired and don't move our feet late in the game, we have to zone. We'll have eight players again next game, so that approach — uptempo early, protect the lead late — is probably our best scenario.
Even with the loss, I like how our team got better during the week. Everyone made a better effort to be at practice, and we had some solid workouts as a team. A win would've been a fitting reward for us, but that's life sometimes. The quick reward isn't always going to happen.
So, with another loss, was all that consistency and dedication worth it? To me, it was. I saw guys improve their skills over the past two months, especially the past week. I saw a team get tighter. I saw team chemistry improve. There's not a lot more I can ask for. We've played and practiced with more spirit and passion at a point in the season when average teams are getting bored. I like that. Being in first place isn't the worst thing in the world, is it?
With 2 games left in the season, the question is not whether I think our consistency and dedication are worthwhile. The questions is, what do YOU think? Is there still room to get better?
I think the Thunder are the best team in the league, and yes, we can (and will) play our best basketball in the next two weeks.
Schedule
Monday, practice 4:30 p.m., Kahala Park
Tuesday, practice 4:30 p.m., Kahala Park
Wednesday, pick-up games, 5 p.m., Boys & Girls Club
Thursday, no practice
Friday, practice 4:30 p.m., Kapaolono Park
Saturday, practice, 4:30 p.m., Kahala Park
Sunday, pre-game 3 p.m., game 4 p.m., Kalani High School gym
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