It was a close game all the way, but the tempo never went the way we wanted. Every time we had a steal and a bucket, we seemed to follow that with a turnover or a low-percentage shot. We were in foul trouble all game long, partly due to too much reaching and not enough lateral movement with our feet.
Final: Maryknoll D-II 33, Thunder 30. As always, a loss falls on the coach and with Coach Bo (football), Coach Larry (work) and Coach John (off island) unavailable, I filled in. We had nine players and enough depth to make this a fast tempo game. But we missed a lot of layups, turned the ball over and didn't get the ball upcourt even when we had one or two teammates wide open for baskets.
It was ugly and still we led at halftime, think it was 21-18. I've managed to get our new kids on 13U to press fullcourt, even after the other team gets over halfcourt. That's what the 41 or 2-2-1 (Cincy) is supposed to do. But we didn't keep this going, probably because guys got tired. No matter how many times I drew it up for us to press at midcourt and in the corners, just about everybody always pulled back into the 2-3 zone.
This is a product of habit. I know Coach Bo has you guys doing this since the spring season began. But when I say to trap everywhere, I mean it. And when guys aren't listening, that is still my fault. I have to find a way for you to understand that when we are outsized but have a speed advantage, we have to use it.
The officiating was questionable. They fouled JayAre out of the game in the first half. His fifth foul was a clean block, according to the other official. But most of it was simply too much reaching in. That was my fault not sitting him down after the third foul. But I really didn't think he would foul two more times. I thought wrong.
I explained our regular and slide zone offense over and over and our rover would not pop out to the corner. Part of this is a result of lack of practice time together. The other part? I have no idea. Is it just plain "don't do anything coach says"? Or is it sheer stupidity? I don't know. I kept saying it over and over, and nobody would pop to the corner. When we hit the corner and the zone pulls out, now we have a chance to rotate the ball to an open teammate on the opposite wing or corner.
Execution and precision were even more important than usual, having a major height disadvantage. And we just didn't get enough of both.
It was frustrating as heck and that's the truth. We played well in spots. Great hustle on the press. But we also broke containment and let them dribble through the middle a few times. Bottom line: Their best shooters hit clutch shots. Ours did not. And it's my job to put our best players in position to succeed.
Final play of the game: It was Monday, and I knew the defense would overplay it. We had our low post (Max) drawn up to cut all the way up to the top of the key and take a handoff from Isaiah to shoot the 3-point shot. We had 15 seconds to do this. But Max didn't go the top of the key. This is a good lesson for ALL of us. During the time out, make sure you listen 100%. Had Max gone to the top of the key, his defender would've left him alone, probably, and he would've had a wide-open try to tie the game. Instead, Isaiah had no open target to pass to and no screener at all to get off a 3. We ended up with a miss in side by Mick.
Two things about this: 1) Max has hit a clutch go-ahead 3 for us before (15U vs Wahiawa), and 2) we will run this play again when we get the chance and someone will hit the winning 3-pointer. I know it.
It's not easy with players this young, trying to execute a play we haven't run in practice. But that's why we do situationals at practice. They are exactly like this. 15 or 20 seconds left, down by 1. Down by 2 Or down by 3.
It pains me to lose this game because Maryknoll stacked up its roster with incoming juniors, so they were similar to our lineup, plus they had four of our guys (Chase, Cody, John and Kaelen). We had a 5-foot-8 and under team, but it was still plenty enough to win this game. We just didn't do it.
After the game, the scorekeeper said that the league schedule for the final week would be altered. They're going to pair up teams with similar win-loss records. She noted that today's game wouldn't count as a loss since we didn't really play the Maryknoll II (Intermediate) team, which surprised me. So we're tied (I guess) with Kamehameha at 5-2. Punahou is 6-1.
Whatever happens, I'm glad we'll have a good challenge in our next game there. Then again, I was bummed that we couldn't bring up our 13U to play Maryknoll's Intermediate team.
Back at it Saturday morning, 11:00 am against Kaimuki at Maryknoll JV League. Meet there at 10 am. I'll pick up the guys who want a ride at Makiki Park, 10:00 am. Beyond the weekend, we have a matchup with Roosevelt on Tuesday in the Kalani Varsity League, and the boys had a lot of fun last night after the game with Kaiser talking a little trash about the upcoming game.
I'm dreading it. Having to play against our own guys — Isaiah, Mick, Alleck, Brent — is not going to be fun. Not only that, as tough as it was today to run our offense without John and Kaelen setting picks against man defense, it'll be just as tough or harder to do it without our core of guards. The chemistry is just not the same when we lose 4 players for a night. We'll have to figure out a way to make it happen on Tuesday.
I lub this game. Still.
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