Just days after losing to Punahou's JV after a huge comeback, our "varsity" did virtually the same thing. Tonight, we were down 32-16 at the half, and the lead swelled to 19 points or so before we finally turned it around.
We got within 4 points or so before finally losing 44-38. Yeah, that's a respectable margin against one of the top programs — they won the state high school championship last season. But if you were there, you know what I'm talking about when I say we played (possibly) our worst game (17U) of the year.
• No boxing out. None. I'm sure when I look at the video I'll find John or Cody doing it. But on the whole, we just didn't have the desire to physically challenge a team with two tall, big rebounders. I asked everyone after the game why we didn't box out. Nobody had an answer. For the first time in a long time, we didn't play with heart under the boards. That's disappointing, to say the least.
• On-ball pressure. When we pressed, on-ball pressure was often non-existent. We have never, EVER taught soft on-ball pressure. That would be POINTLESS. I've told you guys a thousand times that soft on-ball pressure leads to easy passes and easy layups. We always get right up on the ballhandler, in his grill, and bend him to our will. In the Power 10, that means an air-tight trap. In the 41 (Cincy), it's an air-tight trap or simply crowding him so closely that he has no choice but to dribble up the sideline — into the next trap.
But we didn't do this. It was as if we had no energy, which is strange since we haven't played a game for a few days. So what happened?? I still can't imagine a reasonable answer to this.
• No organization in the halfcourt offense. It's tough enough when we are reluctant to run the break simply because of a defensive defeat (giving up a basket), but we managed to push the tempo better in the second half. But our halfcourt offense was nowhere to be found. Isaiah normally runs the plays, but he was gassed from playing an entire game earlier for Roosevelt.
We have to find a way to run the offense if our point guard is fatigued and/or out of the game. In the final minutes, down 6 points, we had Isaiah, Bryson, Tai, Haka and Mike on the floor. We called 'Monday', but instead of Isaiah on the top, somehow Tai was running it. We had started at midcourt, out of bounds. Tai was on top at the yellow line (NBA range). Instead of running the play, passing to the left wing (Isaiah), he shot a 25-footer that was long, and Punahou rebounded.
It's not that Tai can't make that shot. It's that we didn't get a better 3-point attempt off a set play with THREE SCREENERS. The beauty of Monday (and Tuesday) is that when the wing is overplayed by the defense, that means we have a 2-on-2 give-and-go or pick-and-roll situation that gives us a chance at easy points in a very open court.
But because several of our guys are not familiar with the play, we didn't execute when we really needed to. One play didn't make or break the game, but I use this as an example because it could've been avoided. Bryson could've run the play, but he isn't assertive enough to take charge. He should be, though, as one of our vets, one of our few incoming seniors.
Isaiah could've run the play, too. I would've preferred that, with either Bryson, Haka or Tai was the shooter. Bryson shot well (again) in this game, so I would've leaned toward him.
We play, we succeed and fail from one play to the next, and we learn along the way. That's basketball. We're 3-1 in the Kalani Varsity Summer League and I'm grateful we were invited. But I will not lay down and say I enjoyed tonight's game. I think all of us watching were happy with the rally and the hustle. But I know what we are capable of as a team, and tonight was a 1 or 2 on a scale of 0 to 10 as far as performance goes.
All the hustle in the world can't make up for a defense that simply doesn't box out almost all game long. It's totally about desire and a willingness to be physical to protect your backboard. That's why I'm pissed and probably will be for a long, long time. Playing a premier program is a great opportunity to measure yourself as a player and team. But it only becomes truly measurable if everyone brings their best, smartest game.
We brought crap for the most part. We'll never know what would happen if we brought our best effort from start to finish. Me? I think if we actually cared and boxed out all game long, we win. Not just win, but win solidly. I have no doubt about that whatsoever.
But it's history now. There's no playoffs on the schedule, so as far as I'm concerned, we blew our opportunity to step up. A year from now, we won't be the young team anymore. All our sophomores-turning-juniors will be incoming seniors by then. We'll probably be better. We'll probably win even more than we do know.
I just thought we would be much more hungry, much more focused. I thought we had more heart. That's what hurts. That's what's sickening. When I see more guys at practice learning the plays, when I see more guys hitting the floor for loose balls, when I see everyone boxing out and pushing the fastbreak every single time, I'll see real Thunder basketball again.
Until then, all we can do is work our asses off at practice, run our stairs and laps (on your own time), take our 200 (300, 400, 500) shots a day and wait for the next game.
Update, Wednesday, 2:15 am: Editing game video from tonight's loss to Punahou. They are such a polished group of players, no surprise. Watanabe has been all-net on us since he was back at Holy Family in the 15U CAL League. Pleasure to watch that young baller. Watching our guys play against a team led by a great coach (Darren Matsuda) — almost surreal.
But it's painful to edit the video because some of our best guys didn't show up. They let Punahou walk right through the paint to get easy rebounds. It's either a fear of playing physical under the boards, or just plain apathy. Either way, it's sickening.
A win is always owned by the players. They put out the effort, the sweat equity, the blood, the tears. A loss always falls on the coaching staff; we didn't motivate our bigs properly, it seems. It bugs me like hell.
The relief? Some guri-guri and Coppola Claret. But that's no cure. The antidote will applied at practice, if we can get most of the guys there together for once.
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