PAA 15U Division, Kilauea gym
Proud our guys tonight. They played with great hustle and determination on offense and defense tonight. Yes, we have a lot of areas to improve on as team, and individually. But for now, I feel like tonight is a bit of a victory in some ways. We got back to pushing the ball in transition, to putting pressure on a good team full court, and hitting the boards a little better.
We had a mediocre start, down 15 or so early, walking upcourt. Part of that is my fault for being late after we had some transportation miscommunication, but we rallied to within 2 points before halftime. Amazing.
• Halfcourt defense was a bit better tonight, could have closed out on shooters better, but overall, decent.
• Box-outs still too rare. Should be on every shot, every Thunder defender winning every position.
• Offense - ball movement was fairly good, nice work by Kyle and Tani getting good looks at the elbows.
• Still need more catch, pivot and aggression to the basket from the high post by our bigs. With our 3-point shooters covered outside, we had a number of high-low post opportunities against their center and didn't take advantage. This gets better with reps at practice against big and/or tall defenders. Gonna need me, Bino and our dads to help out and help our guys get stronger with the ball in that critical paint area.
Our younger guys got some key minutes, though not as much as I had gameplanned for. I wasn't expecting Kyle to play, so I was prepared to have us go full-throttle, full-court pressure and running the floor all night. Having both Kyle and Tani changed that somewhat, and even with some of our key guys still injured or sick (Kali'a, Colin, Josh D), we showed improvement.
We are now 3-3 in league play with one game left before the playoffs. We don't know for sure, but if we win Saturday morning (vs. Court Kings), that gives us a chance to finish 6th or higher in the standings. If we lose, we will probably finish below 6th (out of 10 teams), and that sets us up for a play-in playoff game (plus one more extra playoff game for seeding) on Saturday afternoon. We want to avoid that, but be prepared for any scenario.
Lineup: Jhevin, Javan, Jayden, Trinity, Micah, Ryan, Tani Mosi Afe, Kyle Moraga, Gabriel Porras, Chase Santos.
MAHALO to Kali'a Mielke for helping coach on the bench (not kidding, he knows the game, our system and what works, no surprise). MAHALO to Jennifer Martin (Trinity's mom) for letting me copy the game video. Mahalo to all our parents who bring spirit and support to the gym for our Thunder keiki. And mahalo to our friends who also bring great support by just being there. We are truly the most beloved team I know.
FRIDAY
4:00 pm - Optional shooting drills at Makiki Park. Coach Bino will be there to help out all the Thunder who want to get a good 200+ shots in. Bino will stay until 6:30 (or later) so everybody can get shots in.
SATURDAY
8:00 am - Stretching/warmups at McCully gym outside court. 9:00 am - vs Court Kings, PAA League (15U). If our team finishes below 6th place, playoff game in the afternoon. If our team finishes 6th or higher, we have a bye for the weekend.
12:00 or 12:50 pm (tentative) - Stretching/warmups at Palolo gym outside court. 1:00 or 1:50 pm - PAA 15U playoffs, Game 1 or 2.
2:40 pm - vs Homegrown, CAL League (Inter), Kilauea gym - RESCHEDULED from 3/8/15. If we have PAA 15U playoff games, our 'Pup Squad' will start and play this game.
3:15 pm - PAA 15U playoffs, Palolo gym. If we win the earlier playoff game, we play this for the 7th or 8th seed.
SUNDAY
12:10 pm - Stretching/warmups at Aiea gym outside court. 1:10 pm - vs Just Play, Ikaika League (Inter), Aiea gym.
WE LOVE THIS GAAAAME!!!
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