Great heart by our guys, diving for loose balls and battling their big, BIG guy under the basket all night. We made a lot of clutch plays, rallying from 10 or 12 down early to take a 9 or 10 point lead in the second half. Then it came down to execution. Josh D hit a clutch 3 to give us a 2-point lead in the final 20 or 30 seconds. Then the Storm hit a big 3 with 10 seconds left.
We turned the ball over and had to foul 3 times. With :05 left, Micah made a great play with a deflection on their inbounds pass, and it bounced off a Storm player out of bounds in the corner with :03 left. We got a pretty good look for a 3 from the corner, but missed at the buzzer.
It was a grind both ways, and though our press was working well in the first half, that came against their second group. The Storm were smart enough to play their first group for almost all of the second half, but when they did play that second group, I thought about having us press again even though some of our guys looked really winded. It's one of the regrets I have about tonight, even though we held the lead until the final minute or two.
It was a tough call, and I felt that if we played strong inside and forced their big guy to shoot free throws, we'd have the advantage. But we haven't practiced something like that before, and down the stretch, we gave them one too many open 3-pointers whether we were in zone or man defense — something we're going to work on at practice a lot more.
I'm very, very proud of our guys and the way the stuck together no matter how far we were behind. I've always said that players win games and coaches lose games, and I cost us 2 big points during the second half. We were shooting free throws, I had the guys come to the sideline so I could talk to them about defense, but I lost focus, we missed the second FT, and the Storm got a layup out of it.
That was basically the game. Take that away, and we probably win. That's how crucial every point was. I'm very sorry, guys. A coach or adult should never cost you a chance to win a game or a chance to play for the championship. I don't want to take any credit away from the Storm. They played great and made clutch shots, too. But this loss is clearly on me and I just hope all our Thunder who played their hearts out can forgive me.
After seeing the top seed, Swish, win the other semifinal game on a 50-foot prayer at the buzzer, we know this title could've been ours. Just four very good teams in the semifinals. We were that close.
Lineup: Chaz, Skyler, Jance, Jhevin, Trinity, Jayden, Colin, Micah, Ryan, Felcris, Josh D, Jonah.
Next:
Friday, May 22
4:30 pm - Optional shooting practice at Makiki Park. 6:30 pm - Pau.
Saturday, May 23
6:30 pm - Stretching/warmups at McCully gym outside court.
7:30 pm - H1 Thunder vs. Hawaii Storm.
Sunday, May 24
3:00 pm - FT Challenge, Optional shooting practice at Makiki Park.
Monday, May 25
10:00 am - whenevahs
Memorial Day potluck at Waikiki Natatorium. I'll be there 6:00 am with Coach Bo to start setting up. Same spot as last year.
Please be akamai and do not enter the water until 1 hour after eating kaukau. Bring towel, dry clothes if you like. Please let me know if you need a ride and we can coordinate with our Thunder Ohana.
For good parking spots, early arrival is recommended. Gets crowded by 9:00 am or earlier.
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