Thursday, August 7, 2008

U-14 Nationals RI 66-33 Presbyterian High

Complacency would have killed us. We knew it from the start, but still we let the bug bite us. We see Pres High is almost the same situation that we were in last year, and we knew for sure that this time, they would give it all out. They had nothing to lose, but us, everything. We couldn't allow ourselves to slip up in this match and throw again our status as group leaders, but we started slowly.

Right from the start, Jordaan went off at a blistering pace, scoring 9 of our first 10 points. But from then, our pace seemed to slow down, allowing the opposition to claw their way back. We eventually came away with a 3 point advantage:12-9. In the 2nd quarter, however, things started going downhill. We seemed to lose the spirit that we had depended so much upon, not doing what we had to do on defense, rushing shots on offense, making silly mis-passes and turnovers. Soon, everyone was on the verge of a breakdown, and we had no answer for Pres high's impressive run and spirit, fortunately ending the quarter 30-29. 

The bad things continued into the 3rd quarter, where tempers seemed to be on the verge of breaking down. We played as badly as we did in the 2nd quarter, ending the quarter with a 3 point lead. In the 4th quarter, everything came back to us. The spirit was back, as all 5 guys on the court fought together. We pressed like we never pressed before, making steals and intercepting balls. We got easy lay-ups, hit 3-pointers. It was a complete turn from the 2nd and 3rd quarter, this time we did everything right. In that quarter only, we scored 36 points and the other team: 4. 

Despite a solid result that ensured our entry into the next round, we are left to reflect on a match that we played extremely badly. Yes, we still ended with a 'blow-out' like scoreline, but if we step onto the court against Anglican in our 2nd round and we play with this kind of a standard, we cannot depend on another 36 point run in the 4th quarter to win it for us. Like Coach said before, our victory depends on our spirit, our spirit that compels us into fighting for everything that we believe. Today we lost sight of that spirit, but when it came back to us, we came up tops. 

Dream.Team.Fight.Win. 
We can't lose that spirit 

1 comment:

Coach Jonathan Wong said...

Muscle-man's first comment: From what I have seen so far, This C div season rests on the shoulders of four of you. Mohamed, Brian, Jian Han and Greg.

Jordan, Justin, Lawrence and Brandon will consistently perform well, and likely better than their opponents at the same position.

But the rebounding and smart play,

(I.E. defensive help, zone communication, smart play in trapping situations, release options against the opponents press, screens for our wings etc)

from the other interior players will determine how deep our bench can go and how we match up to the 2 bigger teams (you know who they are). Lawrence can't do it alone.

The four of you need to decide to be 100% tough guys for EVERY SECOND you are on the court.

Bigger, taller and more skillful opponents better be scared to face you because you will shove them for every inch of space and every rebound. We need 4 of you to wear out just 2 of their other indie players.

Our other 4 starters will be able to handle the rest of the game.