(written by mark)
In the first and second quarter, we played a man to man defence. The Americans played a pick and roll offence. They pretty much executed screens at every opportunity. We however did not fight past the screens, and by the second to third screen, there was confusion everywhere with players even losing sight of the player they were defending. Thus, the opponents could cut to the centre of the paint area to get easy shots. On offense, we did not know what play to run. Though there were problems in the play, we still managed to score with our players playing 1 to 1 with the opponents.
In the third quarter, we change our defence to a 3-2 zone. Although there was less confusion and cuts while the opponents were executing the play, there was bad help, and the guards could cut to the paint area occasionally. We also did not pressure their guards enough, allowing the Americans to score 2 3pointer, their only 2 in the game. Furthermore, being down by 6 points, we should not have allowed them to simply make passes from one guard to the other uncontested. Also, we were no scoring on fast breaks. Moreover, we travelled with the ball, and committed charging foul unnecessarily. When the Americans pressure us when we were starting the ball, we threw the ball away or had the ball stripped from us. This quarter, we were outplayed by the opponents, and they nearly doubled the amount we scored.
Fortunately, we were able to make a comeback after being down 32-38. We used a full court press. As the opponent only had 1 ball handler, the ball kept coming to him, and we kept pressuring him. After gaining possession of the ball, we sprinted down to score. After leading by four points, we changed back to our 3-2 zone defence. Being down by 4 points and the clock signalling the end of game in 2 minutes, we did not pressure the guards, letting them take 3 pointers. Fortunately, it did not go in, and we hang on to the lead until the end.
We should be more aware of when to pressure and when to not pressure. Being down by 6, we definitely got to pressure, especially when there is no shot clock. Also, although today's full court press allowed us to totally outscore the opponents; we should improve it because there are many teams with more than 1 good ball handler. Still, a win is a win. Good Job Guys!
Scoring by quarters:
1st Quarter -- SAS 12 RI 9
2nd Quarter -- SAS 10 RI 14
3rd Quarter -- SAS 16 RI 9
4th Quarter -- SAS 2 RI 12
MVPs:
RI: Chun Cheong and Ming Jun
SAS: #4
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