(I apologize for the delay in the posts as I was in boarding there's no internet then and this report was written on Tuesday.)
I believe, today’s game will be remembered in years to come. It’s a painful story but breathtakingly thrilling, and it was just like how we saw it in those NBA games, coaches calling timeout drawing a last-second play, the tense atmosphere and intensity screaming in our blood, with the clock winding down to the last second as the player fires a shot that sends the whole crowd erupting into victory. Everything happened exactly the way I just described the way it was.
Unfortunately, we weren’t the ones with the home court advantage.
We were sloppy right from the start, not making the right plays because we weren’t in the right state of mind. Ben salvaged us with two baskets but he was quickly removed from the game after receiving a nasty blow on his eye that took him out for the rest of the game. We were not ready at all and there was zero fast break ATTEMPTS, which was seen in bad defense throughout and not quickening our speed of the game. We ended the quarter up by one, 10-9.
Things took a spin for the worse in the second quarter, as since our starters were unable to produce, we had to dig into our reserves. However, perhaps maybe all of us were not focused during warm up, maybe it was due to the fact that it was the second game in two games and we were mentally tired, or maybe there was some inexplicable reason, none of us were said to be doing well. We had more airballs than made baskets, forcing passes to players with bad spacing, etc. Defensively we were not shuffling our feet enough and letting them having open looks from beyond the arc, not pressuring the ball handlers and what really really killed us was how we were getting murdered on the boards, many times where our opponents came in and collected the rebound simply and effortlessly, and second chance points simple follow suit. Our players were not passing enough, not reacting to situations and only following what coach told them to do and not thinking for themselves, which resulted in many mistakes that should be avoided, but instead doubled, or even tripled in the second quarter.
After a long half time break with our coaches, reprimanding us and seeing the double digit deficit on our scoreboard, this was where we woke up. Our floor general started dishing out great dimes to Alex and Yves, who carried the team load. Going into our 3-22, we went out and clawed our way back up slowly to only 3-5 points, trading baskets frequently with our opponents. We returned a layup of theirs with our own and the pace was finally carrying up plus our players had “woke up”, finally playing their best and at their peak. However, on defense we were still torn apart by number 30 and his excellent ability to attack the basket and finish at the rim. There were also just so many instances of us not communicating on simple pick and roll plays and that really messed up our hard work on the other end. A few of the bench players were either ill-conditioned and not focused, giving up easy rebounds and the not moving quick enough to keep up with our intensive traps, missing out on at least 6 steals.
Slowly and inexplicably, we entered the final quarter down by 4. With number 30 on the bench, we made a final onslaught on the bench players of AISS. We gritted our teeth, went in and fought so much that we exceeded our oxygen debt by dangerous levels, yet it was always those loose balls that came off the rim that always messed us up. After around 30 to 40 seconds of solid defense (there was no shot clock), our opponents crashed the boards and got yet another chance to lay siege to our tiring out defense. We put the nails in our coffins by jumping with their 6 footers and lacking the heart to just go in and use a bit more effort to secure those boards. Slowly, we got back up and we fouled their point guard with 18 seconds left to play. Their ballhandler missed his two chances at the charity stripe and with a deflection by AISS it was left with less than 5 seconds with the game to go.
It was all or nothing. With 4.92 seconds left on the clock and down by two, coach drew a play that all of us were familiar with. It had everything we needed to execute, all 4 players on the court having an offensive option that could easily be available for an open shot to send the game to overtime. Excitement was getting high, and all of us anticipated with bated breath for the finale of this game.
Yet, this was when everything went wrong.
We have always emphasized on discipline, but our bad habits of constantly taking a few more seconds to get into the court, just that two seconds of ill-discipline of drinking water and entering the court a tad late. Two seconds ago, our center was wide open with the defenders still figuring out their positions, confused and unsure. Yet, those two crucial seconds caused the defenders to take away our defensive option. We still had three more options, but it was because of a simple yet almost stupid reason which caused the entire play to fail.
Our players were unsure of what to do.
With our center option gone, panic set in and Bao Kun inbounded to Alex poorly with his defender swarming all over him. Out of position and without time left, he had to force a three leaning into the defender. All of us got up as we saw the ball sail out of bounds, and that was when the realization that we have lost our first game in the tournament set in as we congratulated our opponents.
During the entire game, we had little options to turn to on the bench and even the starters were performing poorly. Everyone has to understand that you may be called upon anytime during the game. Whether you start or you take a backseat, you should be prepared to deliver and RECTIFY the mistakes someone else is making out there. We lost the game today not because of anyone’s individual fault or our shots not falling, but our evident lack of focus, effort and heart was outrageous and astonishing. This may just one small game in preseason, but what if in the future, in a big game when nobody is ready? We will falter because it is actually our bench production that is critical and crucial to success of the game. Any team’s starting 5 could be matched comparatively but without solid backups, or at least mentally ready players always available to be called upon, we will always be struggling and find outselves at the losing end. On the other hand, rebounding is an effort stat, and with today’s lack of concentration and desire to chase after every lose ball, it is needless to say where we have failed. If we haven’t been playing catch up from the start, we wouldn’t have to fight so hard to make it a close game.
This would probably be our most exciting match since our narrow win over Catholic High a year back in South Zone and the deciding game in the second round of South Zone in 2007. Games like this are hard to find and whether we win or lose, it’s a great experience to take away, because I believe with today’s game, many of us will wake up and understand the rationale behind simple actions in training, and our motivation and drive would increase exponentially. Take a good break, and let’s be prepared to improve our training intensity tenfold on Thursday, playing the game we all love.
MVPs:
(RI)
Alexander Loh
(AISS)
No. 30
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