Raffles Institution vs Dunman High School (90-38)
This would be the 2nd last friendly game that we would play in the year. The game was held at the sheltered courts at the JC side.
As soon as the ball went up and the game started, we were ready to play. Our goal was to start off the game strong and break their confidence from the very first quarter so that they would lose the will to continue to fight and give up fast. That was exactly what we did. Our point guard Daran set the tone of the game right at the start as he scored 8 straight points to put us up 8-0 in the opening mins. He was perfect during the run going 3/3 from the field including 2/2 from 3pt range. The rest of the team eventually fed off his energy and we started to pick up our own game as well. We ran hard on the fastbreak and did not allow many easy layups for the opponents. This resulted in us going up 29-4 by the end of the first quarter.
The following 3 quarters were more of the same as we continued to stretch the lead slowly but surely by forcing many turnovers from our opponents while at the same time taking care of the ball reasonably when we were on offense. This resulted in us eventually blowing the game wide open, eventually winning the game by a margin of 52 points.
One player that played well this game was one of our posts Yang Gan, who contributed significantly when he was on the court playing. He ended up with 5 strong rebounds and made many good passes as he came up with 3 assists while only turning the ball over once.
Improvements
Although we played pretty well in this game, we still have some areas that we can improve on. One of them would be our fouling. Although not many fouls were called for both teams in this game, we tend to get too aggressive with our defense, bumping the opponents unnecessarily while trying to go for the steal. This specifically happens when we are doing our full court presses. Though these fouls were not called in this game, when the season starts, the referees may call these kind of fouls on us. So we have to be careful not to foul unnecessarily and let them get into the penalty early in the game, giving them free throws.
Next, running back on defense. Although they did not score much in this game, many of the points that they scored were on fastbreak layups. This was partly due to the lack of effort on our part to run back quickly in order to stop the fastbreak. We have to dash back on defense every possession. Though it did not hurt us in this game, we definitely cannot let this become a habit.
Strengths
We were efficient from the field in this game as we were able to go 26/49 in our 2pt attempts (53%). But more importantly, we were efficient from 3pt range in this game as well scoring 12/29 (41%) which is a big improvement from the percentage that we had been shooting the previous games. We must keep this up as it can serve as a huge weapon for us come season time.
Also, we were once again strong on the boards, getting a total of 37 rebounds (16 off, 21 def). We have been doing this pretty consistently throughout all the games that we had played and this has limited the 2nd chance opportunities of our opponents while increasing our own 2nd chance opportunities.
Most of all, the biggest strength that we had in this game was that we only had 15 turnovers, while getting a stellar 28 steals. This was probably the biggest reason why we were able to blow this game wide open as we were taking good care of the ball on the offensive end, while forcing many turnovers on the defensive end. This resulted in us getting more possessions and naturally, more scores.
We will be playing our last friendly game of the year on Thursday. The game once again will be held at the RJC courts. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Raffles Institution vs Fairfield Methodist School (76-56)
Raffles Institution vs Fairfield Methodist School (76-56)
This was our 6th friendly game of the year and our opponents for this one was Fairfield. The game was played at the JC side sheltered courts.
In the 1st quarter, we got off to a blazing start as we took full advantage of our height and banged our way inside for many layups. On the defensive end, we made Fairfield work for their shots as they only were able to shoot from the outside instead of penetrating our zone defense. Naturally, their field goal percentage was not as high as ours and we were able to jump ahead to a huge lead. By the end of the first quarter, the score was 26-10 in our favour.
The 2nd quarter started off with more of the same as we started to force many turnovers from Fairfield and got many fastbreak layups on the other end. We controlled the boards on the defensive end and did not allow them to have many second chance opportunities. The lead eventually ballooned to 44-15 by the 5 minute mark and we were still leading comfortably entering into halftime.
However, the wheels started to fall off for us in the 3rd quarter as our defense started to crumble. We failed to communicate properly with each other and did not put any effort to run hard and close out on the perimeter, giving up a lot of 3 pointers. This may have been due to our complacency when we were leading by a huge margin. Fairfield on the other hand started to make many shots while forcing us to commit silly turnovers, and their morale was soaring. The game that once was thought to be a blowout suddenly became rather close as they cut our lead all the way down to 11 heading into the 4th quarter.
But in the 4th quarter, we showed resilience as we continued to stretch the lead by pressing them full court and once again forcing turnovers from them by intercepting the passing lanes or making them pass bad passes. Much like we did in the 1st quarter, we continued to attack the paint where we had a sizeable advantage and this allowed the difference of score between the 2 teams to increase. This finally stopped their momentum as they started to lose their fire and we were eventually able to bring the lead back up to 23 at one point, eventually winning the game by 20.
Improvements
Turnovers. We definitely need to take care of the ball and not be fazed by the pressure that the other team is giving us. In the 2nd half, Fairfield pushed their defense all the way to half court and started trapping our players with double teams, leading us to turn the ball over frequently, much like what happened in the Ngee Ann game. We need to learn how to keep our composure in these situations. We had a total of 23 turnovers in this game, which is still pretty bad.
3pt shooting. After a hot start in the 1st quarter where we shot a good percentage from 3pt range, we started to go cold in the 2nd half and we ended up shooting 5/28 for the game (18%) while Fairfield was able to convert on many of theirs, which was a key part in their run. They shot an efficient (41%) from 3.
Lastly, our morale. We cannot panic and start to rush when we see a team coming back and cutting into our lead. Rather we have to stay positive and keep our heads high. As long as one guy puts his head down and feels discouraged, the whole team will be affected. We need to stick to what has been working for us and trust that we would be able to stretch the lead again. In this game, we started to panic a little bit when they made a run and their morale started getting high while ours dropped significantly. We have to keep our morale high at all times and keep talking on defense and on offense.
Strengths
Our 2pt shooting was excellent in this game as we converted on 29/50 (58%) from the field. This was a big reason for us getting the win and we have to continue to use our size advantage against other opponents who may be smaller than us.
We did a great job rebounding again as we totalled 38 rebounds in the game. Shao Jie and Jovi played a huge part in allowing us to control the boards as they totalled 25 boards just between the two, 13 and 12 respectively. Rebounding can make winning games much easier.
Lastly, our steals. Although we had 23 turnovers ourselves, we had 25 steals and this means that we definitely had less turnovers than Fairfield as we did not even take into account yet the unforced turnovers that Fairfield may have made. We have to keep the aggression up in our defense.
We will be having 4 games in just one week next week, so do stay tuned for more.
This was our 6th friendly game of the year and our opponents for this one was Fairfield. The game was played at the JC side sheltered courts.
In the 1st quarter, we got off to a blazing start as we took full advantage of our height and banged our way inside for many layups. On the defensive end, we made Fairfield work for their shots as they only were able to shoot from the outside instead of penetrating our zone defense. Naturally, their field goal percentage was not as high as ours and we were able to jump ahead to a huge lead. By the end of the first quarter, the score was 26-10 in our favour.
The 2nd quarter started off with more of the same as we started to force many turnovers from Fairfield and got many fastbreak layups on the other end. We controlled the boards on the defensive end and did not allow them to have many second chance opportunities. The lead eventually ballooned to 44-15 by the 5 minute mark and we were still leading comfortably entering into halftime.
However, the wheels started to fall off for us in the 3rd quarter as our defense started to crumble. We failed to communicate properly with each other and did not put any effort to run hard and close out on the perimeter, giving up a lot of 3 pointers. This may have been due to our complacency when we were leading by a huge margin. Fairfield on the other hand started to make many shots while forcing us to commit silly turnovers, and their morale was soaring. The game that once was thought to be a blowout suddenly became rather close as they cut our lead all the way down to 11 heading into the 4th quarter.
But in the 4th quarter, we showed resilience as we continued to stretch the lead by pressing them full court and once again forcing turnovers from them by intercepting the passing lanes or making them pass bad passes. Much like we did in the 1st quarter, we continued to attack the paint where we had a sizeable advantage and this allowed the difference of score between the 2 teams to increase. This finally stopped their momentum as they started to lose their fire and we were eventually able to bring the lead back up to 23 at one point, eventually winning the game by 20.
Improvements
Turnovers. We definitely need to take care of the ball and not be fazed by the pressure that the other team is giving us. In the 2nd half, Fairfield pushed their defense all the way to half court and started trapping our players with double teams, leading us to turn the ball over frequently, much like what happened in the Ngee Ann game. We need to learn how to keep our composure in these situations. We had a total of 23 turnovers in this game, which is still pretty bad.
3pt shooting. After a hot start in the 1st quarter where we shot a good percentage from 3pt range, we started to go cold in the 2nd half and we ended up shooting 5/28 for the game (18%) while Fairfield was able to convert on many of theirs, which was a key part in their run. They shot an efficient (41%) from 3.
Lastly, our morale. We cannot panic and start to rush when we see a team coming back and cutting into our lead. Rather we have to stay positive and keep our heads high. As long as one guy puts his head down and feels discouraged, the whole team will be affected. We need to stick to what has been working for us and trust that we would be able to stretch the lead again. In this game, we started to panic a little bit when they made a run and their morale started getting high while ours dropped significantly. We have to keep our morale high at all times and keep talking on defense and on offense.
Strengths
Our 2pt shooting was excellent in this game as we converted on 29/50 (58%) from the field. This was a big reason for us getting the win and we have to continue to use our size advantage against other opponents who may be smaller than us.
We did a great job rebounding again as we totalled 38 rebounds in the game. Shao Jie and Jovi played a huge part in allowing us to control the boards as they totalled 25 boards just between the two, 13 and 12 respectively. Rebounding can make winning games much easier.
Lastly, our steals. Although we had 23 turnovers ourselves, we had 25 steals and this means that we definitely had less turnovers than Fairfield as we did not even take into account yet the unforced turnovers that Fairfield may have made. We have to keep the aggression up in our defense.
We will be having 4 games in just one week next week, so do stay tuned for more.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Raffles Institution vs Ngee Ann Secondary (62-63)
Raffles Institution vs Ngee Ann Secondary (62-63)
This was the 5th friendly game that we played so far and this one was against Ngee Ann Secondary. The game was played at Ngee Ann Secondary School.
Due to the fact that there was no scoreboard, nor scorekeeper, nor timekeeper present during the game, the game was played by 15 minute quarters. The coach of Ngee Ann Secondary would record the time using a stopwatch and would shout "last ball" after the time had expired. The score on the other hand, was kept by an application that we have been using for the past few games to record our players' and the team's stats.
The first half of this game was badly done as we opened up the game giving up way too many open and easy baskets to our opponents who had no problems knocking down their shots partly due to their home court advantage. Our team on the other hand was missing easy opportunities at the basket that we would have normally converted and could not buy a bucket from the perimeter. We only scored a mere 4 points throughout the whole first period and found ourselves trailing by as much as 16 points in the first quarter alone. A huge reason why we were so inefficient while Ngee Ann was efficient was that we committed a whopping 11 turnovers in the first quarter alone. This was largely due to their half court 1-2-2 zone defense and double teaming that we have not really seen all this year. We were unable to find a way to break it and there was no one near to help, resulting in many turnovers for us. At the half, we were still trailing by double digits.
Once the second half had commenced, we started to find a little bit of a groove as we were finally able to score on multiple possessions while getting stops on our side of the floor. We were also able to cut down on the amount of turnovers that we committed in the 3rd quarter. This allowed us to close the gap significantly by the time the fourth quarter came our way. By the end of the third quarter, we were only down by 7 points.
In the 4th quarter, we started to mount on a rally as we were able to string together multiple stops, and forcing numerous turnovers form our opponents. We also switched our 2-2-1 defense to Full court Man-on-Man and this confused Ngee Ann as they did not realise it for quite some time and continued doing the same moves that they would have done to break our 2-2-1. Hence, we continued to chip away at the lead before finally tying it at 49 all after fighting back from being down by a huge margin that we had accumulated in the first quarter. We then traded baskets for a period of time before we finally made 2 threes that stretched our lead to 6. However, their incessant offensive rebounding and our careless fouls underneath the baskets allowed them to have many free throw attempts during the late moments of the 4th. Despite all this, we were still clinging on to a 1 point lead of 62-61. It was at this moment that we heard the signal of "last ball". On the following possession, Ngee Ann had a shot at the basket but missed and the ball was tipped out of bounds off of them. But even though it was a dead ball, there was no indication that the game had ended by the referee. After we got possession of the ball but missed on their side of the court, the game had still not ended and they came back on offense and ran a play, eventually scoring a basket at the end. It was at this moment that the game was declared over and we had lost 63-62.
Although this was a very controversial win due to the fact that the previous 3 quarters all ended once there was a dead ball, perhaps we did not deserve this win due to our lack of taking care of the ball in the first quarter and failing to convert on many easy opportunities. While the outcome of the game is in question, it is still a friendly game and it is important that we take away as much as we can learn from this.
Improvements
First and foremost, taking care of the ball. We cannot expect to commit 11 turnovers in the first quarter and still expect to win the game. We even committed a total of 31 turnovers in the whole game. This is way to high and we definitely have to cut down on this to win more consistently. To cut down on these turnovers, we need to know how to manage on ball pressure and judge properly when to pass out of the double team and when to just drive the ball. We killed our dribble too many times during this game which resulted in us turning the ball over easily.
Next, we have to cut down on our fouls. We gave Ngee Ann too many opportunities at the free throw line and if we meet teams which can shoot free throws very well, it would be tougher for us to get a win. But still, we need to know how to draw a line between fouling unnecessarily and fouling necessarily to make them earn their points from the free throw line.
Also, we have to work on our outside shooting. In a way it is good that we are going to our opponents home court to play as we can get to use many different types of rings. This trains our ability to adjust our shots in the future. But for this game, we shot 18/41(44%) from 2pt range, 7/34(21%) from 3pt range, and 5/13(38%) from the free throw line. We can definitely work to improve our percentage from 2pt range, but what really needs to improve is our 3pt shooting percentage and free throw percentage which are just awful. We must shoot with CONFIDENCE.
Lastly, our defense was horrible in the first quarter as we were unable to stop inside penetration and allowed way too many easy layups for the opponents. We have to COMMUNICATE much better on defense but also have to do the same on offense. Basically, talking makes playing much easier and also can take our mind off of being nervous or tired.
Strengths
Our fighting spirit. Though we were down big in the first quarter, we never gave up and continued to come at them throughout the rest of the whole game. We eventually came back to take the lead and even though the score reflects that we lost by 1 point, we definitely showed them that we would not concede to defeat until the final buzzer sounds.
We managed to do well on the boards today again, grabbing a total of 35 rebounds. (18 off, 17 def). We outrebounded them because of the height advantage that we had over them. This played a big part in our comeback as we could get multiple possessions and more scoring opportunities.
Our next friendly game would be coming up soon, but till then, stay tuned.
This was the 5th friendly game that we played so far and this one was against Ngee Ann Secondary. The game was played at Ngee Ann Secondary School.
Due to the fact that there was no scoreboard, nor scorekeeper, nor timekeeper present during the game, the game was played by 15 minute quarters. The coach of Ngee Ann Secondary would record the time using a stopwatch and would shout "last ball" after the time had expired. The score on the other hand, was kept by an application that we have been using for the past few games to record our players' and the team's stats.
The first half of this game was badly done as we opened up the game giving up way too many open and easy baskets to our opponents who had no problems knocking down their shots partly due to their home court advantage. Our team on the other hand was missing easy opportunities at the basket that we would have normally converted and could not buy a bucket from the perimeter. We only scored a mere 4 points throughout the whole first period and found ourselves trailing by as much as 16 points in the first quarter alone. A huge reason why we were so inefficient while Ngee Ann was efficient was that we committed a whopping 11 turnovers in the first quarter alone. This was largely due to their half court 1-2-2 zone defense and double teaming that we have not really seen all this year. We were unable to find a way to break it and there was no one near to help, resulting in many turnovers for us. At the half, we were still trailing by double digits.
Once the second half had commenced, we started to find a little bit of a groove as we were finally able to score on multiple possessions while getting stops on our side of the floor. We were also able to cut down on the amount of turnovers that we committed in the 3rd quarter. This allowed us to close the gap significantly by the time the fourth quarter came our way. By the end of the third quarter, we were only down by 7 points.
In the 4th quarter, we started to mount on a rally as we were able to string together multiple stops, and forcing numerous turnovers form our opponents. We also switched our 2-2-1 defense to Full court Man-on-Man and this confused Ngee Ann as they did not realise it for quite some time and continued doing the same moves that they would have done to break our 2-2-1. Hence, we continued to chip away at the lead before finally tying it at 49 all after fighting back from being down by a huge margin that we had accumulated in the first quarter. We then traded baskets for a period of time before we finally made 2 threes that stretched our lead to 6. However, their incessant offensive rebounding and our careless fouls underneath the baskets allowed them to have many free throw attempts during the late moments of the 4th. Despite all this, we were still clinging on to a 1 point lead of 62-61. It was at this moment that we heard the signal of "last ball". On the following possession, Ngee Ann had a shot at the basket but missed and the ball was tipped out of bounds off of them. But even though it was a dead ball, there was no indication that the game had ended by the referee. After we got possession of the ball but missed on their side of the court, the game had still not ended and they came back on offense and ran a play, eventually scoring a basket at the end. It was at this moment that the game was declared over and we had lost 63-62.
Although this was a very controversial win due to the fact that the previous 3 quarters all ended once there was a dead ball, perhaps we did not deserve this win due to our lack of taking care of the ball in the first quarter and failing to convert on many easy opportunities. While the outcome of the game is in question, it is still a friendly game and it is important that we take away as much as we can learn from this.
Improvements
First and foremost, taking care of the ball. We cannot expect to commit 11 turnovers in the first quarter and still expect to win the game. We even committed a total of 31 turnovers in the whole game. This is way to high and we definitely have to cut down on this to win more consistently. To cut down on these turnovers, we need to know how to manage on ball pressure and judge properly when to pass out of the double team and when to just drive the ball. We killed our dribble too many times during this game which resulted in us turning the ball over easily.
Next, we have to cut down on our fouls. We gave Ngee Ann too many opportunities at the free throw line and if we meet teams which can shoot free throws very well, it would be tougher for us to get a win. But still, we need to know how to draw a line between fouling unnecessarily and fouling necessarily to make them earn their points from the free throw line.
Also, we have to work on our outside shooting. In a way it is good that we are going to our opponents home court to play as we can get to use many different types of rings. This trains our ability to adjust our shots in the future. But for this game, we shot 18/41(44%) from 2pt range, 7/34(21%) from 3pt range, and 5/13(38%) from the free throw line. We can definitely work to improve our percentage from 2pt range, but what really needs to improve is our 3pt shooting percentage and free throw percentage which are just awful. We must shoot with CONFIDENCE.
Lastly, our defense was horrible in the first quarter as we were unable to stop inside penetration and allowed way too many easy layups for the opponents. We have to COMMUNICATE much better on defense but also have to do the same on offense. Basically, talking makes playing much easier and also can take our mind off of being nervous or tired.
Strengths
Our fighting spirit. Though we were down big in the first quarter, we never gave up and continued to come at them throughout the rest of the whole game. We eventually came back to take the lead and even though the score reflects that we lost by 1 point, we definitely showed them that we would not concede to defeat until the final buzzer sounds.
We managed to do well on the boards today again, grabbing a total of 35 rebounds. (18 off, 17 def). We outrebounded them because of the height advantage that we had over them. This played a big part in our comeback as we could get multiple possessions and more scoring opportunities.
Our next friendly game would be coming up soon, but till then, stay tuned.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Raffles Institution vs Dunman Secondary (51-45)
Raffles Institution vs Dunman Secondary (51-45)
We once again visited Dunman Secondary where we had lost all of our previous 3 meetings.
The game started off with both teams struggling to score as the defense played by both teams forced each other to take many outside jumpshots which were very low percentage. Dunman Sec did a really good job of coming in for offensive rebounds as when every shot went up, at least 2 players will go in to try to get offensive rebounds, making us pay if we did not box out properly. However, we managed to keep very close throughout 3 quarters as both teams took turns in taking the lead due to our 2-2-1 defense, getting us a total of 16 steals throughout the game. However, it is also worth noting that we committed a total of 24 turnovers as well, way more than the previous game against Bukit Panjang Government High.
In the 4th quarter, Dunman Secondary managed to break away a little bit to take a 5 point lead of 45-40 with only around 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter. In spite of this, our team did not give up and continued to fight hard to chip away at the lead. We got 2 three pointers on back to back offensive possessions to take the lead. After getting a stop on defense, we then scored yet another three pointer to extend our lead. We ended off the game on an 11-0 run which included 3 three pointers and a steal and layup to end it off. This was indeed encouraging for us as we were able to maintain our composure towards the end of the game and most importantly get the win.
Improvements
Turnovers was a huge downside of this game as we committed way too much. Most of it was because we were too panicky when facing the tough defense of Dunman Secondary. This resulted in a lot of bad passes and allowing them to convert on the fastbreak opportunities. We need to make sure our turnovers are at least less than 15. Taking care of the ball is definitely vital to winning games.
Next, perimeter shooting. We were horrible in shooting percentages in this game. We were only 8/28 (29%) from 2pt range and 10/45 (22%) from 3pt range. It was amazing that we still were able to come out with a win. However this has to change as we need to learn to get used to the rings in different environments quickly and not take too long a time to adjust. The longer we take to adjust our shots, the more we will miss out on opportunities to score.
Strengths
Once again our 2-2-1 defense did not disappoint as we were able to force most of their turnovers through this. We were able to press them for the whole game, wearing them out eventually in the 4th quarter. We definitely have to keep this up and continue to refine it. However we must remember 2 things.
1) First line has to force the ball handler to the sideline, do not let him cut middle
2) When the ball is at the sides, the players on the weakside have to rotate to the help line which is in line with the basket.
In this game, we were once again composed and fought hard to get back into the game and take the lead. We definitely need to keep this up as it is this kind of composure that can allow us to win games.
Lastly, we rebounded well grabbing a total of 36 rebounds. Although there were indeed some balls where Dunman Secondary was able to grab the offensive rebound for an extra possession, we were able to do the same on the other side of the floor. We also minimised the number of offensive rebouds they had in this game significantly in comparison to the previous 3 games that we played against them.
So far we are 4-0 in all our friendly games played so far. While this is encouraging, we definitely cannot be complacent and continue to work harder as there are so many other aspects in which we need to improve on.
We once again visited Dunman Secondary where we had lost all of our previous 3 meetings.
The game started off with both teams struggling to score as the defense played by both teams forced each other to take many outside jumpshots which were very low percentage. Dunman Sec did a really good job of coming in for offensive rebounds as when every shot went up, at least 2 players will go in to try to get offensive rebounds, making us pay if we did not box out properly. However, we managed to keep very close throughout 3 quarters as both teams took turns in taking the lead due to our 2-2-1 defense, getting us a total of 16 steals throughout the game. However, it is also worth noting that we committed a total of 24 turnovers as well, way more than the previous game against Bukit Panjang Government High.
In the 4th quarter, Dunman Secondary managed to break away a little bit to take a 5 point lead of 45-40 with only around 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter. In spite of this, our team did not give up and continued to fight hard to chip away at the lead. We got 2 three pointers on back to back offensive possessions to take the lead. After getting a stop on defense, we then scored yet another three pointer to extend our lead. We ended off the game on an 11-0 run which included 3 three pointers and a steal and layup to end it off. This was indeed encouraging for us as we were able to maintain our composure towards the end of the game and most importantly get the win.
Improvements
Turnovers was a huge downside of this game as we committed way too much. Most of it was because we were too panicky when facing the tough defense of Dunman Secondary. This resulted in a lot of bad passes and allowing them to convert on the fastbreak opportunities. We need to make sure our turnovers are at least less than 15. Taking care of the ball is definitely vital to winning games.
Next, perimeter shooting. We were horrible in shooting percentages in this game. We were only 8/28 (29%) from 2pt range and 10/45 (22%) from 3pt range. It was amazing that we still were able to come out with a win. However this has to change as we need to learn to get used to the rings in different environments quickly and not take too long a time to adjust. The longer we take to adjust our shots, the more we will miss out on opportunities to score.
Strengths
Once again our 2-2-1 defense did not disappoint as we were able to force most of their turnovers through this. We were able to press them for the whole game, wearing them out eventually in the 4th quarter. We definitely have to keep this up and continue to refine it. However we must remember 2 things.
1) First line has to force the ball handler to the sideline, do not let him cut middle
2) When the ball is at the sides, the players on the weakside have to rotate to the help line which is in line with the basket.
In this game, we were once again composed and fought hard to get back into the game and take the lead. We definitely need to keep this up as it is this kind of composure that can allow us to win games.
Lastly, we rebounded well grabbing a total of 36 rebounds. Although there were indeed some balls where Dunman Secondary was able to grab the offensive rebound for an extra possession, we were able to do the same on the other side of the floor. We also minimised the number of offensive rebouds they had in this game significantly in comparison to the previous 3 games that we played against them.
So far we are 4-0 in all our friendly games played so far. While this is encouraging, we definitely cannot be complacent and continue to work harder as there are so many other aspects in which we need to improve on.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Raffles Institutiion vs Bukit Panjang Government High (67-57)
Raffles Institutiion vs Bukit Panjang Government High (67-57)
This was the 3rd game of the series of friendly games that we would be playing before the season commences. The game was played at Bukit Panjang Government High.
At the start of the game, things got off to a rough start as we constantly allowed the opponents to penetrate our defense and get into the paint for easy baskets. Especially their key scorer #11 who managed to maneuver effortlessly through our defense to get baskets. On the other hand, shots that we were throwing up were found clanking off the rim as we struggled to get used to our new environment. This resulted in BPGH having an early lead of 11-4.
In the second quarter, we manged to pick up our offense while at the same time preventing easy cuts to the basket with our matchup zone defense. We played 2-2-1 defense throughout the whole game and we were able to force many turnovers as the opponents went into a state of panic when facing our defense. At the break, it was all knotted up at 27.
The Third quarter was when we really pulled away. We continued to score with various ways be it from shooting threes from the outside our getting fastbreak opportunities from their turnovers. We managed to outscore them convincingly 21-3 in the 3rd quarter and this allowed us to take a lead of 48-30.
It was much of the same in the last quarter as we continued to play well, not becoming complacent and thus we managed to hold on to the lead despite their late run to win the game 67-57.
Improvements
It was worth noting that we had 14 fouls called on us while only 3 fouls called for us. We were only able to get a mere 5 free throw attempts making 2/5 whereas the opponent had more than 20 free throw attempts. Though we may complain that the refereeing was biased, in the real game during the season we would have to adjust as regardless, we would still need to pull out a win. We could try to go to the basket more aggressively to make the fouls much more obvious and force the referees to call fouls for us. On the other hand, we have to cut down on the unnecessary fouls like those on the perimeter.
We shot decently from 2pt range, making 21/41 shots, 51%. However from 3pt range, we were only 7/22, 32%. We can see that we have to work on our 3pt shooting because if we do that well, we can really damage our opponents confidence and lessen the chance of any comeback opportunities.
Lastly, free throw shooting. Though we didnt shoot many at all, we were only able to make 2 out of our 5 attempts which is a very lowly 40%. This is something we definitely have to work on as if this becomes our weakness, opponents will just foul us everytime we go to the basket and force us to earn our points via free throws. Good free throw shooting can boost our confidence and frustrate the defense.
Strengths
We commited 15 turnovers throughout the whole game. Although it is tough to gauge whether this is high or low as we need to compare with other games that we play in the future, we took care of the ball decently well overall.
We also managed to get 16 steals as a team as we pressured them and intercepted passing lanes during our 2-2-1 defense and matchup zone defense.
We rebounded the ball pretty well getting a total of 27 rebounds. (21 def, 6 off). This would definitely play a big part if we want to go far as rebounding gets more possessions for us and less possessions for them. We definitely should maintain and if possible improve on this.
Next up would be Dunman Secondary, where we lost all 3 of our previous meetings so far. Stay tuned
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