Game 5: disintegration

our game this week took us to roskilde, just outside of copenhagen. this team has been one of the best clubs in the league for years as i'm told. prior to this game their best player received two intentional fouls and was suspended for this game so we had a great opportunity to pick up a big win.

the game was in a really big wide open gym and the rims were alot tighter than those we've played on thus far this year so it took us a little while to get used to the differences in warmup. they were a big team up front with two talented big men who were both over 6'8", guys who could handle and post. we started off the game good, our game plan was to get out and fast break as much as we could to render their size advantage ineffective. our halfcourt offences were running effective enough for the first bit as well.

it was our first game with corrie in the lineup and it took alot more adjusting than i expected. not knowing a players game tendencies, strengths and weaknesses takes time.

we led by 11 at halftime and we all felt we should be up by much more than that. they dropped into a 2-3 zone for the rest of the game and we showed that we had no idea how to break it. the offences we were using weren't giving us open shots and when we attacked the inside everyone just stood on the perimeter watching. it was the first time we've really played against a zone for an extended amount of time this year, our guys must not have much experience playing against a wide zone in the past because they weren't moving, cutting or finding open spots, then when we got stagnant as a result it led to forced shots and drives and turnovers. the zone took endre outta the offense and corrie had trouble getting into the flow*to be expected in first game). they did a good job of getting in the lanes, tipping passes and with those two big guys waiting inside to shot block, we were outta sync. the way we played on offence was inexcuseable but i didn't really know what to say. you can't teach people how to play in the middle of a game. we are the highest scoring team in the league and we get just 8 points in the third quarter.... crazy. but in the end they executed a good game plan, we weren't able to adjust, we were outplayed and outcoached in the second half.

for the rest of the game they just ground us down inside, feeding the post. the refs did their thing...calling bullshit fouls. they fouled out endre with four minutes to go. then they called three fouls on me in two minutes while guarding their big guy. after the game i talked with the ref and this dude admits to me that he shouldn't have called two of those fouls. i was like what the fuck! either way, they got in bonus and won the game at the line. 67-57. here is a summary

i ended up with 24 pts, 1-2 from downtown, 12 rebounds. i had so many tips on rebounds coming from the weakside of their zone that i just couldn't put down, it was like the rim was closed for business. i played a bad game. i really felt like i was the one guy on our team that game who could have carried us because i was being aggressive and drawing attention. the turnovers i had were frustrating. i hate having to force things offensively. i did a good job of penetrating, esp on the baseline, making their zone collapse but everytime i did, all i saw was white jerseys, none of our guys would move to open spots so i ended up trying to force alot of passes thru traffic when i should have been able to dump the ball off for easy layups and jumpers. hindsight; i shoulda said fuck the pass and just taken it right at their big guys and made something happen. its just not the way i've been taught though, if i got 3 guys on me and can't see one open teamate, then something is fucked up. i dunno i was just frustrated because we shoulda beat this team by 20pts and we ended up losing by ten. i'm sick of this fucking blog entry. as import players i don't think we did enough in that game and we shoulda been able to carry the team to a win. that loss is on our shoulders. now its just gonna be in our head all week.