Post#28 » by G R E Y » Sat Nov 10, 2018 8:32 am
Early in the game they hustled for two offensive rebounds and got three shots up in one possession; on the other end, we got blocked, they hustled for the ball once more, pushed it down the court for a basket and foul - this sequence ended up being both a harbinger and a summary of our night.
We played with more cohesion and intensity in our first game of the season, and that's puzzling considering we've had more time together since then. The defense was far better than in the previous game, but our offense sputtered most of the night. The last two games share a bad pattern of slow starts, big deficits, and too-late runs.
Part of the slow starts can be attributed to new guys in the starting line-up, but that doesn't explain the lack of effort. Rudy in the starting group has several times provided an assertive lift that the rest of the starters have fed off of. Without him, and with White working his way back, it seemed as if guys were looking around at each other as if to figure out who was going to take charge. A couple of blocks, fouls, and a 13-0 run against, and Pop did it for them, subbing out all five (saw that only once last year).
Patty (team-high 20 on 8-22, 4-12 from 3, 4 rebounds) was the consistent but lone surge of energy for too long, and thank goodness we had at least that because he kept us going despite the deficit. At the half, Patty had as many points as our starters. He's a good communicator and leader by example. Davis had the best shooting night (and his best of the season - 19 on 6-10, 4-7 from 3, 3-3 FTs with 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block), showing his full game and why we re-signed him: he's defensively sound, moving his feet, good stance, good closeouts, and he's lights out from the 3 when he gets going (and isn't shy trying) but he also scored on some quick and crafty drives, using the established 3 as a lure to bring out defenders, fake shots, and drive by them. Considering how many times we got blocked, it was great to see someone get to the basket and score.
LMA does a lot of physical work down low game in, game out, with 16 rebounds (4 O) and 2 blocks in this one. He has a habit, though, of staying in the key too low whenever a shooter gets to the top of our key and he is too often a step too slow in closing out. Hopefully he find a better balance between protecting the space and moving out faster to be able to have a better chance at contesting. DeMar worked his way to 18 points (6-15 after a 1-7 start) and also grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds and team-high 8 assists. He provided good help D, and pitched in with a block and 2 steals. It was perhaps more of an adjustment for Bryn to start as SG; certainly was for White to play again. Bryn is still getting good minutes and chances; Derrick was a bit passive or apprehensive, but it was still great to see him back. We need him. His rhythm and chemistry with the team will come.
No sense in going over the ugly details of most everyone else's poor shooting, but an overall indicator was that our 33FG% was worse than our 40.3% from the arc; at least that was a decent and improved percentage for us. Our FTs were reliably solid (13-14 for 92.9%), too. But three of our starters combined for 8 points, and the two who had double figures did so on low efficiency. It was our bench, which outscored theirs 50-12, that helped keep us fighting on O.
A bright spot was that our D was better overall. Some plays that stood out: in the 2nd Q, Dante smartly read the play and quickly went under a screen to catch up with the shooter and force a miss that LMA grabbed; Bryn and Patty were diligent in working through screens and contesting, allowing time for our help D to be effective. We played well enough to contribute to their 38.7FG% and hold them to under 100 points, the only team this season to do so (they actually shot worse than us from both the 3 and FT lines).
Still, each time we got close, we allowed them to get the ball and score. Towards the end of the first half, Patty worked his way to traditional three-point play. We then missed a 3, and their D to O transition led to a quick 2, a five point swing that bumped their lead to 8 points at the half. We ended up scoring a season-low 88 points.
There was just a lack of finishing plays hard on either end consistently. We lost so many hustle plays, loose balls, tapped out rebounds, and didn't muscle them out of our paint. We put more work into yelling than boxing out and jumping for rebounds, where we were down 60-49 (14-12 on O). We had fewer turnovers (12 to their 13) but once again gave up more points (17 to their 14). But the huge 46-24 points in the paint deficit for a consecutive game is glaring. Their C's 9 blocks got into our heads, and we got pushed out of their key for the most part. We didn't figure out how to get around it until much later into the game: DeMar drove left aggressively and used his body to protect the ball while laying it up with his left hand; DeMar twice stole the ball and quickly passed it ahead to Bryn who ran out and got two layups by beating their D down the floor; when LMA was ran, he got better low positioning, sealed his defender, and got rare points close to their basket.
So there were ways to mitigate their interior presence and win the 50/50 plays, we just didn't get after it with the intensity that we needed to. We were tentative and lacked a competitive spirit; we didn't drive with physicality enough, didn't body them enough, and weren't confident in our shooting, taking tentative, unprotected drives or Js that were either contested and rushed, or too deliberate and slow (our shot chart shows a dearth of interior shots made, and an excess of outside shots missed), and paid the price.
We've won games where we made mistakes and managed to shoot and fight our way through to wins. Now without enough of either, we're reaping the consequences. Pop called the guys soft in a post-game interview. Harsh but true. Their lack of effort was reinforced in detail in the video session in a rare practice the day after the game. Poor shooting games will happen. Poor effort games never should. The good part is that we lost because we deserved to. In other words, it's not as if we did our very best and still couldn't win; there is a lot we can do to improve (we've shown previously we are capable and have played better), starting with being resolute to be the team that works harder on every play. A lot of growing pains can be covered with grit and effort.
