The quest to win the second game of a back-to-back continues. 0-3. And more importantly we gave the series to our opponents. We were the home team, so no no travel, more rest, but our travails persist. We had the momentum after the come-from-behind win yet we still couldn’t get over the hump. It’s a mental issue at this point. We have some sort of internal default setting we need to reset. Until we do, we’re going to talk the good talk about putting one win behind us and being prepared for the next game, but we have yet to show it.
Things were encouraging at least in the first half. Each team was within a few points of the other through the first 24 minutes. Poor shooting from both teams also came on very close FGA’s, 3 attempts and FTA’s. Whereas they were slightly more efficient in the first two categories (40% and 35.7% respectively to our 38.1% and 33.3%) we had the FT advantage (their 9-15 to our 14-14).
The issue for us during this time wasn’t that we stayed on par with them, but that we didn’t take advantage of their shooting struggles. In the 1ST Q, we all but ignored Jakob and Devin on O. It was Devin’s first career start and while I wasn’t expecting a wild breaking out game, I did think he’d at least get a shot up. Turns out he barely even touched the ball. He was a decoy with his smart off ball movement, but our O was DeMar (2-6), DJ (3-3), and Keldon (1-7)-centric almost exclusively. This made us predictable to play against, and although we had a lead for much of the 1ST Q, unfortunately we didn’t take full advantage of our interior presence with Jakob like in the previous game, and didn’t take advantage of Devin’s outside shooting at all. It’s unfortunate, too, because both were noticeably good on defense with their double block one after another, with Jakob following to the rim on our drives, with Devin running back to deflect their pass in transition. Add to that only DeMar attempting and missing the lone 3 from all the starters, and it made for a lot of wasted opportunities and a two-point deficit.
After the previous game, Kerr said that his team had to limit its TO’s and had to limit Jakob because he did a great job against them. Sure enough, they had far better ball protection finishing the half with only 3 TO’s to our 6, and they went right at Jakob from the beginning of the game. Looking at the shot charts of both teams, they had many more attempts and makes in the restricted circle. So even if they were missing a lot of their shots inside or outside, they were still gaining an advantage by working to neutralize Jakob. He had two quick fouls in the 1ST Q, and had three fouls by the half. And so he was tentative on D, thus opening chances for their strong drives all the more, and limiting him to only 1-1FG’s which he took in the 1ST Q.
Jakob finished the game with only 4 points on 2-4, 5 boards (1 on O which he got in the 1ST Q), 2 blocks (one in the 1ST Q, one in the 4TH).
It’s a minor miracle we were even by the half seeing as how DeMar and Keldon were each only 1-2 in the 2ND Q, and Devin finished the half 1-4, and Rudy 2-7. Like last game, when Curry was out they built their lead which we had to work to even rather than taking advantage of to build a lead of our own. Such are the ebbs and flows of a game, but in not taking full O advantage of their star sitting, it put extra pressure on our D. Some solid plays in our end with great fundamentals – arms out as we stayed with them on man D, Trey with textbook box outs for D boards, a Devin O board for a second opportunity on which Rudy made a 3 contributed to our 7-0 run to catch up.
Trey got some good minutes with Jakob, Drew, and Rudy struggling, leading the bench in scoring 9 on 2-5, 1-3 from 3, 4-4FT’s with 3 boards (1 on O) at the half. He was very impressive. He boxed out well, rebounded well including an O board on which he was fouled and made both FT’s, hit a confident 3, and was balanced and patient on a drive in which he spun in the key for a left side lay in. He finished the game with 15 points (5-8, 1-3 from 3, 4-4FT’s) and 6 boards. He made a strong case for himself doing things that both showed in the stats and didn’t but helped the team. I liked his compact, deliberate movement, his assertiveness, and his focus. There were no wasted possessions on either end. If we could meld Trey, Drew, and Jakob together, we’d have one hell of a player.
We had some mid air passes that were risky, on target, or picked off. We’re usually very good with drives and kick outs, but we made some uncharacteristically poor choices that were stolen. It’s not surprising our opponent would be familiar with our sets given their coaching tree comes from ours and we had just played them. We also didn’t make the best decisions with our kick outs as at times the lanes were simply open for layups, or the kick out passes had open shots that we made more difficult than they needed to be by over orchestrating the rather just shooting it; good to great to over cooked.
I did like our cross court passes to move the D which opened up some much needed long shots for us like Patty’s left side 3 for a 46-44 lead. Unfortunately Lonnie (still only 0-1 at the half) didn’t make an impact in Derrick’s absence (doctors are not yet allowing him to play in back-to-back games) and Patty’s 8 points on 2-4 (2-2 from 3) and 2-2FT’s was just enough to stay even.
Then the 3RD Q happened. Oof.
We were 50-50 at the half, we ran back in transition D better than in the previous game, but we couldn’t stop the O train they unleashed. It didn’t help that as they picked up the pace DeMar tried to gain some control to read the game but in doing so he over dribbled and stagnated our O as they collapsed on us. They kept switching quickly and Jakob ended up guarding Curry too often for predictable results; he was driven on relentlessly and he couldn’t contest as well as before because of foul trouble.
We were too tentative and didn’t generate nearly enough movement to shift their D for more open lanes and looks. Their pace and pressure only tightened us as every mistake seemed to be capitalized on. Suddenly they exploded on a 20-5 start for a 21-point lead. It was a 3 or a drive or a 3 over and over again. We countered with a 7-0 run towards the end of the Q but the damage had been done and we were down 16 on a 36-20 3RD Q onslaught.
We did make a push in the 4TH Q to bring it to within 11 but it felt like a last gasp before just not doing nearly enough anymore on both ends to stop the bleeding, scoring only 41 points in the second half. We now didn’t run back well enough to prevent their drives and high low passes, we got caught by their weak side cuts too much, we didn’t contest their 3s well enough, and we turned it over or missed on the other end. It felt like we alternated spurts of bringing up our game with conserving energy – for what I don’t know. DeMar’s top of key J with 4:20 left in the game was his first made FG of the entire second half! He was 0-3 in the 3RD Q, and took this single shot in the 4TH. *sigh* Wherever the balance is between taking what the defense gives you and asserting himself to force defenses to adjust, he certainly settled far too much on the former. Pop laid into the team during the timeout again and they deserved all of it. Alas, it was more about reinforcing the expectation than the team then rising to meet it. A minute later, down 20, Pop put the subs in: Q, Lonnie, Trey, Keita, Drew.
Except for Keldon and Rudy, we weren’t driving with nearly enough vigour but like Keldon we missed a lot of bunnies in the chances we did get inside. We made a lot of mental mistakes: DJ’s one handed pass that got stolen (they had 8 steals to our 2), D boards that went just through our hands (they won the rebound battle 50-45, including 10-8 on O boards), we made mental mistakes for uncharacteristic TO’s (14 on which we gave up 19 points to their 11 on which we made 14 points).
Their 91-86FGA’s was a case of both their picking up (and imposing) their game as we couldn’t generate the same energy. They also doubled down on their strength all more, taking 40 3s whereas we regressed, taking only 24. Their 17-8 made 3s advantage was huge, especially in the critical 3RD Q where we made 3-10 to their 7-14. And unlike in the previous game, their made 3s were distributed throughout the whole team rather than by two main players, so it was all the harder for us to guard. Add to that their 46-32 points in the paint and 16-5 fast break points and it was an outhustling and outcompeting in every significant category.
This is two games in a row in which we didn’t hit a 30-point Q mark and in fact we didn’t even reach the previous game’s high 27 points in a Q in any quarters in this game. They were undermanned yet had 7 players in double digits, four of whom were starters. We had five players in double digits, but only two of whom were starters.
We have some work to do in the second games of back-to-backs. It’s one thing to be outplayed, but another to go away from our game plan so much. We focused so much on Curry, doubling him high up court that we allowed so many open spaces for his teammates both inside and at the arc where hefound them times and again. We had only ONE starter who made a 3, and collectively they were 1-7 (that Jakob didn’t take any is no surprise; that DJ didn’t, is), and both those numbers are far too low. DJ talked big about being ready for this game but it was a muted performance by him. He didn’t distribute well, got beaten by first steps, and was surprisingly a team-low -20. But all our starters struggled with efficiency.
It was our bench that once again helped keep us afloat such as we were for however long we managed to stay within striking distance, outscoring theirs 48-39. Lonnie came off the bench after returning from a stomach bug, and I’d hoped that the role would help settle him, alas he struggled badly, going 0-5 along with 3 boards, 2 assists, and tied with Patty for a bench low -9.
It’s the mentality that we have going into back-to-backs that is still not at the right level. We are a young team yet we looked the more weary and we laboured to impose our game. We’ve done very well this season in close games, in coming back from deficits, in taking over games, and in competing far better overall. The next step in addition to coalescing together all the more as the season progresses is to carry over the energy from the first game of a back-to-back to the second so that it matches matches the intent.
NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS
