... and I'm tempted to say "whew", but what I really feel like saying wouldn't be fit for the board.
The bad
- Welp, the 3 striped bozos today were in full amateur mode --- the kind of reffing you expect to see in a Jr High Girls' game, and you know what I'm talking about if you've ever witnessed it --- uncalled tackle football inside and invented calls outside. The sort of stuff that plays right into Arky's hands. We played through it in the first half but the second half was just ugly... and we did not react well when the fouling got even more intense. If you've ever watched an Arky game --- especially when they're behind --- Anderson is gonna have his guys fouling everything that moves and dare the zebras to keep up. Often they don't (the fact we didn't see the bonus til after the under-4 would attest).
- We aided and abetted the mayhem with some SLOPPY passing and ball-handling --- we're talking about just fumbling simple passes
.Theo and JJ got a case of stone-hands for a while. You just can't do that against Arky.
- Then, as if that wasn't enough, when we would get things together we missed wide-open shot after wide-open shot. Sheesh. We shot a miserable 38% from the field, and frankly I'm surprised the number was that good.
- JB is a tough nut, but he was not close to 100% today. I watched him off the ball, and he was favoring that ankle, especially in the second half. I was afraid it might tighten up with that long NCAA halftime and you could pretty clearly see it did. It was slowing his cuts on both ends and also affecting his explosion.
The good
- Speaking of Berry though, I'm gonna give him a warrior's shout-out for playing through the ankle. When push came to shove (sometimes literally) he picked his spots and dug in and caused 2 key Arky TOs late and refused to let his man have a clean look.
- Our Bigs --- Kennedy in particular --- were grown-ass men amid the mayhem in the trenches. Arky ain't small and they're sure as hell tough but we out-rebounded them 45-32, incl 18-8 on the Offensive Glass! Also, kudos to Buckets for stickin' his nose into the fray and coming out with 8 Boards.
- Speaking of Meeks, he made what I consider the play of the game. Up 1 after clawing back to take the lead, JB drives (with 2 flaming uncalled grabs on the way in) and is forced to throw up a desperation shot and KM hits the offenive glass and volleys it in for a 3-pt lead. Humongous play.
Keys
-Transition. This was a tale of two halves. We scored 6 Fast Break, and get this, 24 Secondary Break pts in the first half alone. We only managed 5 off the Secondary in the second half, largely for all the aforementioned reasons.
- FTs: I swear it seemed like we missed more than we did --- somehow we managed 76% --- but I guess it's who is missing. Dadgum it, JB. You were automatic most of the season. We need that again. Kudos to Hicks for bigtime makes in cruch-time though!
- JB: Considering that ankle, Dog was aggresive the way we need him to be, and found a way to be nasty on D. And Lord knows the deep sh** we're in any time he's off the floor. I'll say it again --- time for more Stilman and less 7th.
- Defensive intensity: Folks, THIS is what won the game today. We just solid locked-ass down on defense down the stretch. It was the key to finishing on a 12-0 run (that looked way too ugly to be called a "run"). It was grinding, in-your-face dog-ass D.
Well... connsidering how badly we responded for much of the second half, credit to the guys for digging in late and overcoming adversity! The best thing we can see now is several days for JB to get well... and make this one a lesson going forward. Ok, I'll say it now --- Whew!
The bad
- Welp, the 3 striped bozos today were in full amateur mode --- the kind of reffing you expect to see in a Jr High Girls' game, and you know what I'm talking about if you've ever witnessed it --- uncalled tackle football inside and invented calls outside. The sort of stuff that plays right into Arky's hands. We played through it in the first half but the second half was just ugly... and we did not react well when the fouling got even more intense. If you've ever watched an Arky game --- especially when they're behind --- Anderson is gonna have his guys fouling everything that moves and dare the zebras to keep up. Often they don't (the fact we didn't see the bonus til after the under-4 would attest).
- We aided and abetted the mayhem with some SLOPPY passing and ball-handling --- we're talking about just fumbling simple passes
.Theo and JJ got a case of stone-hands for a while. You just can't do that against Arky.- Then, as if that wasn't enough, when we would get things together we missed wide-open shot after wide-open shot. Sheesh. We shot a miserable 38% from the field, and frankly I'm surprised the number was that good.
- JB is a tough nut, but he was not close to 100% today. I watched him off the ball, and he was favoring that ankle, especially in the second half. I was afraid it might tighten up with that long NCAA halftime and you could pretty clearly see it did. It was slowing his cuts on both ends and also affecting his explosion.
The good
- Speaking of Berry though, I'm gonna give him a warrior's shout-out for playing through the ankle. When push came to shove (sometimes literally) he picked his spots and dug in and caused 2 key Arky TOs late and refused to let his man have a clean look.
- Our Bigs --- Kennedy in particular --- were grown-ass men amid the mayhem in the trenches. Arky ain't small and they're sure as hell tough but we out-rebounded them 45-32, incl 18-8 on the Offensive Glass! Also, kudos to Buckets for stickin' his nose into the fray and coming out with 8 Boards.
- Speaking of Meeks, he made what I consider the play of the game. Up 1 after clawing back to take the lead, JB drives (with 2 flaming uncalled grabs on the way in) and is forced to throw up a desperation shot and KM hits the offenive glass and volleys it in for a 3-pt lead. Humongous play.
Keys
-Transition. This was a tale of two halves. We scored 6 Fast Break, and get this, 24 Secondary Break pts in the first half alone. We only managed 5 off the Secondary in the second half, largely for all the aforementioned reasons.
- FTs: I swear it seemed like we missed more than we did --- somehow we managed 76% --- but I guess it's who is missing. Dadgum it, JB. You were automatic most of the season. We need that again. Kudos to Hicks for bigtime makes in cruch-time though!
- JB: Considering that ankle, Dog was aggresive the way we need him to be, and found a way to be nasty on D. And Lord knows the deep sh** we're in any time he's off the floor. I'll say it again --- time for more Stilman and less 7th.
- Defensive intensity: Folks, THIS is what won the game today. We just solid locked-ass down on defense down the stretch. It was the key to finishing on a 12-0 run (that looked way too ugly to be called a "run"). It was grinding, in-your-face dog-ass D.
Well... connsidering how badly we responded for much of the second half, credit to the guys for digging in late and overcoming adversity! The best thing we can see now is several days for JB to get well... and make this one a lesson going forward. Ok, I'll say it now --- Whew!
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