Basketball in the Tropics

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So, we won our first game, 79-66 against Seminario in the first game of the Pre-Season Tournament.

We had a very balanced scoring effort. We started building a lead in the first quarter and never relinquished the lead. My star guard gutted through a stomach virus and came up with a strong performance, 12 points and 8 assists. His backcourtmate was also steady with 13 points and 11 boards. My American import wing showed off some hot shooting to lead the scoring with 21. And my starting center scored 15 points and grabbed 8 boards. Dirk had a quiet night but grabbed 11 boards. We had some guys come off the bench and produce a bit.

Seminario had been playing possum. They signed an American guy who just obtained his residency; he's 6'9' and lanky but also getting up there in age. He played for a year at NC State under Sendek before transferring away. Has played pro ball all over the world over 20 years and was our league MVP two years ago. Still, its a new team for him and I could tell they nee to work some things out. Their star guard dropped 27 points. They were missing one of their American guards who was out with a back injury, but since we were so short handed think we were more than even.

Next game will be against Roswell (the construction company), who also won their first game. They hav three American guys and some good young players.
 
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Pre-Season Tournament
Game 2
Escazu 76 Roswell 61

Roswell is an interesting test early in the season. They feature three American imports: a speedy PG from Brooklyn, a wing who played at NAIA, and a veteran big who had a cup of coffee at Auburn about ten years ago. They also have a few local guys that are trying to find their way in the league.
Game started out tight and then Bam! we went on an early run that grabbed control of game. My American import had a great offensive game, scoring 31 points (including going 9-9 from the free throw line); they started overplaying him, so we started running him off screens and backdoor action. We're still not at 100%; our crazy Dominican is still out on leave. Our 14th man (think our sixth post player, undersized) came in during a dead period in the second half and gave us some energy on the board. This win assures us a spot in the semifinals of the pre-season tourney.
 
In the past few years, I would have to travel for a week once per month. During basketball season, my challenge was to minimize the time I was away from the team, trying to rig my travel schedule to miss as little games as possible. One of my engagements forced me to travel a week at a time, so invariably I would miss games. My assistant, Bones, would have to cover for me. Bones was a former player of mine about ten years ago. He was a streaky shooting guard who sometimes played defense, a townie who loves the town of Escazu. After playing he has become a coach of the junior programs at our club: he has a great eye for spotting talent and can see plays on Youtube and replicate them. He can also be a bit lazy (I've seen him coach practices seated the whole time) and a bit of a hothead. The only technicals we ever get from the bench is when Bones goes after the refs.

He has filled in for me plenty, but sometime he goes off script with my rotation patterns (I will always pick defense in subs, he wants shooting). Anyways, I am currently away on a trip. The first game I missed was a meaningless game at Limon (the Caribbean port), always a challenging trip: its the longest road trip, we have several guys from there who want to show up, the refs usually call a terrible game. We were also missing Dirk and our lefty center, but we were getting back our crazy Dominican. We lost by 23. We missed 20 free throws (22-42 from the line) and we had our poorest defensive effort in two years, allowing the other team to shoot 57% from the field. Our crazy Dominican punched an American guy and had an unsportsmanlike foul that ballooned their lead from a workable ten points to 15 points. And our backup center took an elbow to the jaw that required stitches; he had broken that jaw two years ago (he's getting X-rays today).

So not a good game by the guys. It was meaningless since we already have first place in the pre-season tournament locked up, but its definitely not the sort of game I wanted.
 
CRHeel94 said:
In the past few years, I would have to travel for a week once per month. During basketball season, my challenge was to minimize the time I was away from the team, trying to rig my travel schedule to miss as little games as possible. One of my engagements forced me to travel a week at a time, so invariably I would miss games. My assistant, Bones, would have to cover for me. Bones was a former player of mine about ten years ago. He was a streaky shooting guard who sometimes played defense, a townie who loves the town of Escazu. After playing he has become a coach of the junior programs at our club: he has a great eye for spotting talent and can see plays on Youtube and replicate them. He can also be a bit lazy (I've seen him coach practices seated the whole time) and a bit of a hothead. The only technicals we ever get from the bench is when Bones goes after the refs.

He has filled in for me plenty, but sometime he goes off script with my rotation patterns (I will always pick defense in subs, he wants shooting). Anyways, I am currently away on a trip. The first game I missed was a meaningless game at Limon (the Caribbean port), always a challenging trip: its the longest road trip, we have several guys from there who want to show up, the refs usually call a terrible game. We were also missing Dirk and our lefty center, but we were getting back our crazy Dominican. We lost by 23. We missed 20 free throws (22-42 from the line) and we had our poorest defensive effort in two years, allowing the other team to shoot 57% from the field. Our crazy Dominican punched an American guy and had an unsportsmanlike foul that ballooned their lead from a workable ten points to 15 points. And our backup center took an elbow to the jaw that required stitches; he had broken that jaw two years ago (he's getting X-rays today).

So not a good game by the guys. It was meaningless since we already have first place in the pre-season tournament locked up, but its definitely not the sort of game I wanted.
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I'm guessing Bones is really skinny or the nickname is ironic and he's fat now.
 
He was really skinny as a young guy (came from a poor background, so I would say he was borderline malnourished as a kid). He had gotten a little potbelly over the last few years, but started playing in an adult league and is now just regular size.
 
Pre-Season Tournament Semi Finals
Escazu 85
Santa Ana Jaguard 81

A few years ago, the league president decided to add an expansion team to the town over from Escazu. Kind of like if Chapel Hill had a team and they decided to put a team in Carrboro. There was no vote and it kind of screwed with us because we had some small sponsors from that town. The towns are frenemies on several fronts; the competition is fierce at the junior sports level. I live in Santa Ana but coach in Escazu (a 15-25 minute drive depending on traffic). Santa Ana had a team when I first broke into coaching but it shut down about ten years ago.

This team is run by a couple of American guys, one who lives in NY. I think his CR connection was that he lived in CR for a while and married a Tica. Another guy involved is some dude who was a skills trainer in Texas...I still don't know how he ended up in CR. Anyways they have put together a scrappy team that is based on three American imports from the draft (the league pays one, they pay league rate for the other two). They took the second highest guy on our draft board in the second round, a lead guard who played a couple years at Mercer as well. They also took a competent power forward and a wing player. They signed a pretty good domestic pg, a scrapper who's been on several teams that have made it to the Finals. They're not very deep but they have several young guys trying to find their way in the league.

We cruised out to a 12 point lead in the second quarter, but their American guys kept making baskets. Their power forward was bullying our crazy Dominican inside; anytime we would over help they would move the ball and find open guys. A lethargic stretch in the third quarter led to a big run from them, leading to a one point game in the fourth quarter. Exactly the scenario I didn't want.

That's when my kid and wife said, let's hit the street. So there I am in a thrift shop in Brooklyn, watching the game on my phone, sweating out the result. We went up six, they'd come back. Tight game, last three minutes...the ball kept finding our worst free throw shooters, who invariably missed. Up by 5, we turned the ball over on a late inbound that they converted into a basket. Our crazy Dominican gets fouled (shooting 40% ft shooter so far this year, historically about 55%); he has been terrible from the line. Incredibly, he converts both free throws and we hand on for the win.

Up next, the big, bad San Ramon team in the Pre-Season Finals.
 
Pre-Season Tournament Finals
Escazu 76
San Ramon 75

San Ramon has been our historical rival over the years. We have faced off against them in the Finals five or six times in the past ten years. They are built around the league's best point guard, a pass first lefty with good size and vision (Kendall Marshall type). This year they signed one of the best wing players in the league, giving them two of the top 3-5 guys in the league. They surrounded this duo with defenders on the wing and the post and some scrappy young guys. They're also coached by a former player who was a great defender and has grown to be one of the better coaches in the league.

San Ramon beat Seminario by 15 to reach the finals of this mini-tourney. They came into this game with one of the best defensive numbers (second in defensive FG%, first in turnovers generated). I knew this would be a good early test for my squad. Sadly, I was still out of town, plus I had dinner with my son's in-laws.

Halway through dinner I check the score and see that we are up 10 at the beginning of the second quarter. I kept monitoring the score, the difference ballooned up to 16 points before a run at the end of the quarter brought it back down to 9. Third quarter starts and San Ramon makes a run to cut it down to 2. That's when I get back to my hotel and can start watching the video feed. Back and forth affair, both teams making big plays and mental miscues. Dirk gets hot from 3, making four in the second half. My American wing is getting plenty of defensive attention (he said it was the worst game of his life), but that opens things up for my young guards to attack the basket. Classic Carolina numbers, we make more free throws than they attempted (they also were at 50% from the line). Still San Ramon is not backing down keeping it at a one possession lead for us all through the fourth quarter. Up one, my American guy gets the ball stolen coming off a double screen and they take it all the way for an easy layup, San Ramon up 1. We set a play up, miss, but my crazy Dominican gets the offensive rebound for an easy outback. Time out, 24 seconds to go. They drew up a real nice play, and get a decent driving look from their pg who can't quite make the layup. We rebound, get fouled. Crazy Dominican goes to the line with 3 seconds left...and clangs both shots, but San Ramon couldn't get off a heave. Pre-season Tourney champs.

And as a prize, we square off against Seminario on Wednesday to start the regular season.
 
This has been a really fun thread to read. It is nice to a have another team to pull for! (Is there any way to watch any of your team's games on the net from here in the states?)
 
About half our games are on Youtube. I'll try to put the link to tomorrows game.

Here's the link for the game. Its set for 10 PM eastern time (8PM our time)



Could be ugly...my pg (who's really a combo guard filling in as a pg) will miss tomorrows game, which means I may be scrambling in the backcourt with some younger guys...against a team that uses a double pg look.
 
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Game 1
Escazu 92
Seminario 100

Sometimes I hate being right. Turns out you kinda need point guards in basketball, a lesson I thought I had learned a long time ago. In my first year of coaching I went into a game with only 2 point guards on my 12 man list, leaving the third guy off that day; we were facing a team that wasn't very good so I thought we would be fine. My starting PG turned his ankle badly one minute into the game. The backup pg (very capable guy) gets his face smacked a few minutes later which required stitches. So my SG at the time had play the point which was a disaster; the other team pressed hard and we could never find our footing.

This was deja vu all over again. I have 18 guys on my player list, including three pure point guards and two combo guys. One of the combos has been starting at the point and done a pretty good job; he doesn't have natural passing instincts but is very aggressive with the ball and draws a lot of attention when he goes to the basket. He's also an excellent on-ball defender which helps set our defense. This guy is an assistant coach at a high school; his program decided to participate in a midweek tourney in a city four hours away, so he couldn't make it to the game. The guy who should be the backup pg still hasn't been able to get his paperwork in order. I have another point guard who is wrapping up his semester in the States and will be here in ten days (not that I'm counting). I have a third PG who's a young kid...but he had his final presentation in one of his classes and couldn't make it. So I went into this game with my SG sliding over to the point (and would also have to cover the opposing pg, the league's leading scorer). My backup SG would be thrust into the starting lineup. And my American wing would have to help get the ball up the court and move it. That was the plan at least.

The other team features a two point guard look. They have a local kid who played NAIA ball in the States (played at Freedom Christian Academy in Fayetteville for high school); he's averaging 30 points per game. They have another pg, an American who played D3 in the states with decent numbers. Plus they have an athletic American wing and a four man who's pure 3&D. Oh and a 6'10" American guy who played a year at NC State 20 years ago. So they put a lot of ball pressure on us, generating 15 turnovers that fed their break. Their guards were just too fast for us, getting some of our guys in foul trouble. At one point they were up 17 but we were able to whittle the difference to 6 before they got a bucket at the buzzer (head to head results are very important in tiebreakers).

So much for an undefeated season. My key concerns right now are defense (opposing teams are shooting over 53% on us, last year that number was 45%) and general basketball IQ.
 
CRHeel94 said:
About half our games are on Youtube. I'll try to put the link to tomorrows game.

Here's the link for the game. Its set for 10 PM eastern time (8PM our time)



Could be ugly...my pg (who's really a combo guard filling in as a pg) will miss tomorrows game, which means I may be scrambling in the backcourt with some younger guys...against a team that uses a double pg look.
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Man, did they have to overdub the commentary with some Spanish speaking dudes? Where's Dickie V?
 
CRHeel94 said:
Game 1
Escazu 92
Seminario 100

Sometimes I hate being right. Turns out you kinda need point guards in basketball, a lesson I thought I had learned a long time ago. In my first year of coaching I went into a game with only 2 point guards on my 12 man list, leaving the third guy off that day; we were facing a team that wasn't very good so I thought we would be fine. My starting PG turned his ankle badly one minute into the game. The backup pg (very capable guy) gets his face smacked a few minutes later which required stitches. So my SG at the time had play the point which was a disaster; the other team pressed hard and we could never find our footing.

This was deja vu all over again. I have 18 guys on my player list, including three pure point guards and two combo guys. One of the combos has been starting at the point and done a pretty good job; he doesn't have natural passing instincts but is very aggressive with the ball and draws a lot of attention when he goes to the basket. He's also an excellent on-ball defender which helps set our defense. This guy is an assistant coach at a high school; his program decided to participate in a midweek tourney in a city four hours away, so he couldn't make it to the game. The guy who should be the backup pg still hasn't been able to get his paperwork in order. I have another point guard who is wrapping up his semester in the States and will be here in ten days (not that I'm counting). I have a third PG who's a young kid...but he had his final presentation in one of his classes and couldn't make it. So I went into this game with my SG sliding over to the point (and would also have to cover the opposing pg, the league's leading scorer). My backup SG would be thrust into the starting lineup. And my American wing would have to help get the ball up the court and move it. That was the plan at least.

The other team features a two point guard look. They have a local kid who played NAIA ball in the States (played at Freedom Christian Academy in Fayetteville for high school); he's averaging 30 points per game. They have another pg, an American who played D3 in the states with decent numbers. Plus they have an athletic American wing and a four man who's pure 3&D. Oh and a 6'10" American guy who played a year at NC State 20 years ago. So they put a lot of ball pressure on us, generating 15 turnovers that fed their break. Their guards were just too fast for us, getting some of our guys in foul trouble. At one point they were up 17 but we were able to whittle the difference to 6 before they got a bucket at the buzzer (head to head results are very important in tiebreakers).

So much for an undefeated season. My key concerns right now are defense (opposing teams are shooting over 53% on us, last year that number was 45%) and general basketball IQ.
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I've only watched the first part of the first quarter, but it seems like the energy level of your team was pretty low. Maybe that's just how it is playing in front of a crowd like that. But there were a couple of possessions where your guys basically stood around while the other team got offensive rebounds. In fairness, the other team also stood around a bit while your guys got rebounds. Maybe that's how it is. Out of curiosity, what is the temp inside the gym?
 
superrific said:
I've only watched the first part of the first quarter, but it seems like the energy level of your team was pretty low. Maybe that's just how it is playing in front of a crowd like that. But there were a couple of possessions where your guys basically stood around while the other team got offensive rebounds. In fairness, the other team also stood around a bit while your guys got rebounds. Maybe that's how it is. Out of curiosity, what is the temp inside the gym?
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That's a very fair critique...we were coming of winning the Finals two days before thinking we were hot stuff. Our crazy Dominican brought the wrong uniform, so he didnt start the game.

The temp in that gym is probably low to mid 70s.
 
CRHeel94 said:
That's a very fair critique...we were coming of winning the Finals two days before thinking we were hot stuff. Our crazy Dominican brought the wrong uniform, so he didnt start the game.

The temp in that gym is probably low to mid 70s.
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Low to mid 70s doesn't sound that hot, so that's probably not the culprit. It's not like Cameron fucking Indoor. Remember our 98 team playing Duke? Everyone remembers one of the finest team performances of that decade in the Dean Dome. Not as well remembered was the game in Cameron when we were again kicking their butts up and down the court and then we wilted. It was like 95 degrees in there or something. You could see our guys lose their legs in real time. I'm still a little bit bitter about that, lol.

I'm sure you don't need to be told that it's hard for teams to have the right intensity every game. At least you managed to light a fire under them enough where they chopped down that lead.

How do your guys get up for these games? I mean, if someone has only played NAIA, maybe the crowd in that gym is normal. But for guys who have played D1, it's got to be hard to get amped for a game you're playing in front of how many? We could only see one side of the stands but it didn't seem like there were more than a few dozen people there. I don't know. I've never played under the bright lights.
 
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