So, this weekend I played a game and coached a game and both were not very successful. I played the worst game of my basketball career on Saturday. I scored 13 points they were the most annoying and hardest 13pts I have ever gotten. Now, I know basketball isn't all about scroing and stats but this game really made me mad. I scored 13pts on 4-16 shooting with 3ast 4rbs and 10TO...yes you read that right 10 Turnovers. Now to my defense, 5 of the turnovers were travels because I still havent seemed to grasp the Euro Refs and how they make calls. But still that leaves me with 5 TO that were forced. The game just seemed to be a big giant snowball effect. I made a mistake the first play of the game and from there everything went down hill. We lost the game by 15 or so to a team we should have beaten by 10 or more. The funny thing is my whole team played AWESOME except me. Robert Dill our center was 11-12 with 24pts and 18rbs. Max Rosenberg, our team captain, had 21pts and 8rbs. We had other guys played great on defense and some others played great on offense. So I take full responsibility for this loss and I will make sure of it that when I get back from Christmas break its all business again....No Letting Up. Like my dad always told me; "Take no prisoners!"
However, I did learn a couple very valuable lessons from this game and that is to never rest on your laurels, keep working hard, I'm not as mentally tough as I thought I was and God has a great way of showing us his power when one may be off the beaten path. The whole of last week I kind of cruised through it, only working out twice and not giving 100% effort in practice. I'm not sure why my mind frame changed this last week,. Maybe it was the thought of going home next week or maybe it was that we were playing a really bad team. Who knows, but I do know this; Ernest Wayne Rama is never going to stop working as hard as he can because thats what got him here and thats whats going to keep him here/achieving his goals.
The 16u had a game in Padderborn, a team we already beat, and they lost. The game started with us jumping out to an 11-0 lead. We continued to control the first quarter and basically the first half. We went into half time with an 8point lead but it should have been more because we missed a couple easy shots and FT's.
The second half our defense seemed to relax and our offense seem to dissapear. I think I counted 10 missed lay-ups in the second half and 2 of those were wide open ones. We also missed 12 FT's for the entire game.
We lost by 6points to a team we should have beat by 10 or more. If you do the math, 10 layups is 20pts and 12 FTs is 12points. So, that 32 points we should have had but we didnt. Now even if we make half of those layups, so 5, and half the FT's, 6, to make 16points then we win by 10. I didn't even mention the 22 TO we had and I pretty sure 16 came in the second half. The TO were all unforced, meaning we jsut threw the ball to the other team with out have any pressure or anything like that.
The loss put the 16 team in second place behind Padderborn because they beat us by more points that we beat them by. I hope the kids get refocused during the break and come back ready to kick some but the second half of the season. I know I am!!!!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Road Game in Berlin
Today we had an away game agains ALBA Berlin, a team which has a lot of financial backing and is now the leader in our division with a 7-0 record. Berlin is about 3.5 hours north of Goettingen where i'm at. ALBA is a very young team , their oldest player was 24, but they are a very diciplined team. Their coach played at North Carolina and was a great player here in Germany a while back.
When the game started we tried to get the ball inside to our new center, former 1st league player Rober Dill, and use his experience and size against the younger ALBA team. However, the refs called Robert for two early fouls, one offensive and one defensive, within the first 3-4 minutes and it forced him to the bench for the rest of the first quarter. We played well with ALBA trading baskets but by the end of the 1st quarter we were down 1opts 21-31. I had 9 first quarter points. The second quarter ALBA really pressured us and we lost our heads, taking bad shots and not running our offense. By halftime the score was 34-51 ALBA, and the game looked as though it might get ugly from there.
The second half we came out with a little press back to a zone and it really bothered and frustrated the ALBA players, which helped us creep back into the game. However, the refs again called fouls on Robert and our second leading scorer Max Rosenburg. Forcing them to the bench (Robert 4 fouls, Max 3 fouls). The ALBA guards were not very quick on defense and they had trouble staying in front of me so I continued to penetrate and either shoot or pass to a teammate for open shots. By the end of the third quarter we had cut the lead to 10 points, 50-60.
In the fourth quarter we continued out press and ALBA continued to struggle. Halfway through the fourth quarter we had cut the lead to 8pts, 61-69. We had everything going our way. Our shots were falling and we were stopping them on defense by holding them to one shot. However, just like earlier in the game, the refs decided that they wanted to control the outcome and called Robert for his 5th foul on a "bogus" offensive foul. Robert finished the game with 9pts 5fouls in 14min. After Robert fouled out Max picked up his fourth foul and Hans subed Max and I out for a quick breather. ALBA took full advantage. By the time Max and I came back in ALBA had built their lead to 18 with just under 4miutes to play. ALBA eventually won the game by 19points 66-85. I lead us in Points (20), rebounds (6), Assists (4), while shooting 7-9 from the field and 4-4 from the free throw line. ALBA really pressured me and it was hard for me to get the ball back once I passed it to set up our offense.
Our next game is at home against Wolfenbuttel. They are next to last in the league right above us.
When the game started we tried to get the ball inside to our new center, former 1st league player Rober Dill, and use his experience and size against the younger ALBA team. However, the refs called Robert for two early fouls, one offensive and one defensive, within the first 3-4 minutes and it forced him to the bench for the rest of the first quarter. We played well with ALBA trading baskets but by the end of the 1st quarter we were down 1opts 21-31. I had 9 first quarter points. The second quarter ALBA really pressured us and we lost our heads, taking bad shots and not running our offense. By halftime the score was 34-51 ALBA, and the game looked as though it might get ugly from there.
The second half we came out with a little press back to a zone and it really bothered and frustrated the ALBA players, which helped us creep back into the game. However, the refs again called fouls on Robert and our second leading scorer Max Rosenburg. Forcing them to the bench (Robert 4 fouls, Max 3 fouls). The ALBA guards were not very quick on defense and they had trouble staying in front of me so I continued to penetrate and either shoot or pass to a teammate for open shots. By the end of the third quarter we had cut the lead to 10 points, 50-60.
In the fourth quarter we continued out press and ALBA continued to struggle. Halfway through the fourth quarter we had cut the lead to 8pts, 61-69. We had everything going our way. Our shots were falling and we were stopping them on defense by holding them to one shot. However, just like earlier in the game, the refs decided that they wanted to control the outcome and called Robert for his 5th foul on a "bogus" offensive foul. Robert finished the game with 9pts 5fouls in 14min. After Robert fouled out Max picked up his fourth foul and Hans subed Max and I out for a quick breather. ALBA took full advantage. By the time Max and I came back in ALBA had built their lead to 18 with just under 4miutes to play. ALBA eventually won the game by 19points 66-85. I lead us in Points (20), rebounds (6), Assists (4), while shooting 7-9 from the field and 4-4 from the free throw line. ALBA really pressured me and it was hard for me to get the ball back once I passed it to set up our offense.
Our next game is at home against Wolfenbuttel. They are next to last in the league right above us.
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