Tough Loss

Whats up! I just got back from a two day vacation trip to Italy to hang out and see some friends. Thats why I didn't have my normal blog up right after our game on Monday. It was a much needed and perfectly timed trip because I was really disappointed and upset from our performance after the game Saturday night. We don't have a game for two weeks, that's why our coach gave us a couple days off.

Saturday night we played a team called Haifa, from north Israel, who is currently sitting in third place in the standings. They are very athletic and have a good mix of talented American and Israeli players. From the opening tip, it was if our team were a bunch of deers in head lights. They played an aggressive man and box and 1 defense with a man face guarding me the whole game and my team didn't know how to respond. They clogged the middle with four players to keep us from driving and to help out on our big guy. We did not shoot well from the perimeter and could not get any rebounds offensively or defensively. As a result of that, we were not able to get in transition to get easy shots and my shots were very limited. It was very upsetting because they were leaving my teammates open to take shots that they normally make but they just were not falling. As I came off screens, I had a trailor and a big guy showing; Rotated to play the point guard and ran into a trap on every pick and roll. Still, I wasn't able to take a lot of shots but I could create shots for others. After all of that, we were still tied at 63 with three minutes to go in the 4th qtr. and me having fouled out in the third quarter was no help. Im not one to say this or that about referees because they do the best that they can do, but this night there was definitely some home cooking. In the third quarter, I was sprinting back on defense and it was one on one with a guy coming at me full steam. I read his crossover and picked it but the referee was anticipating a foul because typically in europe, teams foul in transition to prevent easy baskets. I was not only mad at the foul but he gave me an intention foul because I was the only man between him and the basket. Then after all of the frustration of my team playing with a lack of confidence and having limited opportunities, the referee gives me a phantom foul on a play I was nowhere near; I hadn't even crossed half court to get back on defense when the foul was called under our basket. Mistaken identity happens I guess, but after the score was tied at 63, Haifa shot free throws the rest of the game and came out on top 75-68. It was a very good game, both teams made runs throughout the game and I think the outcome would've been different had I played in the forth quarter. I had 13pts on 4/7 shooting ( 3/6 3-fg). We have two weeks of practice, so it good time for me to go over some game film and see where I can improve and keep the team going forward. Back to the gym.....Peace!

Son Of The City