Only Way From Here Is Up

Not sure if I mentioned this in a previous blog, but this year I have hung up the sneakers..well sorta...and taken up coaching. Thursday, April 7 was the first game of the season and unfortunately we lost...not exactly the start to our first season that I would've liked/hoped for. It didn't help that the first team we played were a perennial playoff team. That being said I still believe we could have beaten them.


The first half went pretty much how I thought it would, especially the first quarter. I could feel the nervousness and that was just me lolol. The team showed their nervousness and it seemed that no one wanted to be the person to take the first shot..which is quite funny considering the louses [Louse: A player that has no hesitation about taking a shot at any point throughout a game. See Kobe Bryant for perfect example] that are on my team. Despite the hesitancy on offense, the unit on the floor made up for it on defense and as ugly a quarter it may have been we were only down four at the end it. 


The second quarter saw us falter at the start of it which led to us being down double digits within the first 3-4 minutes. As a coach, when this happens you have a few options...you can call a timeout and try to break the momentum of the other team or you can let the unit on the floor figure it out. I chose to go with the second option because I know what the guys can do at practice, I needed to see what they can do under the whistle and for the most part they figured it out [with some yelling from me on the side lines but I digress lol]. With about 3 minutes to go in the half we had reduced some of the double digit lead and that caused the opposing coach to call a timeout. I used this time to reinforce our defensive and offensive strategies. Again, as a coach you have to find that balance if you will on how to bring over your point to the team. Sometimes you have to be aggressive other times the calm approach works..this time the calm approach worked. For the rest of the quarter, both our offense and defense picked up and we managed to go into the half only down five. Not bad for a rookie team.

The third quarter was bad. Some might use stronger words and I can't fault them. This quarter saw lots of turnovers, missed lay ups, forced shots, lack of ball movement and a let down on the defense. No amount of timeouts, yelling from the sidelines, substitutions could help. It was just 'that quarter' for us. ['that quarter': In almost every basketball game there is this one quarter where a team will have a lull in their productivity...for some teams it may be a minute or two for others it may be the entire quarter]. Now you may think that I am being dramatic but believe me....no need to be dramatic when you are outscored 20 - 2 for an entire quarter. Say it with me now....OUCH!!!!!


As I mentioned earlier, this is my first official year being a coach and although on other teams which I've played on I've experienced this type of thing, as a coach it is quite different. The team is down huge double digits and I have to find a way to lift the morale of the team. I'll admit I was having a hard time coming up with a way to this but then it hit me...use this quarter to get out all of the jitters and work on our ball movement/defensive rotations while being under the whistle. I know it doesn't sound very inspirational but somehow...someway this worked. The different units on the floor really played together and gave the most effort they had for the game. We still had our lapses but I could see the guys start to get their confidence back and take it to the opponents. 


The final score was 61-37. Again, say it with me now OUCH!!!!!


Something that I've told my guys on more than one occasion at practice is that in a loss there is much that can be learnt. What did we learn you may ask? We learned that we must bring the intensity from beginning to end. That when we play to our potential, we can play this game as good as anybody. We learned how it feels to be at the bottom and from here we will learn how to climb to the top.


As I was typing this earlier, I got a call from one of the captains updating me on an injury to my starting point guard. Seems that he has suffered a minor fracture and will be out for at least 8 weeks, which is basically the entire season. This is a chance for other players to step up and fill the void.


As I told the team, the only way from here is UP!!!!!