Week #5 recap - Game #6 vs Cockburn Cougars (106 - 86 loss)

We continue to build our season, learning as we progress. I put this game down to that process. It was a solid game overall, with 2 major holes.

Firstly, we had a major slump in the second quarter. It is terribly clichéd, but against any team you cannot afford to dig yourself a 17 point half time hole (well over 20 points at one stage in the quarter) and expect to just turn it on and get out of it.

Secondly when we implemented a game plan to get back into the game in the second half, despite some promising effort and cutting the lead back to 8 points, we did not stick to the plan well enough to take the game. In fact we went so far away from the plan, that as the game wore on it barely resembled anything we would normally do.

Of course it was disappointing for all to have Jon Moon out, having rolled his ankle during training on Wednesday night. Ty Alabakis returned to the team after a 6 week absence with a broken collarbone and being forced into heavy minutes in his first game back he performed well considering.

Some positives from the game:

• Whilst not having the best shooting night of his career (11pts on 4/13fga), Andrew McLennan found other ways to benefit the team with a strong 16rbd, 5ast, 5stl performance
• Time Kruge continues to understand his role with the team, find his form and understand the referees and comes out with a solid double double (17pts, 15rbds)
• With our increased focus and hustle, we managed to outrebound another team which was unheard of us last year (51 – 48)

Some areas for further improvement:

• Our first half field goal percentage was reflective of our slump, and not of our recent efficiency and understanding of our game style (29%)
• Our 28 turnovers, leading to our average of 24 turnovers per game…good for third worst in the league. In particular Tim Kruge struggling with the local interpretation of travelling on the low block (we are working on this)
• Our understanding of the various sets and purposes of them, to enable us to implement them when required in a game without confusion

We called an early training session and held a team meeting last night to discuss our performance to date and work on some individual goals. As corny as it is, a team is only the sum of its parts and until we start taking accountability for our own performance and improving our effort areas, we wont beat the stronger teams and set our path for the finals. I am pleased with the honesty and accurate self assessment that we managed, and the support the entire team showed for each other. The outcomes are solid and I think we will be putting some much improved efforts forward in the coming weeks.

Looking ahead we face Lakeside Lightning, Perth Redbacks, then the Bunbury Slammers, Geraldton Buccaneers double followed by Rockingham Flames, Perry Lakes Hawks double. This Friday’s game against the Lightning is a great opportunity for us to play against a perennial finalist with a strong lineup and with the adjustments we have made we will give a strong performance.

Statistics...for those interested...

One of the things I do in order to further my professional development as a coach is review statistics. I used to be very anti-stats...you can often get a very skewed perspective from merely looking at a boxscore. It doesn't account for feel or flow, the refereeing or the strategies.

But I have found that by adding statistics to everything else complements and highlights things. Good and bad play, sometimes hidden by the things mentioned above can be uncovered.

So during occasional lunch breaks and coffee's, I update a spreadsheet I use to review team statistics across the State Basketball League. It lets me look into my teams performance compared to the league, and see areas where we could improve. The good news is we have lots of areas we can work on...

So for those of you that might be interested, here is my list of statistics for the State Basketball League as at Round #4...minus the Eagles vs Magic game (no idea why thats not up yet):







Statistics Definitions
Poss. - Possessions = .96 * (FGA − ORb + TO + (.44 * FTA))
AR - Assist Ratio = (Assists x 100) divided by [(FGA + (FTA x 0.44) + Assists + Turnovers]
eFG% - Effective field goal % = (FGM + 0.5 * 3FGM)/FGA
TS% - True shooting % = PTS/(2*(FGA + (.44*FTA)))
RR - Rebound Rate = (Rebounds x Team Minutes) divided by [Player Minutes x (Team Rebounds + Opponent Rebounds)]
OR - Offensive Rating = (Points Scored / 100) / Possessions
DR - Defensive Rating = (Points Allowed / 100) / Possessions

Week #4 recap - Game #5 vs Mandurah Magic (98 - 121 win)

We came off a win against the Willetton Tigers to face the Mandurah Magic this week. We have worked long and hard to build the character of this team and we didn’t want to be complacent after a big win.

Mandurah took it to us right from the tip off and full credit to Coach Chalk for a rejuvenated program. The players are fit, working hard and importantly working together and will continue to improve. It was a tight affair at the outset and after taking a lead midway through the first quarter, the margin would expand only to be brought back again.

We played our gamestyle for the vast majority and I was quite pleased. There was cause for an outburst midway through the last quarter when the team was losing focus and drifting away. That respect we work so hard to earn also involves treating our opponents with respect and playing out the whole game. To their credit the team responded and snapped back to playing well for the remainder of the game.

Some positives from the game:

• We managed to stick to a gameplan again, and adjusted well throughout
• Jarrod Balcombe had another sensational game with 36 points in 34 minutes
• John Taylor returned to form with 34 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks
• Our Free Throw percentage improved (after a lot of work at training) to 77% (in particular Tim Kruge…from 0/6 last week to 5/6 this week)

Some areas for further improvement:

• We still had some defensive lapses, albeit less…still needs further improvement
• Need for improvement in rebounding, in particular blocking out…we allow a league worst 18.3 offensive boards per game (league average is allowing 15, best is Rockingham allowing 12.3).

Ty Alabakis is cleared to resume training this week, and we will monitor his progress. Unfortunately we have no news in regards Mike Jones, so it seems he may be a few weeks away yet. In the meantime we will continue to fine tune our game and work hard to prepare for the upcoming game against the Cougars at Morley.

Cockburn currently sit 2nd on the ladder with a 4-1 record. They have a strong team in great form, and are currently leading the league in Assist Rating, Free Throw % and Three Point % and are 2nd in Offensive Rating. It is going to be huge game and a true test as to where we are as a team.

Week #3 recap - Game #4 vs Willetton Tigers (102 - 113 win)

Well after a very tough second week and having every reason to drop their heads, instead the team has taken a major step forward. Some very pleasing signs with lots of work still to go.

Perhaps one of the biggest things this weekend was that both the players and myself seemed to take a step forward. The players came out with intensity and desire, focused on the defense and rebounding, and executed the game plan well for four quarters. Sounds a little cliched, but we haven't managed to perform for four quarters this season.

Myself, I felt a lot more controlled and confident and learnt a very important lesson about the makeup of the team.

In past seasons it has been a major effort to get teams motivated. They always wanted to play, but keeping them focused and getting them ready to play with the required intensity was tough. I’m not exactly sure whether it’s the influx of younger players, a couple of key additions, or something entirely different…but this team actually needs to be calmed down as a group rather than fired up. When we focused on the task at hand, played as a team and didn’t get into “ra ra” speeches it seemed to have a much better outcome.

Willetton to their credit were their usual efficient selves. The starting lineup of Sleeman, Hunt, Epps, Kunkel and Read is enough to give any team fits. At one stage Ben Hunt was hitting threes from a good 2 meters outside the three point line which is a tough defensive assignment. Also the size advantage that the Tigers enjoyed needed to be countered, at one stage we had rookie guard Nathan Freind guarding Kyle Kunkel and both he and his team mates did a great job.

Some positives from the game:

• 6 players in double figures scoring (Moon and Balcombe 25, Kruge 16, Friend 15, Taylor 14, Stack 10)
• Outrebounding a bigger team (Tigers O19 D35 T54, Eagles O22 D36 T58)
• The individual effort of Jon Moon, who’s overall game is coming together nicely (25pts on 8/15, 5reb, 7ast, 5to in 44:33mins...and he didn't foul out!!!)
• The repeated solid performance of our rookie squad (Balcombe 25pts on 11/21, 11rbs, 2bs and Freind 15pts, 2reb)

Some areas for further improvement:

• Our low 3pt field goal percentage (5/22 for 22.7%…in particular Freind 0/7)
• Occasional defensive rotational lapses, forgiven for this game given the overall defensive focus but something to work on.
• Our low free throw percentage (18/29 for 62.1%…in particular Kruge 0/6)

We have been lifting the intensity at training as the new playing group becomes more comfortable with each other. We need to keep that up and continue our defensive focus if we are to be a true finals contender this season. We still anticipate Mike Jones and Ty Alabakis being another week away, which will only serve to strengthen the team and lift the intensity and competition further at training.

Week #2 recap - Game #2 vs Eastern Suns (129 - 112 loss), Game #3 vs Wanneroo Wolves (115 – 88 loss)

A tough second week, and lots to learn.

Mike Jones is still to arrive, Ty Alabakis is still out injured, and to add insult to injury (or is it injury to insult) Tim Kruge rolled his ankle in the first quarter of the Suns game on Friday night. To his credit he played on as best he could, but by the time Saturday night came around it was even worse.

We have a very young team, and in terms of SBL experience not a lot of depth. Looking at the result of Saturday nights game for example, if not for the exceptional play of youngsters Friend and Balcombe (top scorers with 24 and 20 points) things could have been much worse.

In specific Friday night’s game started well. We had a few lapses in the first half, however the final few minutes of the second quarter saw some major defensive lapses. In particular players double teaming guards out of a zone and opening up the second guard for easy shots was baffling. It’s not something we have ever practiced, it’s not an option for us and for obvious reason. We went from a hard fought lead to level, and let them take the momentum.

The second half they carried that momentum. It became a war of attrition, with our limited depth being exposed. I made a rookie mistake and put Jon Moon back in the game with 5 fouls (I thought he was on 4) and he fouled out in the third. Overall it combined for a second half to forget and a poor game.

Saturday night we knew wouldn’t be any easier, and on top of the issues noted above Andrew McLennan was also unavailable. I tried to go to our bench in short bursts to rest the starters, but with Tim unable to defend and not asserting himself on offense we had to go much deeper than I would have liked. Don’t get me wrong I’m the first person to say we should be giving the younger players a go, exposing them to SBL basketball. But it’s not how you win games.

To the credit of the team, we never gave in and played a strong game. Of course the eventual 27 point margin is not ideal but it was pleasing to see effort from the younger players. Wanneroo executed well as was expected, especially from a team where the core has been together so long.

We will regroup and work hard from here. We have a tough schedule coming up, with Tigers (H), Magic (A), Cougars (H) and Lightning (A). At least these are all single games, so we will hopefully have Mike and Ty available for at least half of these games. Of course it will take time for them to fit in also, but with a 26 game season and the team already 0-3 we don’t have a lot of time for those luxuries.