There were a lot of dejected Spartan faces as they left the court at the end of today’s game. This was quite different that the looks of hope they had after coming back from being down to tie the score up until 5 seconds to go in the first half. The first half was quite competitive and the second half we just got steam rolled.

So what happened? In the second half the other team frazzled us in almost everything we tried to accomplish. We dribbled out of bounds, we threw away bad passes, and we put up hurried shots that led to fast breaks for the other team. The harder we tried, the more frazzled we became and within just a couple minutes they were up by 10 and then almost 20. We fell into a deep abyss and nearly every one of our possessions self destructed. I reviewed the game video and it was every bit as bad, at times, as I remembered it when it was happening. And then there are the good moments that were every bit as memorable as I had thought.

We can learn a lot from what happened by evaluating some of the video.

Take a look at this second half video clip of Cabes (Caleb H.) driving down the court and putting up a shot. It is less than 20 seconds of video, yet reveals so much...

The OJHS team misses a free throw and Rafael came up with the rebound. Rafael then dribbled out and made a good pass to Cabes (Caleb H.). Cabes dribbled down the sideline and then cut over to the middle and into the key to put up a running jumper. Had he made it, then it wouldn’t have mattered that Rafael had also came down below the free throw line. The shot missed and caught Charley flat footed leaning towards the bucket when the rebound came directly over him to the other team. Their player dribbled twice and hucked it to his player who led the fast break for a score. Cabes is a hero if he made it, but as a team we were left to look foolish when he missed.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED

LESSON ONE: CABES - Watch the video again and look for the options Cabes had as he went to shoot:

• 1) Cabes could have made the shot (Always a great option)
• 2) Cabes could have gone up and easily passed high to Charley who had good position and an easy shot
• 3) Cabes could have come down from the shot and aggressively followed his miss to get his own rebound (Often hard to do, but it is something to practice, practice, and practice some more until it becomes second nature).
• 4) Cabes was operating outside of any offense that we had worked on in practice, and this is not always a good thing, yet shows that he really wanted to make something happen. So while the instinct was good and appreciated, it is hard to be successful if you don’t have enough experience with your teammates.

OPTIONS: In our practices we talk a lot about options when you have the ball. The goal is NOT to play selfish. The goal is to take advantage of your options, but when we get frazzled it is obvious that our players see much fewer of the available options; many times seeing nothing but themselves. And when they make their own shot we give them great praise, yet a missed shot brings huge sighs of frustration.

LESSON TWO: CHARLEY

• 1) Charley is in good position with his hand up for the ball if Cabes opts to make the pass.
• 2) Charley sees the shot going up and he forces his way to the middle and causes all tall defenders to be trapped underneath.
• 3) Charley leaned too hard towards the bucket and had no ability to change directions and react to the actual rebound.
• 4) It would have been better to think tall and move to the bucket with good vertical balance and weight on the balls of his feet ready to jump upwards for a rebound.

  • REMEMBER: If your weight is on your heels, then you cannot react quickly. It requires you first getting weight from your heels back over the balls of your feet to initiate your new direction. Always keep your balance with your weight on the balls of your feet for better quickness, jumping, and changing of direction.

LESSON THREE: RAFAEL

• 1) Rafael made a great rebound and immediately dribbled out.
• 2) Rafael did a good job of following Cabes in an effort to be there if Cabes got into trouble.
• 3) Rafael made the mistake by coming too far down the court with the intention of helping, but it opened up an easy fast break for the other team.
• 4) Rafael then recovered quickly and even looked around as he ran to see if there was anybody to his blind side right while the dribbler was running to his left. You will then see him stumble at the end as he realized he was about 1.5 steps too late to stop the other player from scoring. Had he stayed back near the three point line, then he would have easily frustrated/stopped their fast break.

LESSON FOUR: BRANDON

• 1) Brandon saw the missed free throw and he instinctively moved towards the ball and then realized that he needed to get down the court.
• 2) Brandon did a good job of filling the opposite side of the court from where Cabes was dribbling.
• 3) Had Brandon known that Cabes was going to drive to the middle, then he could have been set up behind the three point line to give Cabes another option.
• 4) Brandon found himself in no-mans land with his own player driving right at him to shoot. He had to back away to clear space and found himself of no help or value. It is a good thing he is quick or else he may have got steam rolled by his own player.
• 5) Then Brandon finds himself unable to help defend at all with the break.
• 6) This is where Cabes and Brandon need more time on the court together because nobody other than Cabes knew what he was going to do. Had Cabes given anybody any clue where he was going, then the rest of the team, and especially Brandon, could do a lot more to help out.

LESSON FIVE: NATHAN

• 1) Nathan was hanging back on the free throw and the moment he saw the miss he turned and hustled back down the court.
• 2) When Cabes cuts to the middle we see Nathan who had set up at the nigh portion of the key roll to the middle for a rebound.
• 3) Unfortunately he chose to go down to the opposite low post for a rebound and the ball came off to near where he was standing when Cabes made his move.
• 4) Nathan had the choice to hang back and help stop a break, but he is one of our big men and we want him to do just what he did when he fought his way down low.
• 5) In this case we would have been better off if Nathan had been lazy and not crashed in for the rebound. With one step he would have got the rebound... Bummer=:-)

LESSONS LEARNED

• 1) Charley should never pass in the ball on a made basket. Why? Because we need his tall wingspan down the court posting up. Our guards need to break him of this habit so that he can have a few extra seconds to post up on offense and get ready.
• 2) Brandon does a good job of bringing the ball down and seeing Rafael open.
• 3) Rafael opted to pass to Cabes, but Brandon thought it was too him.
• 4) Brandon did not make an immediate move and the double team came in quickly. The ref should have called the foul by #3, but when he didn’t then #3 went for the ball again and took it cleanly the second time. This is where the refs do no favors letting go the first foul, as it just lets the defender know they can really get vicious without penalty.
• Cabes was frustrated and did little to help when he saw the steal take place. He was within 6 feet of the steal and he never even made an attempt to cross over to their half of the court. This is a huge evidence of how frazzled we had become late in the game... What did Winston Churchill say?... Never, never, never give up!
• Look at how Rafael chased down the fast break. Had one or two more of our players been there, then maybe we could have rebounded the missed layup and taken away their second shot attempt... That is what being frazzled gets you!!!

PRACTICES:

• WEDNESDAY - 5-6 PM - 100 N. Main Street - LDS Stake Center
  • This is an open court training clinic put on by Coach Leavitt for young men and not limited to our team. If you can make it, great, but don’t stress if you can’t attend.
• THURSDAY - 8-9 PM - Orem Junior High School NW Gym
  • Please show up 10 minutes early to stretch out and be ready to go at 8 PM. We only have one hour and every minute is important.

NEXT GAME: 1/28 - 4PM - OJH NORTH

• 2/4 - 10AM - CVJH WEST
• 2/11 - NOON - LK WEST
• 2/18 - 11AM - CVJH WEST

PARENTS: Please bring your cameras and video cameras and capture the moments of our games.

COACH: Michael Leavitt - 801-636-6816 - Michael@TheHomeInspector.com