RichZ
Fort the ead!
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 5,232
- Reaction Score
- 22,276
- The first 3-1/2 minutes or so, we looked like we were going to roll over them. Led by 5 at that point. Then Purvis missed a three and Martin got fouled on the other end for a 3 point play. Purvis lost the ball on a drive, and Memphis hit a three before our D was really set up. It's just under 4 minutes in, and our 5 point lead has become a 1 point deficit. 35 seconds or so of bad basketball that set the tone for the rest of the half.
- Jackson made some poor plays in the fist half. Seems to make really lazy passes on the perimeter, which compounded the problems created by his shot being way off. He is a good passer in attack mode, but his windshield wiper passes are telegraphed and lazy.
- One of our few highlights of the first half was a gorgeous bullet pass from Jalen to a cutting Vital, who made the contested layup and drew the foul as well, right around the 10 minute mark. The 3 point play brought us back within 6.
- Jalen tried some of his tricky drives in the first half, but it just wasn't happening for him. Turned it over a time or two and got his shot blocked a couple times.
- When Adams started limping, right about the time the deficit hit 15 points, I really figured we were toast. He left the bench, but I don't think he even made it to the locker room. He came back out less than a minute of real time later, and was back on the floor after about 90 seconds of game time.
- Purvis' first bucket was a 3 with about 2-1/2 minutes left in the half.
- Right after Purvis' 3, Memphis turned it over, Brimah scored and despite still being down a dozen, I suddenly started to feel better about our chances.
- Brimah got really active near the end of the half. Unfortunately, he ended the half on a sour note, fouling a 3 point shooter. Ugh.
- At half time, Purvis and Adams had a combined 5 points between them. Brimah led us in scoring with 9 in the first half, and Vital and Facey had 6 each. And that's all the scoring we did in the half!
- At half-time, I brought back some of my oldest mojo, reserved these days for huge games and especially when we need a big comeback in the 2nd half. I took off my left shoe and sock. Many years ago, I kicked the coffee table (a massive, heavy thing) late in a really miserable first half, and watched our 2nd half comeback and victory with my foot soaking. The bare left foot has been good mojo ever since.
- Jackson opened the 2nd half with a 3. His only made shot of the game.
- Jalen's pretty driving layup -- the foreteller of things to come -- cut the deficit to single digits.
- Brimah took a shot to the jewels and left the game in pain. Our 8 point hole quickly ballooned to 14 again after he went out.
- Adams and Vital combined to get us back within 10 and the crowd finally started to get vocal around the 13 minute mark.
- That's when Vital and Adams had a collision. The long delay tending to them kind of took the crowd right back out of it as quickly as they had started to get noisy.
- At 10:15 or so, Purvis hit a 3 off the bounce. That's the first three he has hit off the dribble in 4 games! Crowd getting back into it.
- 9:42, Adams three fires up the crowd even more.
- A minute later, CV drives the lane and gets hammered. No call.
- One of the Lawsons buries a 3 at about 8:15 to take their lead back to 10. They have 56 points.
- We commit an unforced turnover on the next possession. Crowd gets quiet. I get nervous.
- One of them either throws up an airball or passes it directly to Jalen under their hoop. Couldn't tell which. Jalen goes coast to coast for a layin, Back down to 8.
- Purvis dunks off Adams steal, it's down to 6. Memphis still stuck on 56. Crowd loud.
- Memphis finally scores at the 6 minute mark.
- Jalen gets beat by Crawford, an then fouls him under the hoop. The crowd goes quiet. Crowds are fickle things.
- 4:08 to go, down to a 3 point game on Vital's break. Crowd volume back up. I'm getting nervous again, based on the cockamamie idea that the comeback is happening too early, and if we go up or tie it too soon, we won't be able to maintain it.
- Tubby slows the game down. I relax a little. Memphis has only been any good when they are running. They take the clock all the way down, put up a shot, get the board and take it all the way down again, all on the ensuing possession. They end up with a shot clock violation. The Tigers just took care of my worry about getting back in it too early, by blowing away a full minute of game time with nothing to show for it. We are still down by 3, with 3:03 to go.
- Two brimah free throws make it a one point game.
- With a 1 point lead, Memphis was still in slow down mode and used up most of the shot clock before turning the ball over to us on the baseline.
- The ensuing possession was the pivotal point in the game, in my mind. Jalen starts to drive, then goes up for a teardrop/floater, whatever, that I really thought was supposed to be a pass to Amidah, but there was not Amidah in sight! Oh Lord, what a time for a Mist.... Oh, that was a shot? And it went in? Never mind.
- We talk about momentum a lot, but there was now a very real example of it in front of us. Memphis couldn't seem to get out of the slow down mode that had failed to protect their lead. Down a point, they still burned up the whole shot clock before missing a shot.
- Jalen turns the ball over 20 seconds into the clock, and Memphis AGAIN tries to milk the clock before calling time out to set something up. We did play exceptional defense in the 2nd half, but we were aided and abetted by some exceptionally poor strategizing by Tubby. His team is ill-suited to playing the slowdown game, and he ran nothing else in the last 5 minutes as their lead disappeared.
- Ball out of bounds off Brimah with 4 seconds left in the shot clock. Shot doesn't hit rim. Shot clock violation. Our ball. 27 seconds left in the game. After a time out, Vital inbounding from the baseline. Memphis tips the inbounds pass out. Reset. Another time out. Purvis inbounding now from the sideline. Players stacked near mid-court. Vital just kind of wanders away from the crowd after the ref hands the ball to Rodney, and shows himself to the only guy who is actually looking down court. And that player would be Rodney. Three seconds later, he's slamming it home! KO score off an inbounds strategy at its best.
- The lead is three, and the shot clock is off.
- They set up something in the time out, but Rodney almost steals and causes Crawford to bobble the ball. Now they are freelancing. Crawford's three is short and Memphis get the board, but somehow uses 4 seconds to get he ball back outside the three point line. Another miss and Lawson tips it in when the only thing that could have possibly helped was tapping it back out to a 3 point shooter.
- Long inbound leads to a Rodney dunk, which one ref waves off, but he is over ruled and the bucket counts.
- We only got a combined 8 minutes, 1 point and 1 board out of Durham and Enoch last night.
- We were badly out rebounded in this one, 34 to 26.
- As badly as we rebounded, and as glaring as some of our first half turnovers were, we turned them over 17 times to our 8! Can't decide if that's the best team stat of the game, or the 16 dimes (to their 11). Our trio of guards had a 13 to 3 assist to turnover ratio!
