Nova ThoughtZ™

[RichZ]

1. Refs were offensive foul happy in the 1st half -- but only at one end of the floor. The other end, they were allowed full use of their arms on every offensive move. Bump. Push. Hook. Hold. All good for the wildcats.
2. Gaffney seems much less hesitant and tentative than he has looked until now. Surprised he didn't play more in 2nd half.
3. Bouk appears though, to have regressed quite a bit from the player we saw early on. One of five from the field, no boards, no assists, no nothin', except a couple turnovers.
4. Carlton appears to have visited Tyler's barber. Everybody on the team needs that haircut.
5. For the most part, Alterique appeared to have remembered how to point guard. For the most part, anyway.
6. The first 9 minutes of the 2nd half was a thing of beauty. Except for a few highlights, the next eleven, not so much.
7. Alterique's floater from the baseline at around 6:20 left was one of those highlights.
8. Bouk. Just bad. Drives into scoring position, then tries to pass to Akok who is too far behind the rim to go up with it even if he does catch it, so he's not looking for the pass anyway. Stone critical error.
9. When the offensive player bounces the ball off the planted foot of the defender, it should never be called a kicked ball. Happened twice in this game. Oddly enough, both times to the benefit of the home team.
10. Alterique. hero and goat. That half court no look bullet pass to the anything-but-sure-handed JC, coming down court down by one with about a minute left may have been the worst decision of the season.
11. We outrebounded them by 12! Outshot them by over 10%! We had 6 blocks, and for once, we got possession on half of them. All to no avail.
12. One trip to the line for the entire game, and that foul on a 3 point shot, when we played basically the whole thing in the paint is a statistical impossibility. I don't care if someone cut all the arms off the other team, they're going to foul you a few times on drives into the paint.
13. Fourteen percent from three. That right there is enough to lose any game you play.
14. Referenceing #12 & #13 Nova got an extra 9 point edge on us on three pointers, and another 9 from the FT line.
15. Yet we kept it close, and therein lies the rub. We just don't seem to know how to win close games.

 

[LIuconn]

9, 10, 13. There's your game.