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Rebounding on defense. Aggressiveness on offense. Those were the 2 biggest problems I saw last night (though I could only watch about half the game).
As mentioned above, rebounding is a combination of desire, aggressiveness, and technique. I’ve never had any real basketball ability, but when I was a kid, I loved to play, and the best way for me to get the respect of my teammates was to rebound. Whenever a shot would go up, I’d find the nearest opponent, get between him and the rim, and use my wide @$$ and broad shoulders to keep him off the boards. If the shot missed, I was in position to either get the ball or prevent my opponent from getting it. On missed shots, our guys all too often look more like they’re watching a fireworks display (“Ooooh! Aaaah!”) than participating in a basketball game. That’s something that, no matter how badly you’re shooting or handling the ball, you can always do well with the right mindset.
Aggressiveness on offense is a bit trickier. We need to get the ball in the paint, either with entry passes to one of our big(ger)s or with drives. But then, we need to finish with strong shot attempts, and that’s where we’re falling short. Part of it might be timidity, where our guys are afraid of getting mauled with no foul call (or with getting the call, but then going to the line and embarrassing themselves by bricking the FTs). Part of it might be a mindset that any shot with no one hanging on you is better than a shot with 2 guys dangling from your arms. Part of it might be recognition that we can’t lose anyone to injury, so the guys don’t take risks that, with a full bench, they may be more likely to take. Part of it might be what my mom used to call patience “to a fault”, aka being TOO patient. It could be a combination of all of the above (and other factors) in varying degrees. But the mindset will need to change if this team is to do any kind of damage (in any tournament, even Brooklyn) in March.
Looking back with 20/20 vision, this was a bad matchup for us from the start, because Travis Ford teams have traditionally been loaded with beefy players who play “chuck a shot” offense and “bump and grind” defense, while our current squad is built generally for agility and speed. And last night was like watching a competition between a Miata and a dump truck, but the problem was, the competition was a demolition derby. And we got demolished.
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