Ex-UM Game #2 Results
Ex-UM played its 2nd game yesterday against Puchong BA, losing 42-64
Unfortunately for us, Puchong BA was clearly the better team. Individually, the Puchong BA players were merely slightly above average but as a team, they were a young team, fit, fast, well organized and well coached.
They started out playing a zone and we scored easily the first few possessions. Immediately and throughout the game after that, they went to an excellent 1-2-2 half court zone press which reverts to a half court, pressure "face-guard" type man-to-man defense. Their forwards (they didn't really have true centers) were long and athletic. They caused numerous turnovers and totally took Ex-UM out of its usual half court offense.
Although Ex-UM managed to stay competitive for most of the 1st quarter, Puchong BA was clearly in control of the game, scoring easily off turnovers and fast breaks.
Chee Ching however had an excellent game for us - much, MUCH improved from his first game. The detailed stats have not been compiled yet but it was clear that he surely has a double-double (score & rebounds). He got many rebounds, defensive and offensive and played excellent post offense especially in the first quarter.
However, Puchong BA adjusted their defense by pressuring the ball handlers further out and fronting the low post effectively taking away any low post opportunities. We struggled trying to find a strategy that worked on offense and finally went to trying to set a high, ball screen ala European style basketball, in the first half. However as the remaining 3 Ex-UM players failed to spread the floor and continually crowded/moved near the ball handler, the high pick-&-roll had little success as Puchong BA could easily double team or help on any dribble penetration attempts.
It was only by the 2nd half that we finally managed to get Ex-UM players to better understand spreading the floor and creating space. We also went to having both Ex-UM centers going out to set a double screen for the ball handler. Finally, we were able to play a reasonable half court offense and began to score in the 3rd quarter. However, by then we were already down by 18 points (22-40) and trying to play "catch up".
On top of that, Puchong BA continued to substitute players on 5-in-5-out basis on 5 minute rotations and continued to play their 1-2-2 zone press with fresh players.
Although we started to execute better offense, stamina and fitness (especially having to continuously deal with their pressure defense) started to take its toll and we were not able to make much headway into the deficit.
Nonetheless, despite the big margin loss, it was a very good game and good experience for our Ex-UM players and the 3 "guest" UM players playing with us. Our Ex-UM players definitely have to (gradually?) improve our fitness and stamina and all players should now have a better understanding of creating and maintaining spacing on the court. Players also need to improve their passing and dribbling skills (especially dribbling with their heads/eyes up and passing off the dribble).
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