Ex-UM's 8th game yesterday was against Myth. Myth is largely considered the 2nd or 3rd strongest team in the league. They were not so strong that we had no chance against them but ... ... we only had 6 players again! The last time we had 6 players, most of the main players were present. This time our top scorer (Chuan), fastest player (Ben) and sharpest shooter (Leong) were all absent. Present were myself, Pin, Ming Lip, Haw Keat, Juin Haur & Hung - undermanned AND undersized. Bik Yih was also present but had a sprained ankle and were did not plan to play him unless absolutely necessary. We started the game poorly. Lots of defensive breakdowns giving up many wide open shots. Offensively we also turn the ball over many times. Juin Haur and Ming Lip especially made some "rookie" mistakes. But the rest of us also did not execute well. Myth players were big and physically strong and had many deflections and created many turnovers. They started with a blazing 15-0 run before we finally scored our first basket (3 poiner by Haw Keat). Myth's No. 12 also got "hot" and hit 4 3-pointers in the 1st quarter alone. Throughout the game we had no answer for Myth's size, speed and accurate outside shooting. Their size and speed allowed them to deny the inside, close out at us ont he 3-point line and prevent dribble penetration. Their No. 12 also continued to stay hot right up to the end of the game. he finished with 10 3-pointers, a few from several steps behind the 3 point line. As the game went on, Juin Haur settled down and started to play better and better. In the end he played the best amongst us all but we need him to start out steadier and settle down faster. Haw Keat and I ended up playing the full 40 minues. Neither of us shot well due to Myth's speed at closing out and due to fatigue. FINAL SCORE : UM lose 51-94 Scoring disribution for this game:- No. 4 Haw Keat - 3+0+0+0=3 Next game tonight (Sunday) 8:30pm vs Kajitsu. We need more players to attend!
By the end of 1st quarter we were down 31-9.
Our record is now 6-2.
No. 6 Hung - 0+3+2+0=5
No. 8 Juin Haur - 0+2+4+13=19
No.10 Pin - 2+4+2+0=8
No. 12 Loke Yew - 1+2+0+0=3
No. 13 Ming Lip - 3+2+0+8=13
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Ex-UM Game #8 v Myth
Friday, June 27, 2008
MASUM 0708 Semi vs UUM
1 more step to return to the Finals. But first we had to take care of business and get through the Semi Finals.
Semi Finals was against UUM. Last year, UUM had intentionally lost the group match against UKM in order to avoid meeting us in the Quarter Finals (UKM ended up losing to us in the Quarters last year). We therefore had the pyschological advantage against UUM. However, we had 1 of the worst starts in the competition. We started the game with a careless turnover (by Amirul) and a missed assignment (not sure whose) - both leading to easy lay ups, 3 rushed shots (2 by Phang and 1 by Chen Wee), defensive breakdown allowing open 3 point shot ... and suddenly we were down 8-2. However, we were not unduly worried and had confidence that our starters would settle down. Sure enough, our starters settled down and dug in on defense. UUM started to have great difficulty scoring or even finding shot opportunities and committed several turnovers and shot clock violation. Meantime, Chuan carried us early with shots inside, outside (3 point) and from the free throw line. When the 2nd unit came in, they continued to play good tough defense. We felt we were in control though the score was close. At the end of the 1st quarter, we had gotten the lead (15-14). We would have led by more but players missed some easy, in-close shots (FG% = 27%) and missed 6 out of 12 FTs. In the 2nd quarter, we continued to play good tough, aggressive defense and UUM continued to struggle to find scoring opportunities. However, on offense we continued to miss easy, in-close shots that kept bouncing out (several by Wei Cheng who normally makes these shots easily). Consequently, the score remained relatively close though we were clearly in control. At the half, we had opened a small 5 point lead (31-26). We were still wary though as UITM had been "in control" during their quarter finals against UUM and led the whole game and even had a 11 point lead with 3 minues to go before UUM came storming back in the last 3 minutes with a 17-0 run with several 3 point shots, multiple foul shots and even a 4-point play, to win that game. We therefore new that UUM was too dangerous a team to let them stay close and reminded our players that we had o maintain our defensive and offensive focus in the 3rd and start to get some separation. Our players responded and maintained the same defenssive intensity and focus, holding UUM to just 3 jump shots and 1 3-pointer on 31% shooting, 7 turnovers and a 14-7 advantage on rebounds. UUM continued to struggle just finding shooting opportunities. Everything was contested. But the difference was we finally found our offensive rhythm and those early easy shots finally started to fall. We shot a blistering 60%? That 3rd quarter, scoring 25 points with 20 of the poins coming from "in the paint"! By the end of the 3rd quarter, we were firmly in control with a 18 point lead (57-38). In the 4th we were clearly in control and maintained a comfortable 20 point lead through out the 1st 5 minutes of the 4th quarter, with our 2nd unit playing against their 1st unit. Poh Guan, leading the 2nd unit also found his offense, with a 3 pointer and several beautiful dribble penetration and score or assists. As our 1st unit were reached the scorer's table to wait for sub-in opportunity, misfortune struck as Wei Cheng, going for a rebound, landed on a UUM player's foot and twisted his ankle badly - seconds before he (and the other 2nd units were about to be subbed-out. Well, injuries like these are things we cannot control and usually occurs in the course of any competition. Championship teams have to be able to deal with such player injuries and other players have to step up. For this game, the 2nd unit's rotation was done anyway. Not wanting to risk further injury, the 1st unit (who subbed in) was instructed to slow the game down and use up the shot clock even though there were still 5 minutes to go. Phang who had been playing PG for us since the 2nd quarter and playing the role of facilitator found himself with the ball often with the shot clock winding down and having to take "desperation" shots. Amazingly, Phang started hitting shot after shot (2 pointers and 3 pointers) with 1 or 0 seconds on the shot clock! This totally demoralized UUM and with 43 seconds left, Phang the last of his 3 point shot, again with 0 seconds left on the shot clock for a 74-49 lead. UUM gave up and subbed out its starters and subbed in its bench players who had not played at all the whole game. Still UUM had to endure 1 more 3 point shot from Kok Way in the closing seconds. FINAL SCORE : UM wins 77-49 Individually, Chen Wee (15p-15r) and Chuan (13p-12r) continued to have strong games with double-doubles. Phang too had a complete game with 12 pts, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. 8 of his 12 pts came in the last quarter during his flurry of last second shots. Poh Guan also stepped up his game with 10 pts and 6 assists. As usual Poh Guan was again both the assist leader and the turn-over "king" ... but this ime he only had 3 TOs for an acceptable 2:1 Assist:TO ratio. Though a good victory, the happiness and excitement of succeeding in making it to the finals again (with an unbeaten record this time!) was tempered by the injury to Wei Cheng, who is a critical component of the 2nd unit. As usual, other players will just have to step up. Next update : FINALS vs UPM
At the customary 5 mintute mark (leading 66-45), we asked the 1st unit to sub-in.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Gai & Sing Nee's Hong Kong Trip With Ah Fa
Picture from Gai Kim Eng and Sing Nee – on their recent trip to
Monday, June 23, 2008
Ex-UM Game #7 v SST
Ex-UM's 7th game yesterday was against SST. SST is the team our Kheng Sun is playing with!
However Kheng Sun was not free to attend the game and did not play yesterday.
SST had 1 shooting guard (No. 7) who is very good at shooting (& making!) 3 pointers. Additionally, SST was made up of veteran players who preferred to shoot 3 pointers.
Game start was delayed due to heavy rain. When the game started the court was still very wet and slippery. These conditions heavily favored SST as we could not fastbreak or play an uptempo game.
We started out playing our preferred zone defense in the hope that we could focus our defense collectively to deny their No. 7 (we had in previous games succeeded in defending opposing teams with 1 or 2 sharp shooters despite us playing zone defense). Unfortunately, whether due to the wet court or lack of focus, we were not able to stop SST's outside shooting.
In just the 1st 5 minutes of the 1st quarter, SST hit FOUR 3-pointers (3 by No. 7) and jumped out to a 16-2 lead!
In the meantime the extremely slow pace of game (due to wet conditions) really took us out of our usual rhythm.
We quickly went to a man defense whilst putting Ben on No. 7 (who was quite a quick perimeter player too). Our man defense was much more effective as SST players lacked ball handling skills. We closed out the 1st quarter on an 11-2 run to draw to 13-18.
However towards the end of the 1st quarter, No. 7 had started to post Ben up in the paint and was giving Ben some difficulty. In the second we decided to try Juin Haur on No. 7. We felt Juin Haur was quick enough on the perimeter and tall enough in the post. Juin Haur came up BIG for us, playing excellent defense on No. 7 (holding No. 7 to just 2 points in the 2nd quarter) and even hitting a 3 pointer of his own. We finally caught up in that 2nd quarter at 21-21 and even took a 4 point lead with 3 seconds left in the half but SST No. 11 hit a 3 point shot from 3/4 court distance (!) to draw within 1 (31-30) at half time.
In the 3rd, with the court finally starting to dry out, we started to push the tempo, dribble penetrate and play a faster game. In order to have our starting 5 on the floor at the same time, we put Pin on No. 7 and Pin also did a great job defending No. 7. Haw Keat hit 2 3-pointers, Pin, Chuan and I all hit a couple of shots each and at the end of 3 quarters, we had a 9 point lead (51-42). Our lead would have been bigger but we kept committing fouls and SST took advantage, scoring 8 of their 12 points in that quarter from the free throw line.
Our second unit started the 4th and continued to play well, maintaining a 9 to 12 point lead. Juin Haur continued to play excellent defense and on offense, hit another 3 pointer and a jump shot. Bik Yih too hit a 3 pointer with the shot clock running down.
With 5+ minutes to go and an 11 point lead (61-50), we substituted the starters back in. At this point, the game looked firmly in hand.
That was when we hit a drought and SST went on an 11-0 run with their No. 12 hitting 3 consecutive "lucky" 2 point shots, a low post score by their No. 14 despite being guarded by the taller Chuan and a 3 pointer by their No. 11 to tie it at 61-61 with about 2+ minutes left.
The next few possesions were empty. Finally with about 1+ minute left, SST No. 14, their post player drew a foul and went to the free throw line where he only hit 1 of 2. Suddenly with a little less than 1 minutes left, we were trailing by 1!
We ran Set 3 with Ben as the cutter. Worried of our Chuan in the post, SST defense left Ben wide open at the 3 point line ... and Ben made his 1st and only 3-point shot of the night! (64-62). What a BIG shot!
On the next possession, I managed to deflect the ball and caused a turnover with 30+ seconds left. We then held the ball till the end of our shot clock but could not find a good shot. I did not want a shot clock violation (which would have allowed SST to call time-out and advance the ball) so I ended up taking a contested shot, 3 or 4 steps from behind the 3 point line.
It was an air ball but more importantly avoided a shot-clock violation. SST rebounded the miss but had only 9 seconds left.
We played defense and SST players were too slow in advancing the ball and ended up taking and missing a rushed, heavily contested, 3 point shot.
FINAL SCORE : Ex-UM win 64-62.
Ex-UM is now 6-1.
We were however very, very LUCKY to have won the game, which equally easily could have been won by SST. Fortunately, our "end-game" execution was steadier and better than SST's.
Scoring disribution for this game:-
No. 4 Haw Keat - 0+0+6+0=6
No. 5 Ben - 2+0+2+3=7
No. 7 Leong - 0+2+0+0=2
No. 8 Juin Haur - 0+3+0+5=8
No.10 Pin - 4+2+1+0=7
No. 11 Chuan - 2+8+7+0=17
No. 12 Loke Yew - 0+3+4+0=7
No. 13 Ming Lip - 5+0+0+2=7
No. 15 Bik Yih - 0+0+0+3=3
With this win, we are through to the semi finals even if we lose our next / last 2 games. However if we want to avoid OAE in the semis, we will have to win at least 1 of our next / last 2 games (against Myth and Kajitsu) this coming weekend (6:30p Saturday vs Myth and 7p Sunday vs Kajitsu).
Thanks to all the Ex-UM supporters who attended the game and suppored us.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
MASUM 0708 Quarter Finals v USM
USM was again coached by Dr. Teng and had the same core players returning from the previous year. The main players were their PG (No. 11) and their SG (No. 9) - both of whom (normally) shoots the ball extremely well from the 3 point line.
As per last year, our goals were to make the 3 point line "disappear" for them by playing our aggressive half court man defense, stepping out on all on ball screens and boxing out to ensure that we only allow 1 shot to them each possession.
Additionally, this year, we were even more confident in our "5-in-5-out" rotation and were confident that USM did not have to personnel nor fitness / stamina to stay with us for a 40 minute game.
USM played hard and obviously wanted very badly to get their revenge for last year's loss. Even in the 1st half, we largely achieved our goals of making the 3 point line disappear (USM was 1-9 from 3 point line) and we gave up only 5 offensive rebounds whilst pulling down 19 defensive rebounds. However, USM played extremely well in the 1st half, shooting a blistering 57% from 2 point in the 1st quarter and getting 8 fast break points to lead by 2 after one quarter (18-16).
Though we managed to tighten up our defense further in the 2nd half (USM shot only 21% in the 2nd half), we committed fouls that sent them to the free throw line time and again where they were 6-10. Consequently, at the half, we were only up by 2 (32-30).
However, none of us were worried as USM's 30 points were hard fought points and they had to play really hard to get those 30 points. Whereas UM's 32 points were mostly points we got from execution of our half-court offenses. USM's main players had also played the entire half whereas both our 1st and 2nd units had rotated in and out as per usual and were both very fresh.
In the 3rd we continued to maintain our defensive pressure (USM shot only 25% in the 3rd quarter) and USM continued to get more and more exhausted (USM players were bending over or even squatting down exhausted at every opportunity / game stoppage). However, we failed to capitalise when USM fouled us and we were a dismal 0-6 from the free throw line. Consequently, the score was still relatively close after 3 quarters (49-43), though we were clearly in control of the game.
We told our players that we just had to maintain our focus on our goals and USM would not be able to stay with us in the 4th. We started our 2nd unit in that 4th quarter and sure enough, USM could no longer stay with us. We pulled out to a double digit lead whilst USM was getting more and more tired playing against our 2nd unit. At the customary 5 minute mark, we substituted our 2nd unit out and brought our (fresh) 1st unit in to finish off the game. When USM saw our 1st unit being sub-in, they collectively dropped their shoulders and look defeated. We knew the game was ours and we blew the game open. In that 4th quarter, we had 12 fast break points, 20 points in the paint, shot 53% from 2 point and 50% from 3 point whilst holding USM to 19% shooting, zero fast break points and only 4 points in the paint - all signs of a tired opponent.
For the game we also had an overwhelming advantage on the boards (66-34) and held USM to 4-26 (15.4%) shooting from the 3 point line.
FINAL SCORE : UM wins 74-55.
Chuan had continued his strong play from the previous game and had 17 points and 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double, whilst shooting a blistering 78% from 2 point and 50% from 3 point!!. Chen Wee also bounced back from his previous "average" game, with a double-double of his own (13 points 18 rebounds). Phang also gave us 14 important points, many he scored by creating his own offense at critical times. As last year, Phang also shut down USM's PG and stole the ball from him several times.
Both Chee Ching and Fai also contributed 8 points each. However, although Chee Ching also shot a high percentage (67%), Fai shot 100% (4/4), mostly from the side and off the board, further solidifying his "board-king" title.
Poh Guan (PG) continued to be our Assist Leader (7) but also our turnover leader (6). However, Poh Guan remained our "X-factor" as he plays on both the 1st and 2nd unit and was a critical factor in the success of our 2nd unit, enabling us to rotate 5-in-5-out.
Whilst the score was close through most of the 1st 3 quarters, there was never any doubt that, in this game, UM was the better team and UM won the game in dominant manner. Well done, UM!
Next update : Semi Finals vs UUM
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Ex-UM Game #6 v Friends
Ex-UM's 6th game today was against Friends. Friends had 1 shooting guard (No. 15) who is very good at shooting (& making!) 2 pt fade away shots.
We knew his abilities from a friendly match he played (with Puchong BA) against UM recently. They also had a very tall (but thin) center.
We therefore adjusted by focusing our defense on No. 15 & boxing out No. 10. No. 15 still scored 14 pts. but what surprised us & allowed them to lead after the 1st quarter (15-14) & stay close the whole 1st half (UM led 30-25 at half) was their team captain No. 8. For the game he hit 7 3-pointers & 2 2-pointers for 25 points! And he shot 3 point shots at a very high percentage, often after 1 of us, & sometimes even after 2 of us had "flown-by". At our end Chuan arrived late & as usual (whenever he arrives late) had a tough game. He played almost the whole 2nd quarter, had MANY close in, easy shots & free throws ... And missed them ALL! As a result we never could really get any separation from Friends. Our bench too did not play well today. Fortunately Pin, Ming Lip & Leong kept us in the game in the 1st half (the 3 combined for 23 points in the 1st half). It took Chuan another 1/2 of the 3rd quarter before he finally got his game together. But once he got it together (starting with a couple of made free throws), he scored 17 straight points for us! We pulled out to a commanding 16 point lead after 3 quarters (51-35). We started the 4th quarter with a few bench players. And we promptly started the 4th quarter with 4 straight turnovers allowing Friends to go on an 8-0 run to cut our 16 point lead down to 8 only! We had to put the starters back in quickly and after 1 more turnover, managed to get the game back under control, with Chuan drawing fouls (and making free throws) and Pin, Ben & I trapping & stealing the ball back several times off our 122 half court zone press. Friend's No. 8 still kept them close for a while with 2 more tough, contested 3 point shots. But we finally started closing out better and challenging 3 point shots, with Leong and Pin blocking a few, and were able to re-establish our lead. FINAL SCORE : Ex-UM win 71-53. Scoring disribution for this game:- No. 4 Haw Keat - 0+0+1+0=1 Well done guys. The starters covered for the bench this game. We hope the bench will come back strong next game. That's what team work is about ... everyone covering for everyone. This was an especially important game for us as Friends had (before this game) the same 4-1 record as we had. Tomorrow's game 7:00pm vs SST (our Kheng Sun is playing with that team).
Ex-UM is now 5-1.
No. 5 Ben - 2+2+0+0=4
No. 6 Bik Yih - 0+0+4+0=4
No. 7 Leong - 2+4+0+0=6
No.10 Pin - 4+5+0+1=10
No. 11 Chuan - 0+0+16+13=29
No. 12 Loke Yew - 0+3+0+4=7
No. 13 Ming Lip - 6+2+0+2=10
Thursday, June 19, 2008
MASUM 0708 Game #2 v UMS
Our players were extremely confident for this game. Before this game we had the opportunity to watch UMS play UIAM. UIAM started the same aggressive 3-quarter court pressure man defense and UMS really struggled. It allowed UIAM to jump out to a big lead and despite not being able to maintain that presssure throughout the game, UIAM managed to protect that lead. More importantly for UM, as UM watched the UIAM v UMS game they realised that UIAM was actually a very strong team ... which meant we were even stronger as we handled UIAM well! With this confidence we took on UMS and handled them easily. We led throughout and won the 1st 3 quarters by big margins. We had a huge advantage on rebounds (69-36) with 32 offensive rebounds. We also held them to 26% FG and had 37 defensive rebounds whilst only giving up 10 offenssive rebounds We were really committed to boxing out. We led 21-8 after 1 quarter,43-19 by half time and 62-29 after 3 quarters. FINAL SCORE : UM win 70-43 Chuan bounced back from his sub-par game 1 with 18 pts 12 rebounds for a double double. Chen Wee anly had an average (by his std) game with 5 pts and12 rebounds. Fai also had a good game, aggressive on offense with 9 points (mostly off board shots ... earning him the title "board-king") and 5 rebounds. The surprise came this time from Jensen who had 13 pts 5 rebounds 5 steals and 3 assists for a solid overall game. Overall another fantastic team effort with our patented 5 in 5 out rotation. With the win, UM became Group A champion. Next update : Quarter Finals vs USM
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Ex-UM Game #5 vs Swoosh
Ex-UM's last Sunday's game was against Swoosh, a non-chinese, team comprised mostly of former UiTM players.
Individual fundamental basketball skills of their players were not particular good but they did have 2 VERY big (bit chunky) and tall centers and most of their players were athletic. It therefore became important for us to (a) box out and control our defensive rebounds and (b) play a fast game to tire out their bigs.
When both their centers were in, we really had a tough time trying to box both of them out. Fortunately, their fitness were not good and our front court players could repeatedly beat them down court so that we either scored on primary or secondary fast break, or drew fouls. Eventually, they couldn't keep both centers on the floor at the same time (as they kept giving up fast break points) and could only keep 1 of them on the floor at a time. That allowed us to box out their lone center and control the boards much better.
On offense, Ming Lip continued is excellent play (and was top scorer with 24 points) and Leong continued his high percentage shooting. Chuan was his usual aggressive and effective self. Pin also was very effective offensively especially after some one from our bench "bet" him a Heineken if he makes his free throw (which he did!!). Ben had a bit of an "off" day as he missed a few easy shots but still played a steady game and good defense.
Overall, again, a good team effort. All players are beginning to play better and better especially our bench. Both Juin Haur and Hung had their second straight steady and aggressive game ... applying the "kiss" principle ... keep it simple and steady. All players however have to react better to on-ball pressure in our back court and support players being pressured (especially when that player is a front court player who just got a defensive rebound and not the PG).
Although the score stayed close in the 1st quarter and the 1st half of the 2nd quarter, we could see that Swoosh's player's stamina were disappearing fast. When the starting unit went back into the game, fresh, at around the 5 minute mark of the 2nd quarter, we made our push and had a 15 point lead by half time. From there we just kept building and building on the lead and won the game comfortably.
Scoring distribution (by quarter):-
No.5 Ben - 0+2+0+0=2
No. 7 Leong - 0+4+3+2=9
No. 8 Juin Haur - 0+0+2+0=2
No. 9 Kok - 0+0+4+0=4
No. 10 Pin - 0+7+4+2=13
No. 11 Chuan - 5+5+2+4=16
No. 13 Ming Lip - 9+5+2+8=24
No. 15 Bik Yih - 0+0+0+2=2
FINAL SCORE : Ex-UM wins 72-37
Ex-UM's record is now : 4-1
Next games this coming weekend :-
vs. "Friends" at 6:30pm on Saturday, 21/6/2008; and
vs. "SST" at 7:00pm on Sunday, 22/6/2008.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
MASUM 0708 - Game #1 UIAM
Our opening game was against UIAM. It was also the 1st game of our group which meant neither team had seen the other play yet.
UIAM is always unpredictable in terms of their strength due to their high numberof international students.
They had a really good center, not very big sized, but could really jump, with incredible "hang time", great rebounding and very steady / good shooting (played last year too).
They also had a few other African players, really muscular & tall and one middle eastern player who looked like Jason Kapono (fortunately he didn't play anywhere near to Jason Kapono's abilities!). They also had an African PG (the center's brother), short, good court sense. really good at finding / passing to his brother but very poor outside shooting.
At the start of the game they surprised us with a very aggressive 3 quarter court man-to-man defense.We had to try 3 different man offense - going from Set 1A, to Set 4 to Set 1B (blocker / mover) - in the 1st 5 minutes before we settled down on offense. During that time we had 9 turnovers and only scored 2 points to trail 2-6.
The 1st quarter became a low scoring defensive battle - a real challenge to our vaunted defense. Our defense rose to the challenge and held them scoreless the rest of the quarter.
We still had a tough time scoring (making only 2 more shots from the field) but UIAM could not maintain their defensive mental focus and started to commit fouls (6 fouls - sending our players to the foul line 4 times where we were 6 for 8). And that was the difference in the quarter. 1st quarter ended with us up 12-6.
From then on. UIAM did not have the fitness to maintain their defensive intensity (their starting 5 played extended minutes with 1 or 2 bench players playing short minutes only) though they still played man to man. Their defensive pressure was no longer there (allowing us to score 6 basket from the field) and continued to foul us (7 team fouls) allowing to score another 7 points from the FT line.
On the other hand we rotated our usual 5 in 5 out throughout the 1st half and maintained our defensive intensity. By half time we led by 15 points (31-16).
In the 3rd we told our players to expect UIAM to make a push (after they rested at half time) and that if we could just match UIAM in the 3rd, we would be able to pull away in the 4th.
We started our 2nd unit in that 3rd quarter and matched them point for point. After 3 quarters we still led by 13 points.
Sure enough in the 4th quarter UIAM could no longer stay with us and we blew the game open.
FINAL SCORE : UM win 63-37.
A team effort overall. Chuan had a poor game (4 points 3 rebounds). In the past whenever Chuan had a poor game offensively we would lose. But this year we not only won, we won in dominant manner thanks to our defense and other players stepping up.
Phang was top scorer with 13 points, many created by himself (crucial baskets at critical times). Chen Wee had a strong game with 11 points 14 rebounds for a double double. Most importantly Chen Wee played excellent defense against UIAM's center, blocking him out of rebounds and keeping his points limited. When Chen Wee went out, our 1st year 2nd unit center, Chee Ching continued excellent, aggressive defense against UIAM's center. He was so frustrated he punched Chee Ching in the mouth (and the referee didn't see the punch!) openning a cut on the inside of Chee Ching's mouth. Fortunately the injury was not too serious and Chee Ching did not have to miss any games.
But the surprise player was Kok Way, another 1st year player (shooting guard) who came off the bench to play with the 1st unit. He scored 11 points, mostly from medium / long range but with a high shooting percentage (57%).
After this 1st game, we had a 2 day rest before our next game against the home team, UMS.
Next game update : UM v UMS.
Ex-UM Game #4 vs. C. Timber
Yesterday's opponent was an outside shooting team. Many of them shot the 3 point shot extremely well especially their No. 15 and No.11. They also shot FTs extremely well.
However they were all "catch & shoot" type of shooters and were weak at dribble penetration & low post.
We therefore concentrated on "chasing" them off the 3 point line & "side guarded " them, forcing them to dribble. All their shots off dribble were misses.
On defense, our opponent played a 122 match up zone with players face guarding us at the perimeter instead of shifting to the ball. This left a lot of room for our post players as well as dribble penetrations and we scored relatively easily.
So long as we stayed focus on defense and concentrated on denying their No. 15 and No. 11 the 3 point shot, our score would steadily pull away. We scored 28 points in the 1st quarter but also allowed them to score 19 points on 4 three pointers, 5 FTs and only 1 two point shot.
We played better defense in 2nd and 3rd quarters (allowing only 13 and 14 points whilst scoring 16 and 24 points ourselves). At half time we led by 12 points and after 3 quarters, by 20 points).
I myself had poor 2nd & 3rd quarters. Several poor passes / turnovers by me. And Kok too had a poor 3rd quarter (lots of lost / fumbled ball). Fortunately other players stepped up - Hung was crucial in helping us rebuild our lead at the end of the half (they had closed to within 6 before we pulled back out to 12). Ben was solid throughout and our starting front court played great (fantastic passing to each other) and carried us most of the game especially in the first half.
Since Chuan and Sem was not with us yesterday our front court was limited to Ming Lip, Leong and Pin (all 3 started). Whenever any of them needed to rest, we had to sub Juin Haur into the front court. Juin Haur had a shaky first half, making a lot of mistakes and unforced turnovers. Our front court of Ming Lip, Leong and Pin had to play substantial minutes in the 1st half. Even I had to take a turn in the front court to give them some rest but I was ineffective and the short stint in the front court really tired me out.
But Juin Haur accepted our challenge tohim and gathered himself at half time. He played great the entire 2nd half. Nothing extraordinary but just playing within his skills (which is good), giving us crucial, solid minutes with great defense, rebounding, hustle and no turnovers / mistakes. That allowed our starting front court to get some rest and me to concentrate on PG duties. Juin Haur even gave us 7 points in the 4th quarter playing within the team offense.
Kok still lacked focus on the defensive end but found his offense in the 4th quarter and at one point scored 9 straight points to keep us comfortably ahead. I also finally found my game in the 4th and was able to handle the opponent's pressure defense comfortably and had some assists.
Overall a complete team effort. Ming Lip was top scorer but almost all players scored and score distributioon was pretty evenly spread out.
Scoring distribution (by quarters):
No. 5 Ben - 8+2+2+2=14
No. 6 Hung - 0+0+2+0=2
No. 7 Leong - 4+4+2+0=10
No. 8 Juin Haur - 3+0+2+7=12
No. 9 Kok - 0+0+0+9=9
No. 10 Pin - 4+4+3+2=13
No. 12 me - 1+0+3+0=4
No. 13 Ming Lip - 8+6+8+2=24
FINAL SCORE : Ex-UM win 88-69.
Ex-UM record is now 3-1.
Well done Ex-UM!
Next game is tonight 8:30pm vs Swoosh.
(ps - this post was typed out on my handheld and posted via email. Pls forgive any typing errors)
Saturday, June 14, 2008
UM Centralized Training
First off, I apologize for the lack of updates on UM for the last 2 months. I have been tied up with work (travelling to Middle East, clearing work so I can go on leave for MASUM), tied up with UM basketball (centralized training, MASUM Itself) and now clearing all the backlog accumulated over the 2 weeks I was on leave during MASUM.
During MASUM I had sent daily sms updates to as many Ex-UM players as I could. My sms list was 40 persons long! If I have missed any Ex-UM player from my sms list please forgive me ... It was unintentional ... And please add a comment to this blog entry that you were left out and I will add you to my sms list.
What follows now is the 1st installment of the long overdue MASUM 0708 report.
Over the course of the next 2 weeks I hope to be able to post in stages, my report on MASUM 0708, starting with :
CENTRALIZED TRAINING
For the first time, I am no longer in legal practice (where I had 60 days annual leave). Iam now an in-house legal adviser with WCT Berhad and couldn't take leave for centralized training (having to reserve my leave for MASUM itself). I am therefore extremely thankful and grateful and UM is extremely fortunate that Coach Tan Chun Pin was able to assist by conducting the morning practice sessions and I conducted (often together with Coach Pin) the night sessions.
Coach Pin has already been assisting me for more than 2 years now and is fully capable of running practices.
This year we were also fortunate that none of the players had industrial training during that time.
We managed to achieve many of our goals for centralized training including setting our goal (Champs), rediscovering our defensive identity / intensity, finding our offensive identity, peaking our fitness, settling our game rotation.
We had 3 friendly matches (lost the 1st one badly) but saw our performance improve from game to game.There were some things which we didn't manage to cover or cover as much as the coaching staff had hoped to - these included having both 1st and 2nd units (totally) familiar with each others "special sets" (we had a few sets there were exclusive to each unit - i.e. run by one unit, but not the other) and practicing different players in each unit. We had settled in to which 5 players were in each unit but didn't have time to practice different combinations of players in each unit (and this would later come back and "bite" us!).
Overall, we were extremely happy with the rediscovery of our high intensity, defensive identity, both units settling into their own "comfort zones" in terms of offensive style and pace (1st unit - steady and deliberate; 2nd unit super-fast and a bit helter-skelter) and the team settling into a comfortable rotation basis (players knew when who/which unit would be going in/coming out).
Next post on MASUM 0708 update : Game #1 vs UiAM
Monday, June 9, 2008
Ex-UM Game #3 vs Rockets
Ex-UM played its 3rd game last night in Xballer League held at SS3 against "Rockets".
10 Ex-UM players turned up for the game (which is much better than 6 only for the last game!).
Rockets had 1 very tall center and 1 very accurate 3 point shooter. Fortunately, their other players were only average players.
FINAL SCORE : Ex-UM won 88-62.
Ex-UM record is now 2-1.
Offensively we played quite well (as the score shows), especially Chuan & Sem. Chuan scored our 1st 15 points! Also Rockets could not defend our baseline in-bounds play resulting in scores on all (except the 1st) baseline in-bounds.
Rockets aslo tried man-to-man defense in the 3rd quarter. We si.mply ran a play to isolate Chuan in the low post. Chuan scored or assisted and we scored (some times even 3 point plays) on each and every possession Rockets played man defense. They soon gave up trying to man us.
Defensively though we played just average (again as the score shows ... giving up 62 points is way too much). We played a zone defense (212) throughout as their outside shooting (other than that 1 shooter) was poor. However, there were many defensive breakdowns / missed assignments / easy lay ups etc.
Fortunately, Rockets had difficulty with our 122 half court zone press. We pressed selectively and created quite a lot of turnovers and rushed shots.
As we did not video the game, the only stats we have are from the score sheet. The following is the scoring (points) distribution:
Chuan (30), Sem (17) with three 3-point shots, Kok (12), Leong (9), Ben (6), Juin Haur (4), Coach (4), Bik Yih (4), Pin (2).
Next game is Sat 14 June 6:30pm vs C. Timber @SS3.