After a long break (due to games venue scheduling conflict), we finally played our 2nd game. With the exception of Chin Chuan who couldn't attend, the rest of us arrived early for the game after suffering the effects of having many players arrive late in our 1st game. The early arrival enabled us to start really well and strong. This was also our first game trying out our new Read & React "tweak" against zone defenses.
Yu Nan Basketball Association had a big (a little on the "fat"side) Center and another big (athletically big) power forward. The center we had played against several times before, the last being in Hoops Station 2010 where he proved a difficult player to contain, being able to post up strong as well as shoot 3 pointers quite well. However, for some reason, he did not play anywhere near the level we remembered him capable of. Ching was able to easily contain him, he did not actively seek out the ball, didn't even try any 3 pointers and ran out of stamina very quickly.
The new Read & React "tweak" against zone worked great ... resulting in active player movement and quick ball movements. We jumped out to a 20-8 1st Quarter and never looked back. Although they made a bit of a push in the 2nd Quarter, we continued to score as well (with Phang shooting extremely well from medium distance (45% for the game) and Ching virtually unstoppable inside, shooting 71%!) and more or less kept a double digit, 10 point lead most of the way. Half time score : 36 - 26.
We made another push in the 3rd quarter and soon had a 20 point lead, which we kept comfortable the rest of the game and cruised to a well earned victory. Final score : 73-52.
Overall, we were able to control the boards, getting 85% of available defensive rebounds and 50% of available offensive rebounds. However, this was due mainly to our overall size advantage (Yu Nan's 3 guards were rather under-sized and their Center & Power Forward couldn't play extended minutes, often forcing them to play 4 under-sized guards at a time) and not because of good "boxing out". We definitely have to rededicate ourselves to the fundamentals of "boxing out".
Individually, Phang played an MVP like game, scoring again and again on strong dribble penetration whilst Ching was unstoppable, getting a commanding double-double (25 points 23 rebounds). I was having fun dribbling around their guards' "below par" on-ball defense and full court press and crossing up defenders. Sem had difficulty finding the bottom of the net and kept missing easy, in-close, under basket shots ... the ball just kept bouncing out on him. Ming Lip was unstoppable on the boards, getting 7 offensive rebonds but also kept missing in-close, under basket shots. In the end, Phang and Ching's productivity and Yu Nan's poor shooting enabled us to win the game comfortably.
Below is the game stat for this game:
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