Sheed’s Non-Existent Help Defense
Posted by Coach Harris in Coaching, NBA on January 30, 2010
The Celtics have been struggling of late, with reasons for their losses coming from all quarters. However, despite Garnett’s offer to pin Thursday’s two point defeat to Atlanta on him, the blame should be laid squarely at the feet of Rasheed Wallace. Sheed’s help defense on the final two (most important) plays of the game can only be described as horrific and give a lot of credence to the idea that Sheed might be past it.
I’ve visually broken down a first-quarter pre-cursor and the final two plays of the game (Redick’s game-tying three and Lewis’s winning layup) to show Wallace’s shortcomings in key moments. The red arrows indicate the movement that should have occurred on the plays, where in fact there was little or no movement.
Jameer Nelson Drive
In this first-quarter play, Rasheed is totally asleep in the middle of the key as Nelson beats Pierce on the outside and goes in for the easy layup. Sheed should move in to take the charge while KG and Allen move up to stop the kick-out.
Redick’s Three
Garnett is guarding Redick and get picked out of the play by the wing screen. Wallace should move and hedge out on the screen to help KG instead but stays back a couple of feet inside the perimeter. Sheed should have recognised the threat from Redick (top 15 in the NBA 3pt %) but lets JJ hit the shot to tie it for the Magic.
As you can see in the shot below, Wallace is too far away to affect the shot in any way and has to lunge as Redick goes up to even get close.
Rashard’s Drive
The closest defender, Wallace, inexplicably stayed next to Dwight Howard at the opposite block rather than rotating down to the baseline to stop Lewis’ drive.
– ESPN
As Lewis turns the corner on (an injury-slowed) KG, Sheed aggressively boxes Howard out of the play instead of stepping in to help on the dribble penetration. Lewis has to curl wide on the drive to get around Garnett and still Wallace stays puts on the opposite side of the key.
Attempt at Redemption
The Celtics have one final shot at the game but Rasheed airballs a three for which he clearly got a good look and some decent separation from his defender on a screen by Ray.
Unlike some people, I think that Sheed is going to come up trumps for the Celtics when it matters. However on this showing, he clearly a lot of work to do to match the defensive focus of the title-winning 2008 Boston team.
Taking Coaching Seriously
Posted by Coach Harris in Coaching, NBA, NCAA on January 22, 2010
There’s a well-known exchange between a journalist and the infamous NCAAM coach Bob Knight that goes something like this:
Journalist: Coach Knight, why have you never coached in the NBA?
Knight: Because I don’t think players should be paid more than coaches.
A while ago I attended a seminar on Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) run by the national sports coaching organisation. The seminar was primarily (as you’d expect) centred on athletes but during the latter part of the session they discussed coaching during the ‘retention’ phase of the development process. Coaching seemed to be included as an afterthought to elite performance. Once the player has been through all the stages of development they can just ‘go into coaching’ and stay in the sport. In my opinion, this system is surely devaluing the coaching profession and perpetuates the (obviously false) view that to be a great coach, you must first have been a great player.
Second Team All-Brooklyn Player Red Auerbach
So why does this even matter? Well it matters because for coaches to be able to coach successfully, they need the buy-in and respect from their players. They can get this by having a successful coaching track record, or a successful playing track record. These two dynamics seem to operate differently depending on the age of the coach. A young coach must have had a successful playing career for the players to respect his judgements and strategy, despite the coaching experience and success he may have had. Several months ago the then Kansas City Chiefs Running Back Larry Johnson used his twitter account to make the following comments about Head Coach Todd Haley:
“My father got more creditentials than most of these pro coaches.”
“My father played for the coach from ‘rememeber the titans’. Our coach played golf. My father played for redskins briefley. Our coach. Nuthn.”
My response to Larry Johnson, if he’s interested, and to anyone else that holds this view, is this:
Who cares? Coaching and playing are totally different occupations requiring almost totally different personal skills and abilities.
A look at the greatest 10 NBA coaches of all time shows that 5 of the 10 have never played professional basketball, let alone in the NBA. Only 1 of the 10 is also on the greatest 50 players of all time list. Of the other 4 that did play in the NBA, much of their action was as reserve (albeit on generally successful teams). However these days things seem to be different, only 8 coaches in the whole league have no NBA playing experience. I would find it easy to believe that is simply difficult to get into NBA coaching without having previously spent time around the league, and players are firmly at the centre of the NBA circle. However I don’t know why this is. GMs are (usually) smart guys and surely want the best hire for their team? When recruiting a CEO for Chrysler or Ford, do you headhunt the best auto engineer? Or the best manager of auto engineers? There are a great many programs for developing elite players in every sport, but how many programs designed to develop elite coaches?
At coaching development camps and clinics in Spain, young prospective coaches are told ‘you can be a player, or a coach, not both’. This sentiment clearly expresses Spain’s (and mainland Europe as a whole’s) commitment to coaching development and their attitude of taking coaching seriously. A cursory glance at the Wikipedia sites for prominent European coaches Ettore Messina, Zvi Sherf and Bogdan Tanjevich reveals no playing information at all. This either means they have no noteworthy playing experience, or it is acknowledged that playing information has no relevance to their coaching careers. I admit to my own ignorance in this area because I don’t know the case for these coaches, however both cases would back up my argument as they would reinforce the idea that playing experience is not seen as a neccessary component of being a high-level coach in the European game.
The only position in basketball that has the neccessary transferable skills to coaching is point guard. Obviously players who play other positions may possess the skills, but point guard demands these skills to be successful. It is therefore no coicidence that many of the successful player-to-coach stories have been achieved by players who occupied that position in their playing days. The three key skills for coaching are excellent communication, leadership, and a strong ability to analyse and read the game. All of these skills can be acquired without even playing basketball (even the ability to read the game, and I will cover this in another post), let alone playing at a high level. It is for this reason that so many coaches look across sports at other coaching styles and techniques to learn from and raise their own levels. Leadership and communication skills are universal and coaches like Mike Krzyzewski and Rick Pitino make significant sums of money giving leadership seminars to corporate clients from the business world, far removed from the basketball court.
It is time for players, media and sporting bodies to respect the profession of coaching and acknowledge that playing ability has little or nothing to do with coaching ability. Coaches should be judged on their ability to successfully lead and motivate their players and to formulate winning strategies for their team.
Mental Reset
Posted by Coach Harris in Coaching, UEA on January 22, 2010
Looking for answers
The Boston Celtics have been experiencing some tough times since their veteran leader and defensive general Kevin Garnett was sidelined with a knee problem late in December. Assistant Coach Kevin Eastman recently wrote an article on his blog (loosely) addressing the issue. He observed that that teams who are trying to turn things around often look to improve their skills through drills, however this will only have a limited positive effect unless the team also raises their mental ability to meet their technical ability. They need to ‘get their heads right’, he says. I began thinking about a situation that I personally experienced a couple of years ago that required what I think is a ‘mental reset’.
UEA Women: 1-4 at Christmas
In my second year coaching the women’s team at UEA we were approaching the Christmas break in bad shape. We were 1-4 and sitting joint bottom of the league. We would have to perform a miraculous turnaround to lift ourselves out of the bottom two in a league where even a single loss can derail a season due to the small number of games played. We started the season on a high, having retained many of the players from our promotion-winning team the year before. However our expectations were quickly brought down to earth with a one-point away loss to Nottingham in our opening game. This had been our first taste of league defeat in BUCS and was a sign of things to come. We won our next game at home vs Cambridge but followed this with road losses against Wolverhampton, Nottingham Trent and a home loss to Nottingham.
The manner of the losses saw the players get down on themselves and I was losing belief in my team. We trained well most of the time and were largely cruising in the local league but could not seem to pull together in BUCS, despite our potential. Our defense was holding strong most of the time, but our offense was stagnating. Over the Christmas break I experimented by adding a new all-purpose offense to ensure we kept moving the ball and tried to get some higher percentage looks. Using the new offense (a simple dribble hand-off action on the wing and looking to penetrate) we started to gain some confidence through local league victories. Our next BUCS games arrived, at home to Wolverhampton and Nottingham Trent, two of the strongest teams in our division. The players were exhibiting a new-found confidence on the court and soundly outplayed both teams with a shortened bench. Two more victories over the bottom side saw us climb to an unassailable position in 4th and only a shock defeat of the top team by Nottingham Trent saw us denied 3rd place; a seemingly impossible position given our predicament at Christmas.
While it would be easy to claim that the new offensive system had been the catalyst for our resurgence, it was actually that the team had used the Christmas break to perform a ‘mental reset’. They refused to dwell on past results and used the adversity (relegation, depleted squad) to inspire them to two great victories, the games I consider to be our best performances (along with our title-winning end-of-season effort vs Coventry the year before). They were able to cleanse their minds of negativity and somehow were able to re-focus on the task in hand.
I want to examine the ways to initiate a ‘mental reset’ and turn around a slumping team in a future post, but for now the main thing to remember about the ‘mental reset’ is that everyone has to buy-in to it. It can only be achieved if all players and coaching staff buy into the need for a total change of mentality, and the new mentality must be consistent throughout the team for it to succeed.
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
– Thomas Jefferson
New Year’s Resolutions
Posted by Coach Harris in Other on January 14, 2010
When I started this blog I really told myself I was going to keep it updated. Not everyday, but maybe 1-2 times per week. That plan has failed miserably. However, this year I am determined to keep it relevant and up-to-date with current news and coaching ideas. I’m not really that worried about the number of people reading, but want to keep this as a ‘basketball journal’ as such. Something that I can show potential employers as an example of my passion and (hopefully) knowledge of basketball. If it picks up some regular readers on the way, so be it.
In my bid to commit to the blog, I’ve decided to come up with some regular ‘features’ to make it easier for me to focus and post a lot more frequently. The new post types will be:
‘Quick Hitters’ – A roundup post of current happenings and interesting events in the basketball world, accompanied by my own commentary. Not dissimilar to ESPN’s ‘Bullets’ posts. Aiming to post 2-3 of these per week.
‘Playbook’ – A fairly detailed video break-down of a particular set play that I have noticed during that week’s basketball action. Could be from NBA/NCAA/Other. Aiming to post 1-2 of these per week.
‘Coaching Notes’ – An article on a particular element of coaching that I am interested in or studying. Or something prompted by a news story (see ‘Choosing a Captain’). Maybe 2-3 of these per month.
‘State of the Game’ – An article on a particular element of basketball, generally unrelated to coaching. As the Olympics are coming and Team GB are in the race for a spot this section will be predominantly about the UK basketball scene. Possibly 1-2 of these per month.
‘Random Digressions’ – Anything that arises outside of basketball that I feel is relevant to the feel of the blog. I watch a lot of other sports and this will be the place for those thoughts to appear. Also could include current affairs issues which I feel strongly about, depending on how motivated I am to write about them. This section might be less populated than the others, but that’s fine. Maybe 1 per month, depending on stuff that happens.
Of course, if something I want to write doesn’t fit neatly into one of these categories, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to write it. It’s just going to be easier for me to focus my attentions on posting frequently if I have set guidelines and timeframes.
Choosing a Captain
Posted by Coach Harris in Coaching, NBA, UEA on October 16, 2009
A couple of days ago I read that Stephen Jackson (Golden State Warriors) had relinquished his captaincy of the team in the wake of recent public fallouts with the organisation. The article quoted Jackson as saying:
I don’t want to be a role model. … Being captain was overrated to me, anyway. You don’t do anything but go out before the game and talk to the refs. I don’t want to do that, anyway.
Wow. It sounds like Golden State have dodged a bullet here as that is definitely not the attitude any captain should be displaying. Jackson’s comments come several weeks after he was fined by the NBA for publicly requesting a trade away from the Warriors to a ‘contender’. Unsurprisingly no ‘contender’ was keen to take on Jackson’s cavalier approach to team chemistry.
"The Captain and the Truth"
However the issue I want to draw attention to in this post is captaincy. What should we, as coaches, be looking for when appointing a captain for our team? There are probably a number of cliches that would roll off the tongue when asked that question. Talismanic, leadership, passionate, loyal, hardworking, positive. They need to be an on-court leader, much like a point guard, but also an off-court leader, promoting team-chemistry. At low level basketball, I believe the captaincy should go to one of the best players. This is because weaker players who do not play a lot of minutes are likely to become disenfranchised with their role and promote dissent, rendering them unsuitable for a leadership role within the team. At the professional level this is negated somewhat because players are making a living from the game and accept that stars and role-players must exist in harmony for success, unlike lower levels where the competition for playing time can ruin team cohesion. It is interesting to note however that most NBA team captains are the players with the highest profile (read: most talent) on their teams.
When I am choosing a captain I’m looking for the player that is going to best represent the interests and attitudes of the team. They need to be committed, passionate and balanced. They cannot show any dissent towards coaching staff or officials. I like them to take charge on the court during dead ball situations and rally the team. I like them to hold teammates accountable for errors, but also encourage them towards the correct action.
They must lead by example. Leading by example is not the main thing, it is the only thing.
Unlike Jackson, they must want to be a role model to their teammates and set the standard by which the rest of the team must follow. They must be vocal in practise and games, demanding improvement in every area (including their own). If faced with a new group of players, run a few open practises and observe. After 2/3 practises, often the captain will be an obvious choice.
I’d also like to use this post to congratulate one of my ex-players and captain Holly Deegan, who has just been appointed captain of Bausch and Lomb Wildcats Irish Women’s National League team.
Live Blog: Team GB vs. Serbia
Posted by Coach Harris in LiveBlog on September 9, 2009
8:21:59 PM: BBC excelling themselves once again, this time no sound on their web broadcast, as well as starting 4 minutes late.
8:34:11 PM: BBC have really dropped the ball here. No audio on the web feed from Eurobasket. Terrible.
8:34:23 PM: New Blog Post: Live Blog: Team GB vs. Serbia http://bit.ly/1yLQ7y
8:36:57 PM: One minute gone in the 2nd quarter, GB down 8 to Serbia.
8:40:06 PM: Great defense from Reinking forcing the turnover out of bounds. Serbia timeout.
8:44:04 PM: GB pull it back to 2 but Serbia hit the open three off some nice ball movement. GB called for travelling. I’ve heard that before.
8:44:29 PM: GREAT block from Pops, not biting on the pump fake and pins the ball to the backboard.
8:53:03 PM: Serbia really playing a good inside-outside game, GB needlessly fouling jump shooters.
8:53:43 PM: Bad news for GB, Freeland leaves the game being helped by a trainer. Looks like his back again.
8:55:06 PM: Pops bodyslammed to the floor by Velickovic. 9 point game after two misses from the line.
8:56:00 PM: Pops trying to take over and runs into a triple team in the paint before putting up an ugly hook shot that doesn’t even draw iron.
9:00:41 PM: Half-time: Serbia 39 – 29 Team GB
9:01:25 PM: Story of the half – 10 turnovers for GB compared to 1 steal. Serbia have 2 turnovers and 7 steals.
9:09:38 PM: In football news, it just ain’t the Euros if San Marino and Luxembourg aren’t getting smashed. Both 7-0 down at the moment.
9:17:30 PM: GB vs. Serbia back underway for the 2nd half. GB cut the lead to 5 before committing another COSTLY TURNOVER in transition.
9:23:45 PM: Time to rally for Team GB. This is their Eurobasket dream. This is their must-win game. Six minutes left in the 3rd quarter, down 11
9:25:21 PM: Why is Lenzly trying to pull of his best high-jump impression there? He rotated well and had defensive position, why didn’t he just stand??
9:27:48 PM: GB’s problem this whole tournament has been defense. They can’t get a stop when they need one. Their offense hasn’t been too bad.
9:29:39 PM: GB’s greatest strength was their dominant post-play. All that has gone out of the window since Serbia. Settling for turnaround jumpers.
9:35:30 PM: One minute left in the 3rd quarter, GB down 11. Achara just mugged in the post but no whistle so he decided to elbow drop Nened Krstic
9:38:31 PM: End of the 3rd and there is now a 22% difference in FG% between the teams. GB are paying the price for poor shot selection in this game
9:44:11 PM: Broken record. All falling apart for GB in the clutch. Down 15 with two Serbian FTs to come. Pops just picked up two quick fouls and a Tech.
10:09:44 PM: Final Score: Serbia 77 – 59 Great Britain // GB fizzled in their last game at Eurobasket 2009. Disappointing end to a positive tournament.
Live Blog: Team GB vs. Spain
Posted by Coach Harris in LiveBlog on September 8, 2009
8:05:26 PM: “This content doesn’t seem to be working. Try again later.” – Thanks BBC. Nice to know basketball is getting the professional treatment.
8:16:03 PM: BBC technical problems mean we miss 7 minutes of the first quarter. Terrible BBC.
8:17:50 PM: Lenzly just got whistled for breathing on Rudy Fernandez.
8:19:13 PM: Freeland just got called for looking menacingly at Reyes. Worst. Refereeing. Ever.
8:21:23 PM: Richard “non-wolf” Rubio picks up his second foul and goes to the bench. GB down 11 after the three by Freeland.
8:23:34 PM: Freeland dunks on Spain’s entire team off the nice bounce pass from Sullivan and hits the FT for the three point play.
8:25:35 PM: Fernandez crosses Sullivan all over the place and pulls back for the three that back irons. GB down 10 after the 1st quarter.
8:26:34 PM: Spain 80% (4/5) from behind the arc while GB only 20% (1/5). 2nd quarter about to begin
8:28:32 PM: GB and Spain trading baskets so far in the 2nd quarter. Freeland playing very well (why did he play so little yesterday??)
8:30:46 PM: Achara follows his steal on the last possession with an awful jump closeout and can only watch as Claver breezes past and draws the foul
8:33:15 PM: Some great play from GB off the set play. Lead now 7 for Spain. Timeout GB. Spain taking so much time off the shot clock with their defense.
8:34:14 PM: Sergio Scariolo’s Xs and Os board looks like a 4yr old’s etch-a-sketch.
8:35:55 PM: Pops hustling Reyes and forcing the turnover. Lenzly nails the three to cut the lead to 6. GB staying with the Spanish here.
8:37:42 PM: Refs have kept their whistles in their pockets for this 2nd quarter so far but decided to balance that by calling a bogus intentional on RA
8:38:49 PM: Pau Gasol is 4-8 from the line in this game, to follow 1-8 vs. Serbia last night. His last miss was ugly.
8:39:51 PM: Pops takes it strong to the hoop and gets hit by Marc Gasol. If he makes both GB get back within 9.
8:42:15 PM: GB are getting a lot of looks on offense and are converting well but they can’t get a stop on the defensive end.
8:46:00 PM: Timeout GB – Finch: “Show zone, when the ball goes to the wing, lets go man-to-man. Front the post. Let’s get a big stop here!”
8:47:00 PM: Half-time: Spain 44 – 35 Great Britain
8:48:13 PM: GB scored exactly the same amount of points at the half as they had yesterday vs. Slovenia. Story of the half – FTA (GB 5 – 14 Spain)
9:08:01 PM: Finch: “Comon’ Pops be dynamic. Everyone keep moving … Swing the ball around … I called this fuckin’ timeout so let’s take our chance!”
9:10:00 PM: 9 point lead for Spain, GB starting to move the ball around against Spain’s zone defense.
9:14:03 PM: 16 point lead for Spain. GB falling apart on the back of more sloppy turnovers just like yesterday vs. Slovenia.
9:16:16 PM: Pau Gasol tries the ol’ NBA pivot foot switcheroo and gets called for travelling. GB clearly felt bad and returned the favour.
9:23:41 PM: Pops picks up his 4th foul, followed by Freeland. Ref’s itching for their whistles again.
9:26:37 PM: Reinking with the HUGE three. Lead cut to 8 @ Team GB 54 – 62 Spain [Spain timeout]
9:27:59 PM: Smart foul from Sullivan to stop Marc Gasol’s easy dunk attempt. 50 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, GB down by 9. Still in this game.
9:29:51 PM: Rudy hits the dagger from behind the arc but GB get the easy layup to finish the quarter 10 pts down. GB have 10 mins to pull off the upset
9:32:34 PM: Great help defense from Team GB but Claver draws the foul and misses both.
9:34:16 PM: GB are really going for this. Steals and bodies hitting the floor. Great hustle. Spain 66 – 58 GB as Rudy Fernandes picks up the Technical
9:36:32 PM: REINKING MAKES A RIDICULOUS THREE POINT PLAY!!! – GB down 4 with 7 mins to play
9:37:18 PM: Offensive foul called on Claver as Achara draws the offensive foul. GB possession, still down 4
9:38:08 PM: THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE from Jarrett Hart to make it a one point game with Spain leading. TIMEOUT SPAINNNN!!
9:39:49 PM: That is a TERRIBLE call.
9:40:57 PM: Great travel call against Marc Gasol, GB have another chance to take the lead in this game!
9:41:25 PM: THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE MIKE LENZLY FROM THE CORNER!!!! GB 68 – 66 Spain
9:43:00 PM: Achara hits the long two for the GB lead but fouls out on the defensive end after Gasol draws the foul.
9:43:48 PM: Finch: “Lets take a bit breather here, big breather here…Stay aggressive, move it”
9:44:15 PM: Amaechi: “Again we have to apologise for the ‘industrial’ language being used by GB head coach Chris Finch here.”
9:44:44 PM: Gasol can’t buy a free throw.
9:45:08 PM: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM JARRETT HART FOR THREEE! GB BY FOUR!
9:45:46 PM: GB on a 17-2 run.
9:46:41 PM: Two turnovers in a row for GB but they still lead Spain by 2 with 3:41 left in the game.
9:48:15 PM: Gasol knocks down a three to give Spain a 1pt lead, less than 3 minutes left.
9:55:52 PM: Again, GB throw it away with sloppy turnovers. Travelling, bad passes. All during crunch time in the 4th quarter like yesterday vs. Slovenia
9:57:57 PM: Great effort from GB but they couldn’t pull it out in the end. Bring on Serbia tomorrow @ 20.00 GMT!
10:00:38 PM: Final Score: Spain 84 – 76 Great Britain // GB put in an awesome performance but just came up short vs. a nearly full strength Spanish team
Live Blog: Team GB vs. Slovenia
Posted by Coach Harris in LiveBlog, Team GB on September 7, 2009
5:41:16 PM: Archibald draws the foul on Brezec and cuts the Slovenia lead to 2 with the three point play
5:42:17 PM: Nice work by Boyd creating late in the shot clock, GB are getting to the line
5:44:36 PM: All tied up at 29, Freeland with the AND1
5:45:19 PM: Pops with the huge block followed by HORRIBLE inbounds defense
5:48:49 PM: Smart work from Lenzly to draw the foul late in the clock on the switch, basically assaulted by Jogodnik
5:50:30 PM: GB take the lead! Freeland draws the foul inside and makes the basket. GB are really getting it done in the low post
5:50:54 PM: GB Assistant Coach Nick Nurse: “We’re in the bonus, keep pounding it in there!”
5:57:17 PM: Half-time: Slovenia 37 – 35 Great Britain
5:59:37 PM: Pops leading all scorers with 11pts and 4rbs off the bench
6:12:30 PM: Second half about to get started, GB trail by 2 after being down 12 after the first quarter
6:15:22 PM: Great hustle from Sullivan off Archibald’s miss. GB aren’t moving the ball quick enough around the perimeter, too much ball holding
6:15:46 PM: Slovenia can’t buy a three
6:16:58 PM: Better pick and roll defense from GB so far this half although they’re not getting the ball on the broken plays
6:18:42 PM: Spoke too soon, two threes in a row from Slovenia. Pops draws the intentional foul inside on Nachbar
6:20:58 PM: Pops with another massive block on Nachbar from the weak side gamble
6:21:50 PM: Reinking just broke Dragic in half then promptly airballed the sweet spot jumpshot
6:24:56 PM: Boyd just been mistaken for Reinking for the 600000th time. Both small and white I guess.
6:27:15 PM: Good strength from Andy Betts, bulldozing everyone out of the paint for 2
6:31:17 PM: End of the 3rd quarter – Slovenia 51 – 47 Great Britain. GB can definitely take this, just need to keep getting to the line
6:33:34 PM: Pops dances through the [non-existent] defense for the AND1
6:34:16 PM: More consecutive threes from Slovenia. Hand-in-the-face.
6:39:09 PM: Pops trying to do too much on consecutive possessions. No ball movement from GB, now down by 13. Finch takes a timeout
6:39:47 PM: Wow, straight out of a timeout into a shot clock violation.
6:40:33 PM: Slovenia on a 10-0 run. Samo Udrih playing out of his skin
6:42:53 PM: Amaechi: “Britain getting double-teamed on the post because there’s so little movement anywhere else.”
6:44:48 PM: That’s killed it, 6′11 Lorbek nails a three at the shot clock buzzer. GB down 15 with 2:35 to play.
6:49:05 PM: GB look tired, neither team scored in the last 2 minutes.
6:51:19 PM: Final Score: Slovenia 72 – 59 Great Britain // GB just ran out of steam and started making errors as Slovenia started nailing their threes
Team GB on TV!
Posted by Coach Harris in Team GB on September 3, 2009
Great news for UK basketball fans! Team GB’s games at Eurobasket 2009 are being shown live online by the BBC. Team GB also managed to secure insurance for Pops Mensah-Bonsu so he’ll be participating in the tournament. Not that this will greatly improve GB’s chances of getting out of the group of death, but at least he’ll be back with the team.
GameOn @ the O2 Arena
Posted by Coach Harris in Team GB on August 21, 2009
This past weekend saw Team GB compete against Turkey, Israel and Poland in the GameOn 2009 tournament 
at London’s O2 Arena. Promotion for the event centered heavily on Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng’s presence in the GB team. However much of the pre-event hype had died down in the wake of the news that Deng was choosing to sit out the tournament to rest his injured right leg.
Pops Mensah-Bonsu was GB’s backup NBA star until he too pulled out of the event, presumably to concentrate on contract negotiations in the US (Mensah-Bonsu was released by Toronto but today reached a verbal agreement on a one-year deal with the Houston Rockets). Deng and Mensah-Bonsu were joined on the inactive list by Andy Betts and Robert Archibald (after being injured in the opening game), leaving Team GB at a huge disadvantage before the tournament had even started.
I missed the first round of games, during which GB lost to the Polish team, featuring Orlando Magic backup center Marcin Gortat. On the second day, GB came up against a strong Turkish team led by Toronto’s Hedo Turkoglu.
The game was fairly even throughout, with solid play from Joel Freeland and Dan Clark in the low post replacing the veteran presence of the absent Archibald. Turkish coach Bogdan Tanjević was unhappy with the officiating and was assessed a technical foul for complaining in the second quarter. Tempers flared again in the third quarter as GB backup point guard Justin Robinson was involved in an altercation with a Turkish player. Both teams had to be seperated by the officials and were assessed double unsportsmanlike fouls. The brief melee on court added to the frustrations of the Turkish team and both Turkoglu and Tanjević were assessed technicals, the Turkish coach being ejected from the game.
GB lost hold of the game in the final stages as their offense began to struggle. Turkoglu made a couple of big plays for Turkey including a fadeaway jumpshot from the right elbow as the shot clock was winding down. Overall it was a decent performance from GB against a relatively strong side. In the end they just weren’t able to keep their composure on the offensive end to win the game.
The final day saw GB take on Israel in an attempt to remove themselves from the bottom of the tournament standings with a record of 0-2.
Legendary Israeli head coach Zvi Sherf had earlier conducted a coaches clinic as part of the Basketball Coaches Association’s National Coaching Conference, and his team came onto the floor knowing that a win would guarantee second place in the final standings.
Once again GB exchanged baskets with Israel as they had done against Turkey the night before, however Israel’s guards were very aggressive on the chase and GB’s outside shooters were afforded little space to manoeuvre on the perimeter and could only throw up contested shots late in the shot clock. In contrast, Israel were able to take advantage of GB’s perimeter defense and exploited this with a succession of penetrate-and-kick actions which left GB wide open for Israel’s three point specialists to rain in an outside barrage. Dan Clark started strongly in the low post but missed a couple of short hook shots late in the game that might have challenged the outcome, however Israel emerged deserving victors.
Team GB ended the tournament with a 0-3 record however strong showings by young big men Freeland and Clark will give plenty of encouragement to head coach Chris Finch, who must learn from the event and prepare his team for Eurobasket Poland 2009 in a month’s time.
Social Networking
