So, I got my first high school win in the Spring, which I told you about in Undefeated! back in July. Well two Sundays ago, Coach D asked me to help him with his teams down in Lakewood since the schedules overlapped. I was a little nervous when I realized that meant I'd have to actually finish the game because unlike last time, I hadn't really been involved with this team - I didn't know the rotations, skill sets of each kid, plays they ran, etc. Going in blind. But that all went away when I realized who was on the team. Two of the kids I knew were great ballers, and would be able to help me get through it. For those that didn't hear it elsewhere, heady point guards that you can trust to run your style are arguably the greatest thing since sliced bread! The other just knew how to find ways to score, so I got settled down really quick and then just decided to focus on trying to get the other kids' rotations down and see where Coach D was using them. I don't know if he did it intentionally, but he managed to get all the others in for a few minutes and then it was halftime. We were in a tough battle, but the guys were playing defense and staying patient on offense getting good looks at the basket and taking advantage. At halftime, we had a 7 point lead. Then it was time for Coach D to leave.
I really have to work on my self-motivation. The horn goes to signify the end of half-time, the guys come up, not too worried that Coach D has left me at the helm - they had more faith in me than I did I guess. They were ready to go back out, I was telling myself, "You'd better not blow this." It's so much easier when you're comfortable, but you probably learn the most when you are extremely uncomfortable. And there's a lot of learning to be had for me.
So we go back on the floor, and all I'm trying to do is make sure we are holding tough on defense to hold this lead. Traded buckets and stops for a bit, then bang - 3 point bucket. Lead is 4. They get a stop and then the lead is 2. Now we fight the panic. I feel the nerves jumping, inside I'm screaming at myself because we are losing it while trying to calm myself down because it was just two plays with somewhere around 5 minutes left.
"You shouldn't be panicking yet. There's too much time, teams are supposed to make runs." "No, no, no. We had them the whole first half, Coach D leaves you with 7 points and now you have 2. What are you doing?!?"Fighting with yourself is not fun, even if you do always win. Especially if the other team comes down and ties the game while you are trying to figure out what to do. Okay, we have to settle this. The players aren't really looking panicked, so maybe I just needed to settle. Time out. I refocus, and just tell the guys that we have to make sure we're playing the tough D that got us the lead in the first half. They made a run, and it happens. We just have to stay composed, make sure we get a good look at the basket and a couple of stops and get this win. Listen to your own advice, coach...
Break the time out and we get a good look and drain it. Up two. Force a bad shot on defense and secure the rebound, going the other way and drive to the basket...INJURY! Great. There goes one scorer (he swore the whole ride after the game that it was intentional, but it just looked like a hard foul to me). Sub comes in for two free throws while he's getting looked at by the trainer on site. Clang - missed the first. And the second. So still up two. Another bad shot and we're under a minute. Intentional foul time. Call a time out just to say one thing - "You guys know who your free throw shooters are. They are going to full court man press you, so screen for them and get them the ball. When you get it, play keep away and kill as much clock as you can." Ball in, kill about 5 seconds, foul. Swoosh - drains the front end of the one and one. Swoosh. Up four. Other team must have been in panic mode, because the next shot they got was a forced 3 that barely caught rim. We're going the other way and manage to get the ball to Strobey before the foul comes. Strobey on the line is money in the bank if you didn't know. So yeah, up 6 now. The other team pushes the ball up and gets a good drive to the basket. Back to 4, but there's less than 5 seconds left. Surprisingly, we inbound the ball instead of just letting the clock run. Fortunately Strobey got the ball and went back to the line. Up 6 with 4 seconds. The usual no foul comes from our bench as they inbound the ball and heave up a half court shot that wasn't even close. We pulled it out and won by 6.
I know there's no such thing as a half a win, but I probably wouldn't have been able to deliver a win that game had Coach D not started it and given me that cushion. Like I said, there's a lot of learning to be had on my part. So, I'll just say I got half a win that day, even if it was mostly me beating my own nerves.
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