Two weeks ago, we were gearing up for our trip to Boston, and struggled through that gauntlet of games and events to come back home to games in Clark, Wayne, and Lincoln Park, New Jersey. For a travel team, six games in three days is unheard of, as the leagues generally make sure that you don't play more than three a week. After the struggles we had enduring in Boston, you'd think we'd be wary of such a tough schedule of travel and new competition. I spent the week thinking about how I'd handle the rotation to keep guys somewhat fresh and put up a competitive showing. Then, came game #1 of the weekend.
We had a late game Friday night in Clark, which is about 45 minutes away with traffic. The boys showed up energized and excited. I had a good day at work, so we had the energy level high, had a few laughs, stretched, got loose and took to the court with fire and purpose. The Readington team we played had a taller kid who could do just about everything, and he definitely caused some problems for us early - guys were afraid to attack the rim, had a lot of fade aways, but we were able to get him away from the ball long enough for us to get some good looks and played great defense to get some quick transition buckets and force them to burn a time out first. Message of the time out: Keep playing great defense, and don't be afraid of his height - dare him to block you without fouling. I don't know if it was the energy, or if the elevators are making it to the top floor, but we just played a great game all around. In keeping with trying to keep fatigue at bay for the weekend, bench guys got more time and made the most of it and gave some quality minutes. We won by 8 and everyone was all smiles. Somehow though, the facility reported us with an 11-point margin of victory (key detail, keep it in the back of your mind).
Saturday was a full day for everyone. Three games in one day - whew!! Our first game was in Clark against Cranford. Good, tough, battle the whole way, but we just fell into a hole early with some bad box outs and a surprisingly good shooting percentage by the other team. We fought to the end and fell short by 5. The boys got a few hours to relax and then we had a playoff game in Wayne. I knew I really had to play it safe with the minutes so we could play our last 3 games of the weekend. We had another good game of quality minutes from the bench, and while the margin of victory was just 2 points, what impressed me most is that there was no panic. I spent seasons telling my team that until you see me panic, there's no need for you to panic, only to see them reaching for the red button and just falling apart. Not a sign of panic, just trust in each other and their coach to get this victory. The last game of the day was around the corner in Lincoln Park. Again, got quality minutes from our bench but you could tell that the boys were getting tired - more so mentally than physically. We were moving, but the mistakes were just those that said their brains were fried. Again, the boys impressed me with how much they fought and willed their way into a competitive battle to a 7-point loss, even though everyone in the building could tell they were playing on fumes.
Sunday - the last regular season game of our league and of all the games it was our cross-town rival. If you looked at the match up on paper, and our records, the margins of victory, and things like that, you would have been floored by the game that took place that morning. It was a battle, and we were right there the entire game, staying within 5 points for most of the game. Ultimately, if we could have gotten more shots to go in, we may have pulled the upset, but again - just about everyone in the gym expected us to get destroyed and we held our own. We all left feeling good about what took place - we played with pride, intensity, and energy. All the things I've asked for all season long finally coming through and giving us something to be happy about. The momentum from the effort in the morning carried us down to Clark in the afternoon to secure a 7-point victory over Roseland with yet another solid team effort.
We then take a few moments to see how we stack up against our pool in the Clark tournament, and when we walk over to the board and see a +11, -5 and +7, which adds up to +13. Cool, there's on game left to be played and if Cranford loses to Readington, we'll get a 3 way tie and it will come down to points. Well, Cranford was sitting at +13, Readington was sitting at 0, so all we needed was for Cranford to lose and we'd take the 1 seed, if Readington lost, we'd lock up a 2-seed. We were so excited to finally earn another trip to a tournament playoff bracket. Cranford ended up losing by 10. 3-way tie! And we won the points race! Oh wait - they reported our first game score wrong. We are only at +10 (+8, -5, +7) and Readington is +13 (+10, -8, +11). And then to break the rest of the tie, it goes based on the head to head record, which gave the 2-seed to...Cranford. So we DON'T get to play in the playoffs?!? So close, and after a great weekend filled with the spirit of basketball, you don't get to advance. This is arguably one of the most heartbreaking endings I've experienced, because the kids were so excited and had me so excited for them, only to have to go back and say that we didn't even get in. I just hope that they remember how it felt to play this weekend, and carry it forward. Like I said, maybe the lights are starting to come on, or maybe just having experienced a tough weekend in Boston, or a combination of both made this weekend one of the most exciting weekends I've experienced.
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