Rainmen take over first

OK, so we won. I am excited. But we were up by 25 on one of the best teams in the league and we allowed it to dwindle to 4 pts before putting it away. Lewis has made some weird decisions this year, but this was the topper. It is understandable that a team will go on runs. How do you change the momentum? Take a timeout, run a different play, make a sub or watch the lead dwindle to 11 pts before doing anything? You got it, it's the Sub from the stupid Subway commercial. IE.. it is so blatantly obvious that you need to do something that you don't do it.

Lewis is a good guy in public. We hear more and more about what goes on behind closed doors and I watch his decisions and I wonder why? Why leave Jimmy, shooting less than 50% at the time from the line in the game when they were fouling? Why not get the ball to Dandridge, who was spotless from the line until late in the fourth? Why not run the clock down and kill the game?

All questions I can't answer. it becomes apparent that he has his favorites and although he has now added in some plays, he is not that basketball astute. I know it is easy to criticise, but there are times as a coach you have to do something. This isn't fair play leagues where you have to give players crunch time minutes. You need to notch the wins and get to playoffs. He needed to call a timeout and everyone in the crowd, including Darrell Dexter agreed. Go coalition, lol.. !

Now for the positives, and there were many. What an amazing third quarter running a 10 point lead to 25 at one point. We defended doggedly and got some steals and forced bad shots. It was awesome to behold as a fan. We need to continue to bury teams when they are down.

Dandridge had what I felt was his best game so far. He shot under control, he came off screens and he got to the rim a couple times, drawing fouls. He got a few boards and looked very good overall, ending up with 23 pts and a couple boards. When he gets to the hoop and pulls up, he has a very good shot. He only took one crazy shot. Also, they assigned him to guard Ferguson "moneyball" and he kept him relatively quiet.

Strick continues to develop as a great low post option. He scored some points, riled the other team and had some wicked assists. His foulshooting is terrible but amusing. Hilarity when he is on the floor. I may have to make a binocular sign for next game!

Sanders was a beast. 30 points on 10-13 shooting, putting them in foul trouble in a dominant third period. 16 boards, a few swipes at people's heads and brought some fire to the team. He is a great player and I regret saying he had no heart last year.. but he does. How could they let him go.

Bailey had another solid game and I would love to see more of him. He is a utility guy that bangs inside, goes for boards and gets some blocks. With Rob, Strick, Silverhorn playing well, it ate up some minutes. Brian's return was key but I don't like the lack of running back, especially on the home court, make some effort, but a good return overall with 22 and 6. Overall the foulshooting seemed better and the three point percentage was way up from 26 to 38% owing to getting wide open looks which I do have to credit Lewis for as the team is running some new plays and getting the ball to where people can have a look at the hoop. It seems Dandridge is out of the funk and hopefully he stays there. Still love to see more Ramey and Cordell wasn't getting much run tonight after a good game on the weekend.

Premier Rodney Mayes added some great hustle off the bench and it was good to see Coach Strick working with Tyrone and getting him inside. new guy Bennett added some spark and he could be a valuable addition slashing and driving and dishing. Looks like another good pickup.

Now the scary.. They lit us up for threes in the end making it extremely uncomfortable for the team and the fans. Lewis needs to keep us with big leads to keep the fans from losing their minds. He had no plan to stop the threes and CP had a great idea to foul their players and make them hit the 1 and 1 but they were shooting from the line really well.

Taunting
Our favorite guy today was number 33, Scary Carey who started doing some yapping during the game which got us into it.. We were so in his head. Not a bad player, but he should have been going against Strick all night. That was a fun matchup. also we gave him the gears for being very tired after running the court three times and then getting subbed. Hilarious and he was even looking over afterwards when he got a couple points... Scoreboard...

Strick is going to be trouble if he has to pop on on the screen and rolls, his guy scored a few long range Js. That is going to need coaching work. Ferguson "mOneyball " got great abuse due to his angry face, his one week in the NBA comment, his teammates wearing his shirt (lol), taunting them for how hard it was to play in front of 2000 instead of 50 in manchester, the lack of him playing any crunchtime minutes and the fact that one of our worst defenders was guarding him. I am glad we didn't pick up Mitchell with his diving antics. Number 7 drew our ire for throwing the ball hard off Bailey for which he got Teed up for. That was a terrible call. Chris was on him for not living like a Christian and not acting as Jesus wanted him too.. We will have to talk to that guy. BDPhil was on Salsheider for walking like someone from Deliverance..that one took a while Phil?? And of course, the coach took some abuse for always standing. CP was wondering when the goon squad was coming in and we all enjoyed the full line change. Sadly it changed the game to them for a while.

Note: I am not convinced on the stats because new guy Bennett had five points I am sure.

Highlights: Dandridge alley oop from Jimmy
Jimmy with a massive block
Strick's googles
EC's chain
Lewis finally calling timeout after a 14 pt run..
New guy bennett splitting the defence with crazy dribbles
Lastly, the huge putback dunk by Sanders.. that was awesome.. How did they let him go??

Last word: Consistency will be key in our next game. Dandridge continuing to hit the easy J's and stretching the defence, Silverhorn's contribution, and defensive intensity.. Keep it going Rainmen.

Rainmen lose tight game to Sasquatch

A tough 105-103 loss in this game. The end tale of the tape will show many missed free throws ended up costing us the game, coupled with some very poor three point shooting decisions. I had to think about this game for a while to give it a fair review. The play of Bailey and Brown was definitely a highlight for me (except the silly fouls when they were in the bonus in the third quarter). Brown was able to press up the court as was Twyman and it made it hard for the 'Squatch to get in rythm during the second half. SirVal had a couple good drives, a couple good passes and a couple threes. Bailey had a remarkable 8 blocks including passages of play where he blocked two consecutive by Montreal's top scorer. When he went out injured, I was worried as to where the energy would come from.

I still don't know why Crook was benched. I have no problem benching players, but usually a couple shifts is good. To sit down your star player for over 2 quarters is extreme and I hope Lewis had good reason. I am all for it if it keeps the team in line. In reality, we are missing a special piece of coaching. Overall the product is better than last year, but that is due to player abilities. I saw 2 plays run, a high screen (usual play) and then some high/ low screens. Even at higher levels, they run specific clearouts for specific players to hit the mismatches. For a few minutes Sanders was matched against a much smaller player and we could not take advantage. Whereas the Montreal players were constantly moving to support the ball and get open. In the fourth quarter, our intensity was high, stopping perimeter play, but our down low players could not stop the layups and second chance points.

Here is what I liked about the game: Full Court man to man press got them out their rythm
Play of Bailey and Sir Val was good and Cordell mostly came inside instead of focussing on jump shots. Jimmy was also solid. Sanders did as expected, Ramey was solid although he shot an airball.
Ran at least two plays including some screens off the ball
Less heave and hope three pointers
Defensive intensity
Shorter game intro...
Their coach was funny!

What I didn't like: Randy Gill- classic whiteboy syndrome, he was an assho....
What is going on with Kevin? In preseason (injured) he was getting to the hoop and took over the third quarter in one game.. we need that back at the point to open lanes for shooters
No adjustments for mismatches
No Eric
Tyrone trying to strip their 7 footer- play him straight up!

Random Rant:
Not starting our top lineup..Why is Dandridge still starting? The team needs to understand when the players are working to their best ability. Who shoots well coming off screens? Who needs to have a set shot? Can anyone work downlow? To me, it looks like Crook, Sanders, Silverhorn (or Cordell/Bailey if we want to go big), Jimmy and Kevin (when fit). I know it doesn't give you a pure shooting guard, but most of these players can hit that long 2...Zach does not shoot well from the cornersor middle but is light's out from the right and left of the key...I have not seen one player post up yet, not even our 7 footer, everyone wants to attack off the dribble..what a great pass to Ramey from Val for the alley oop...where was the interior D in the fourth...Why does Dandridge shoot at will..we missed Silverhorn...

Rick Lewis
I want to say that Lewis is a very well spoken man with a great ability to relate to people and create a connection. I would imagine this is why he has done so well til now as a coach. It must be hard to coach players that are trying to get a good statline in order to try and make it to the show. To think we can get players to give up for the greater good, may not be possible in this league. I don't believe that because we didn't see QC or MTL take really poor shots. Our team, while talented, is selfish. We seem to have a great team spirit (all credit to coach and owner) but are not basketball smart as a team. We need to really play to our players strengths. Lets get some movement to open lanes and get our feet moving instead of chucking up threes when noone is under the net to rebound. That part is frustrating to fans and players alike. I hope that by the second half of the season, Lewis will allow the team to evolve and get them playing better as a team, instead of just individuals.