another frustrating loss. another game that we should have won. it was everything you could want in a playoff game. both teams were testy as this was our third game in a row. again we were without vlas (my point guard and the best player in the league) and paul. denise (my starting center) was limited due to his shoulder injury. after my basketball.kg article speaking out against teams bringing in new players and how it was paramount to cheating (as mobile seti has done with their two recruits) - my owner, of course decided to bring in his own ringer from bc caspin - vlad the point guard.
we had a good week of practice. vlad quick to pick up our offense and the team quick to adopt to the way he played. but we came out slow - even slower than usual. 8 turnovers in the first quarter. it went down hill from there. down by 14 after the first quarter. down by 20 at half. down by 26 to start the third quarter. they didn't do anything fancy... we just couldn't rebound. we missed open shots. and we continued to turn the ball over (28 in total for the whole game). we made a strong come back in the third quarter. only being down by six with four minutes left. then something strange but not surprising happened - every call went against us. on one position. we were called for three fouls and one technical. mobile set scored 8 points without us even touching the ball. the head official (who sits at the scorers table during the game) apologized to me but it was too late - the damage had been done.
we lost by 11 and are now out of the championship.
i realize it is just a game and that it is central asia... but i really took this loss hard. starting to question what i could have done differently to change the outcome. what i could have done differently to improve the team.
our next game is in one month (the playoffs are suspended as players are leaving with the national team for a tournament) so i have a lot of time to think about it.
