Oh man, this wasn't even funny.
Somehow a team of 5th graders was placed in this 6th-8th grade league. I haven't reviewed the video yet, but the final score was something like 85-25. In the second half we shuffled the lineup around so that forwards were playing point guard and vice versa to try to stem the tide.
So on a day of grim satisfaction, there were some pleasing signs of progress. Mainly, we discovered what turned out to be a dominant man-to-man defense in the 4th quarter. It was the first time we'd played that defense all season. More importantly, we ran the pick-and-roll about ten times, which is a tool we'll definitely need in the weeks to come.
There are three games left. First is a rematch against the Nuggets, who baptized us with a 44-22 loss in game 1. Then comes the league's top team the Sixers the following week, who we narrowly lost to in week 2, and who also returns several key missing players from that game. Should we win, I believe that we'll be in the championship game -- a third contest against the Sixers.
The team's feeling confident, and I'd guess overconfident. On Monday I'll remind them that we've played much younger teams recently, and also that we've come a long way ourselves. There's plenty of motivation to keep us sharp in practice the next three weeks to finish on a high note. Our goal is to become a great team, which is different from being a winning team. Win or lose, we must take pride in improving.
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