Post by FLHoya on Aug 5, 2006 0:12:27 GMT -5
I just can't shake the feeling that the Magic is gone from our relationship.
Despite what was arguably Roy Hibbert's most dominating performance of the summer and his going for a "Sweetney" (35+ and 20+...it's like the "Turkey" of box score superlatives), thanks to poor shot selection, poor defense, and a seemingly unconscious run of three pointers (you'd think 90210 was the zip code for Morgantown circa March 2005), Bethesda Magic held a 12 point lead midway through the second half.
Then, despite what was arguably the sickest basket of the summer--Jessie Sapp going off the backboard...from distance...with spin...to Deron Washington for an alley oop which was picked up on the DCA radar--the Magic finally ran out, as the Old Gray Mares steal led to a 3 pointer that was in and out in the most painful fashion you can imagine...picture Drew Hall's shot against Pitt at MCI in Jan. 2002, except that it went further down and danced on the cup longer.
I honestly felt bad for Bethesda Magic and their fans (they had, inexplicably, quite the cheering section, including one old dude channeling Ric Flair after every basket). The reaction of the BM players after the game was pretty rough--some slumped down on the court, I think one punched the basket support in frustration, one threw something at the locker room door. They honestly deserved to win and certainly gave a better effort on the night. That's the breaks sometimes though, and this time the Clyde's Restaurant Group affiliated team escaped from a last second three to win by an 86-83 margin.
This wasn't a case of an early run and double digit lead turning into complacency, as was the case with The Tombs last night. Where The Tombs seemed to implode on offense in the second half and disappear on the defensive glass all of a sudden, Clyde's flaws manifested themselves more evenly throughout the game.
In some sense, this resembled a classic case of Mid-Major meets Big State U in the first round of a NCAA tournament game (although, in deference to the many GMU fans in attendance for the second game, one wonders what the Patriots' run will do to this archetype). BM clearly had nobody that could come close to guarding Roy Hibbert one on one, and they were playing with what could fairly be called an athletic deficit. So they did two things with varying degrees of success during the game:
1. They double and sometimes tripled-teamed Roy Hibbert in the post, many times prior to his receiving a pass. Roy's stat line, which you'll see later, suggests that this was largely a lost cause. But absent a few bursts during the game, Roy was the only consistent option Clyde's had going on the night...and there were many possessions where Roy couldn't free himself from the double coverage or guards became impatient and passed him up. BM was trying at all costs to let someone other than Roy Hibbert beat them. At times, especially the early to mid second half, it worked rather well.
2. They shot a ton of three pointers. When the mid-major/West Virginia gets hot from three in a tournament game, it can change the tone of the game. Roy was eating BM alive early on despite the extra attention, but they never pulled away because BM went on a darn near unconscious run of hitting three pointers. This continued again in the second half and helped BM build a 12 point lead almost out of nowhere. And heck, why not? Clyde's perimeter defense was outlandishly poor, and many of those threes were not nearly as contested as they should have been.
So we were treated to quite an entertaining game in the end, if one that was a bit jarring to the system.
At 3:05 to go in the first half for instance, Roy Hibbert officially picked up a double-double for the game...and yet his team wasn't even up double digits. At the half the score was 48-44...high scoring and you know what? Pretty darn entertaining.
What killed Clyde's in the second half was poor decision making. Where it was turnovers and sloppy passes for Tombs last night, Clyde's fell victim to ridiculous shot selection and a general lack of offensive direction in the half. Jessie Sapp played some part in this, although at best a supporting one--the two Clyde's guards were just jacking up awful stuff and missing by a mile. Further, if you look at the stat log I have for Hibbert, there's clearly a point in the second half where he went for a long stretch without scoring and with only 1 FG attempt.
BM did lead by 12 for about a possession in the second half, and with 10:12 to go in the game they were up 71-61 and GTown fans were openly contemplating having to...you know...find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon that may or may not involve the surprisingly cool McDonough Gym (turns out when 3,000 fans aren't crammed in there it's rather temperate). 75-65 was the height of the Bethesda "Magic" if you will, as with a timeout mixed in for good measure Clyde's stepped up its intensity--Jessie Sapp drawing a travelling/prob. a charge at halfcourt being a highlight--and closed on a 21-8 run.
I always chart the final minute of a game in KL if it's tight to see who gets the chance to handle/make a big play at the end.
With 1:15 to go, Clyde's was up 82-80 with Bethesda Magic holding the ball.
On the first possession, Roy picked up his 8th block of the night. Jessie Sapp followed by missing a three pointer, which Roy rebounded but was tied up. The jump ball kept it with Clyde's. Roy cashed in a tip-in bucket to make it 84-80. Off of a loose ball scrum near halfcourt, Jessie Sapp threw the alley oop pass to Washington on a man advantage break (forget if it was 2-1, 3-1, or 3-2) to make it 86-80 and seemingly ice it. But Bethesda Magic hit a three with 12 seconds to go to make it 86-83.
BM faced a dilemma here, b/c they only had 5 team fouls and in Kenner you don't shoot 1 and 1 until the 10th foul. They commited a foul on the first inbounds with about 10 seconds to go. Then, sure enough, they got the steal under the basket, kicked it out to a shooter behind the arc...who faked out one Clyde's defender wildly rushing in...then reset right at the line a little to the left of the top of the key and just barely missed it. Roy snatched the rebound and was fouled as the buzzer went off.
Not bad for what was probably the 1 vs. 8 game.
AHEAD: Roy bowls a Turkey.
Despite what was arguably Roy Hibbert's most dominating performance of the summer and his going for a "Sweetney" (35+ and 20+...it's like the "Turkey" of box score superlatives), thanks to poor shot selection, poor defense, and a seemingly unconscious run of three pointers (you'd think 90210 was the zip code for Morgantown circa March 2005), Bethesda Magic held a 12 point lead midway through the second half.
Then, despite what was arguably the sickest basket of the summer--Jessie Sapp going off the backboard...from distance...with spin...to Deron Washington for an alley oop which was picked up on the DCA radar--the Magic finally ran out, as the Old Gray Mares steal led to a 3 pointer that was in and out in the most painful fashion you can imagine...picture Drew Hall's shot against Pitt at MCI in Jan. 2002, except that it went further down and danced on the cup longer.
I honestly felt bad for Bethesda Magic and their fans (they had, inexplicably, quite the cheering section, including one old dude channeling Ric Flair after every basket). The reaction of the BM players after the game was pretty rough--some slumped down on the court, I think one punched the basket support in frustration, one threw something at the locker room door. They honestly deserved to win and certainly gave a better effort on the night. That's the breaks sometimes though, and this time the Clyde's Restaurant Group affiliated team escaped from a last second three to win by an 86-83 margin.
This wasn't a case of an early run and double digit lead turning into complacency, as was the case with The Tombs last night. Where The Tombs seemed to implode on offense in the second half and disappear on the defensive glass all of a sudden, Clyde's flaws manifested themselves more evenly throughout the game.
In some sense, this resembled a classic case of Mid-Major meets Big State U in the first round of a NCAA tournament game (although, in deference to the many GMU fans in attendance for the second game, one wonders what the Patriots' run will do to this archetype). BM clearly had nobody that could come close to guarding Roy Hibbert one on one, and they were playing with what could fairly be called an athletic deficit. So they did two things with varying degrees of success during the game:
1. They double and sometimes tripled-teamed Roy Hibbert in the post, many times prior to his receiving a pass. Roy's stat line, which you'll see later, suggests that this was largely a lost cause. But absent a few bursts during the game, Roy was the only consistent option Clyde's had going on the night...and there were many possessions where Roy couldn't free himself from the double coverage or guards became impatient and passed him up. BM was trying at all costs to let someone other than Roy Hibbert beat them. At times, especially the early to mid second half, it worked rather well.
2. They shot a ton of three pointers. When the mid-major/West Virginia gets hot from three in a tournament game, it can change the tone of the game. Roy was eating BM alive early on despite the extra attention, but they never pulled away because BM went on a darn near unconscious run of hitting three pointers. This continued again in the second half and helped BM build a 12 point lead almost out of nowhere. And heck, why not? Clyde's perimeter defense was outlandishly poor, and many of those threes were not nearly as contested as they should have been.
So we were treated to quite an entertaining game in the end, if one that was a bit jarring to the system.
At 3:05 to go in the first half for instance, Roy Hibbert officially picked up a double-double for the game...and yet his team wasn't even up double digits. At the half the score was 48-44...high scoring and you know what? Pretty darn entertaining.
What killed Clyde's in the second half was poor decision making. Where it was turnovers and sloppy passes for Tombs last night, Clyde's fell victim to ridiculous shot selection and a general lack of offensive direction in the half. Jessie Sapp played some part in this, although at best a supporting one--the two Clyde's guards were just jacking up awful stuff and missing by a mile. Further, if you look at the stat log I have for Hibbert, there's clearly a point in the second half where he went for a long stretch without scoring and with only 1 FG attempt.
BM did lead by 12 for about a possession in the second half, and with 10:12 to go in the game they were up 71-61 and GTown fans were openly contemplating having to...you know...find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon that may or may not involve the surprisingly cool McDonough Gym (turns out when 3,000 fans aren't crammed in there it's rather temperate). 75-65 was the height of the Bethesda "Magic" if you will, as with a timeout mixed in for good measure Clyde's stepped up its intensity--Jessie Sapp drawing a travelling/prob. a charge at halfcourt being a highlight--and closed on a 21-8 run.
I always chart the final minute of a game in KL if it's tight to see who gets the chance to handle/make a big play at the end.
With 1:15 to go, Clyde's was up 82-80 with Bethesda Magic holding the ball.
On the first possession, Roy picked up his 8th block of the night. Jessie Sapp followed by missing a three pointer, which Roy rebounded but was tied up. The jump ball kept it with Clyde's. Roy cashed in a tip-in bucket to make it 84-80. Off of a loose ball scrum near halfcourt, Jessie Sapp threw the alley oop pass to Washington on a man advantage break (forget if it was 2-1, 3-1, or 3-2) to make it 86-80 and seemingly ice it. But Bethesda Magic hit a three with 12 seconds to go to make it 86-83.
BM faced a dilemma here, b/c they only had 5 team fouls and in Kenner you don't shoot 1 and 1 until the 10th foul. They commited a foul on the first inbounds with about 10 seconds to go. Then, sure enough, they got the steal under the basket, kicked it out to a shooter behind the arc...who faked out one Clyde's defender wildly rushing in...then reset right at the line a little to the left of the top of the key and just barely missed it. Roy snatched the rebound and was fouled as the buzzer went off.
Not bad for what was probably the 1 vs. 8 game.
AHEAD: Roy bowls a Turkey.
