The View From the Armchair – Game 10 vs Ateneo

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It was a tough day at the office for our young Green Archers yesterday. As they were getting blown away by the defending champs, 74-57, the team looked like a bunch of youngsters playing with opponents a few years older than them. Which just about describes it perfectly. It was an old-fashioned beating administered by a well coached, well drilled veteran team to our young 'uns.

This was our first loss by a wide margin, and it was also the first game we were dominated for practically the entire game. Ateneo came prepared for our press and for our standard defenses, they knew what to do, while our players were always reacting to what the Blue Eagles did. And our standard plays were well scouted, as were our players' tendencies. Our picks, our staggered screens, our pick-and-roll plays, all were well defended proactively. Our team lost its composure early to trail at the half 21-39, and the game was effectively lost at that point. For everything we tried to do, there was an effective counterpunch. They were prepared, while we were surprised. The result wasn't unexpected.

That having been said, it's probably fortuitous that we lost this way at this point in time. The loss exposed our weaknesses, and now the challenge is to plug the holes in the Archer game. Yes, as Coach Dindo said, the team didn't play Archer basketball, but much of that was due to the way the Blue Eagles forced us out of our game. After yesterday's exercise in "what not to do",  it's unlikely that our team will permit the same thing to happen to them in the succeeding games.

What went wrong

Lots of things.

We lost the game in the first half, when Ateneo came out of a timeout staring at a 9-4 deficit to string together 15 straight points to open up an 8point lead, 11-19, at the end of the first quarter. Our shellshocked players were unable to respond when Ateneo poured in 10 unanswered points to extend the lead to 18 at 11-29, and the game was lost. The early loss of composure and confidence told on our young players, and they were thoroughly outplayed the rest of the way. The pumped up Blue Eagles repeatedly beat them to the “50-50” loose balls, won the battle of the boards, 36-46, and stole more balls than we did, 5-8.

It was a Long day for the Green Archers

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La Salle suffered its worst beating of the season at the hands of Ateneo 57-74 today. After leading by 5 early in the ballgame, the Green Archers struggled offensively  against the zone defense put up by Ateneo. Long led the Blue Eagles’ offensive onslaught in the first quarter that enabled them to erect a huge 18-point lead by halftime. The pulled away for good in the second half as their lead went as high as 25 points at one point and the closest the Archers could get was within 14. Long led Ateneo with 22 points.

The Archers’ game today was really bad, like a complete 180 from how they played in their last game against UP. They showed a lot of tentativeness especially during Ateneo’s scoring run and this affected their execution all throughout the match. The team’s perimeter scoring was shut down by the good defense put up by the Eagles. Only Jovet was the sole bright spot as he fought valiantly despite the huge deficit. He led the team with 20 markers but he didn't get enough support from his teammates offensively. Overall, the team didn’t show the energy that could have made today’s contest somewhat interesting.

Though they dropped to 6-4, anything can still happen for the Archers with 4 games left in their elimination round schedule. They are currently at 4th spot with a 2-game lead over NU (4-6).

Let's see how the Green Archers will respond to this disappointing loss.

Box Scores
DLSU 57 – Mendoza 20, Villanueva 7, Andrada 6, Tampus 5, Tolentino 5, Atkins 5, Marata 4, de la Paz 3, Webb 2, Vosotros 0,
Paredes 0, Elorde 0, Ferdinand 0, Banal 0.

Ateneo 74 – Long 22, dela Cruz 10, Buenafe 9, Salva 9, Monfort 7, Salamat 6, Golla 6, Austria 3, Escueta 2, Chua 2, Erram 0, Tiongson 0.

Quarter scoring: 19-11, 39-21, 61-40, 74-57.

Pregame: Green Archers vs Blue Eagles Round 2

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Can the Green Archers clip the Blue Eagle’s wings for a second straight time this season? Possibly, but it will be harder this time. During their first round encounter, the heavily-favored Ateneo team was left flabbergasted when they saw their seemingly large 9-point margin disappear in a matter of 3 minutes. Yes, it appeared to be a won game already for them but La Salle snatched it away at the last minute.
All livid and aching for some payback, expect the defending champions to stamp their class over our young team right from the onset of the game. La Salle has to be physically and mentally prepared as they will be in for a tough 40-minute grind this coming Sunday.

What should the Green Archers not do?
Be Overexcited - Playing in front of thousands of rabid fans as well as being seen by millions in television, it seems like the whole world is watching your every move. In a game where the stakes are high, there is a tendency for players to show some hesitation with the fear of being scrutinized for every possible mistake. I say just have fun, play loose out there and enjoy.

Losing their cool - Expect Ateneo to be a physical, especially on defense. They will maximize whatever advantage they have in terms of bulk and experience to the hilt in this showdown. Though the Archers have already shown a lot of poise and composure especially against the other rugged teams in the UAAP, this game brings a different atmosphere all together.

What the numbers say so far
After 9 games, it might be interesting to look at the comparative stats to see how this game might go. The UAAP has compiled the numbers of all the teams, so let’s look how the teams have performed in the different areas of the game.

The key individuals
Ateneo Coach Black has a regular 9-man rotation to which he gives an average of at least 10 minutes of playing time per game: Long (26), Salamat (25), Salva (23), Buenafe (21), Chua (19), Golla (18), Monfort (16), Escueta (14), dela Cruz (14). Coach Dindo allocates at least 10 minutes to 11 players, and most likely Gab would also have averaged that if he had been fit. Only Nico, Oda, Martin, and Aiki have been seeing an average of less than a quarter of action per game.

Scoring
Ateneo ranked 2nd in points scored with an average of 72.6 ppg against the Archers’ 70.6, while on defensive end, Ateneo is #1, allowing opponents to score 62.1 ppg against our 62.8 ppg. Clearly both teams are very defensively oriented. As far as the points are concerned, the teams are roughly equal.