Synopsis: With Brian Eskildsen at the emergency room and a fractured Team Eskildsen staring at a potential 2-0 series deficit, one man, and one man alone was able to bring us back from the brink of extinction: Hops. In many ways, he was our John Connor, leading his army against the threat of permanent destruction at the hands of the superior Terminators. With 5 triples in the first half alone, Hops was able to provide hope and relief to his beleaguered team, and inspired them to a better performance. His halftime speech to rally the troops was the stuff of legend, and will probably rank among some of the great speeches of all time as the years roll by. William Wallace and MLK don't have anything on this guy. In the end, his revolutionary individual performance and Rocky Balboa sized heart propelled his team to a 74-62 victory and a 1-1 series tie.
Analysis: If I had told you before Game 2 that Chase Hardin would shoot 0 for 8 from the 3 point line, that Pitto and Wes would combine to shoot 2 for 12 from the 3 point line, and that Ben Wilson would've had just 10 points in this game, how much money would Team BC have bet that they would win? Looking back on it with hindsight, Team BC must be kicking itself for not winning this game and earning the first sweep in PCTI history. But it wasn't to be. Both teams came out swinging in the first half, landing body blows but not delivering any knockout punches. By halftime, Team BC held a slim 39-38 advantage. But in the second half, Team Eskildsen began to separate from Team BC, mostly because they just couldn't hit a shot. Scoring just 23 points in the second half, Team BC set an all-time mark for 3 point futility, shooting just 1 of 16. In case anybody is wondering, that is 6%. Team BC was able to shoot almost 50% from 2s in this game, but abandoned that successful strategy for the much less effective 4 for 26 from 3, and 4 for 11 from the line. That's 15% and 36% respectively. Team Eskildsen wasn't much better, but we at least were able to shoot 14 for 35 in the second half, hitting all 6 free throw attempts and adding 2 triples. Our 36-23 second half margin was the difference in the game. Team BC was hurt by two of its most potent offensive weapons, Abe and Mike Hite, combining to shoot just 6 of 29 from the field, adding 0 for 12 from deep and just 3 of 8 from the line. Team BC's offensive performance in the second half of this game will most likely not find itself in the annals of Coach Wooden's "Winning Basketball" DVD series.
Best Player: Hops. 8-15 FGAs, 6-9 3FGAs, 1-2 FTAs, 23 points, 9 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, lots of leadership, heart, and defense.
Honorable Mention 1: Bash Brothers. Bruise and Sabin combined for 10-19 FGAs, 5-5 FTAs, 25 points, 13 boards, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.
Honorable Mention 2: Podcast Brothers. BC and Joe combined for 10-22 FGAs, 3 triples, 23 points, 13 boards, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 steal, and 7 magnificent turnovers. Seriously fellas, that's a lot.
Honorable Mention 3: Hops' Halftime Speech. I'm convinced that was the difference in this game, and nobody can tell me otherwise. Damn Deuce didn't catch all of it on video though. But trust me, it was spectacular.
Observations:
* How in the world did Chase shoot that many air balls? Not trying to bag on the guy, but through 2 games, he has shot about 6 of them by himself. Seems like a lot to me.
* Bruise has an unbelievable dunk between game 1 and game 2. Serious props, and couldn't happen to a better guy and teammate. Respect.
* DK yells "He'll shoot that" as Bruise benignly catches the ball on the wing. Yeah, Danny, we get it. Most guys in this thing will "shoot that". So not much value being added on your end.
* Bruise throws BC's shit early in the first half. In a related story, BC doesn't shoot another shot inside 24 feet the whole game. Foreshadowing?
* Hops enters the game in the 1st half, immediately takes the ball to the rack, and gets his shit thrown by Smo. Hops then repeated this same sequence 3 times during the game, only to produce the same outcome. What's the definition of insanity again?
* Scott Donley consistently murders Ben Wilson on every other trip down the floor. Seriously, how did Ben not shoot 20 free throws in this game?
* Hops was so hot in the first half that his broke ass 3s that were 2 feet off actually bounced off the side rim, off the top of the backboard, and in softly through the net. In a later timeout, Hops would then tell his teammates how hot he was and how we needed to get him the ball more. I believe he said "this comes around once in a blue moon, so ride me like a pony." No mention how his heat check 3s in games 3 through 7 turned out.
* Bruise is the best traffic rebounder in PCTI history. Lots of guys can rebound in their own lane, but Bruise can rebound in his lane and your lane. Dude is an animal.
* When BC went to the blue and slipped, it reminded me of Bambi's first foray onto the ice as a baby deer. All knees and elbows. Did I just compare PCTI's most likeable guy to a Disney movie? You're damn right I did.
* The aforementioned baby deer on ice incident was caused by Josh Stephens' terrible hit ahead pass. BC made a valiant effort to chase it, but couldn't get it and slipped. I understand Abe hurting Eskildsen and dislocating Sabin's finger, but injuring your own teammates crosses the line of teammate decency.
* Josh Pitto does many things on a basketball court at half speed, but most impressive of them all is fouling at half speed. Guy could not give less of a fuck when the other team has the ball.
* Wes Murray looks like he sweats gravy. I'm bringing a gravy IV to the gym in Dallas for PCTI 3.
* Pitto begins to yell at our team for not rebounding. Ironic?
* BC yells at Pitto going into a timeout "You're gonna look like the biggest bitch on film". Not sure what preceded it, but that may be a story worth sharing when we get together in Dallas.
* Chase misses all 8 3s in the game, then when the game is over and the refs have blown the final whistle, he knocks down a triple that hits nothing but net. Some days, you're the hammer. Other days, you're the nail.
* Hops went 8 of 15 from the field. Ironically enough, all 7 of his misses were blocked by Smo, BC, or Donley. So he actually never missed a shot this game. Pretty impressive.
Great plays:
* Joe stalks Ben from behind, steals the ball, goes coast to coast with a nifty layup. Incidentally, he facefucked the camera after the play, you know, in case you were wondering.
* DK and BC pull off a nice give and go, then awkwardly point to each other like that's what they planned the whole time. This kind of chemistry can only be borne from years of not playing well together.
* BC also had an unbelievable lefty tip from outside the paint as he jumped around me and Hops to get to the ball first. I'm not stretching the truth by saying that was the greatest tip in PCTI history.
Forgettable plays:
* Joe lines up a catch and shoot 3 ball, only to have the ball slip through his hands, and fall harmlessly out of bounds for an unforced turnover. Could happen to any of us, but I like that it happened to the Doctor.
* Both Sabin and McKinney missed point blank wide-open layups. BMac was set up perfectly by Hite, and me by Pitto. But we just blew them.In fairness to me, though, DK was threatening to block my shot with his WNBA vertical leap.
Forgettable Box Scores:
Hite. The guy can ball, but he had a tough game, going 2 of 14 from the field, 0 for 6 from deep, and 1 of 4 from the line. Would've been worse if not for a meaningless layup in the final 45 seconds. We all have stinkers, but this one was especially tough given that Team BC was superior in talent for this game, and that he played 32 minutes.
Chase. 0 for 8 from the field, 0 for 8 from deep, no free throws, 0 points, 2 boards, 1 assist, and 3 turnovers. Just have to flush this down the toilet and get to the next game.
Stephens may have had his worst game in PCTI. Still had 10 points, 8 boards, and 3 assists, but went 4-15 from the field with no triples and 5 turnovers. He doesn't see too many like this.
Conclusion: Hops did his Superman imitation and bailed us out of this game to keep us in the series. I nominate that this game be known simply as "the Hops game" moving forward so we can all reference it immediately. For Team Eskildsen, this may have been the highlight of our basketball weekend. For Team BC, this is the one that got away.
Sabin
Fantastic work.
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