PCTI 2, Game 4 Review

PCTI 2, Game 4 Review

Synopsis: Team BC jumped out to a 9-2 advantage early as Team Eskildsen couldn’t take the lid off of the basket in the first several minutes. However, from that point, Team Eskildsen went on a blitzkrieg 38-18 run to take a commanding 40-27 lead at the break. At halftime, Team BC was visibly demoralized as they began to question if they had as much heart as they had talent. However, continuing the theme of “a tale of two halves”, Team BC came storming out of halftime with a renewed passion and energy. They began to score in succession and Team Eskildsen began to falter and stagnate. As such, they made up lost ground with a 29-16 run of their own to tie up the score at 56 tight and get right back in the game. From that point, each team took turns gaining the lead, albeit by a nominal amount. Sabin hit a 3 to put his team up 66-63, followed by an Abe 3 to tie. Next trip up the floor, BC hit a 3 to put his team up 69-66, followed by an Eskildsen 3 to tie the game at 69 with 90 seconds to go. Abe turned it over on the next possession. In a related story, Joe Thompson went apeshit. Then, Ben took it strong to the hoop with a minute to go, got fouled, and calmly hit 2 big free throws. Up 71-69 and feeling very strong about their chances to win the game, Team Eskildsen saw the chance to ultimately tie the series 2-2. However, Abe put team BC on his back, converted an and-one and sunk the free throw. More on this play later. Shellshocked, Team Eskildsen called timeout and halfheartedly concocted a failed strategy to heave up a desperation 28 footer as time expired that did not draw iron. Team BC walked away with a 72-71 victory and an insurmountable 3-1 series lead. For Team BC, this game was the thrill of victory. For Team Eskildsen, this game was the agony of defeat.

Analysis: Each team had stretches where it played really well, and each team had stretches where it played really poorly. This was another game where each team was evenly matched, and the outcome was determined at the final possession. Team Eskildsen was right to be upset with itself after the game, squandering a 15 point lead in the 2nd half, and failing to get a single defensive stop at the end of the game to secure the victory. Even though Team Eskildsen played really well for 15 minutes in the first half while building a 13 point lead, it began to slow the pace and did not get many transition opportunities. Team BC then began to hit shots and scored in succession at multiple points in the 2nd half. They outscored us 45-31 in the second half, shooting a stunning 56% from the field, and 42% from deep. Team Eskildsen was unequal to the task in the second half, shooting just 36% from the field, 30% from 3, and 57% from the line. From the perspective of BC’s team, they walked away thinking that their heart and drive led them to a come-from-behind victory. Alternatively, from the perspective of Eskildsen’s team, this is simply a game that was stolen, being lost more than it was won. With poor defense, unforced turnovers, and questionable shot selection, Team Eskildsen simply choked this game away, ultimately causing a 3-1 series deficit. What is most difficult to accept about this game though is the fact that if Team Eskildsen had simply secured this victory, it would’ve walked away with a 2-2 series tie, and ultimately a 4-2 series championship. This will always be the game that got away, and will keep me and Captain Eskildsen up nights thinking about it. This is not to say that Team BC didn’t earn the victory or that they didn’t make a great play. Abe certainly went to beast mode and made a great play for his team. My point is simply that your perspective of the outcome of this game simply depends on which team you were on.

Top Player: Sabin. 18 points, 12 boards, 7-10 FGAs, 1 triple, 3-3 FTAs, 2 assists, 1 steal.

Honorable Mention 1: Abe. 21 points, 6 boards, 3 triples, 8-19 FGAs, 2-3 FTAs, 1 block, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, game-tying basket, and game-winning free throw.

Honorable Mention 2: Eskildsen. 7 points, 7 boards, 7 assists, 3-6 FGAs, game-tying triple, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.

Honorable Mention 3: Smo. 7 points, 11 boards, 3 assists, 3-6 FGAs.

Notable moments: Sabin yells “And one!” for a missed layup. The ironic thing is that it wasn’t his own layup, but rather for teammate Ben Wilson, who I thought should’ve gone to the foul line. In a related story, I will not be bringing this phrase to PCTI 3 due to the amount of negative energy it has engendered.

BMac sprints down the floor to catch up with an errant hit-ahead pass (seem to be a lot of these). As he tracks the ball down, he falls out of bounds, and throws the ball off of 3 members of Team Eskildsen to keep possession. There wasn’t a member of Team BC within 50 feet of the play.

The seal of this game wasn’t broken until a Scott Donley 3 splashed through with 16:50 to go in the first half. Team Eskildsen did not score until 15:30 to go in the first half. Seems like a long time to go without scoring. No wonder the scorekeepers laugh at us…

Joe Thompson misses a makeable layup, thinks he gets fouled, and yells “That’s fucking bullshit!” to nobody in particular. Again, great analysis. Next possession on the other end, Sabin successfully converts an and-one bucket, while BC states “You talked your way into that…how are you talking your way into that?”, while teammate Thompson, still fuming, yells “That’s the exact same fucking call on the other end!”. In a related story, officials still do not like Joe Thompson.

Ben slices and dices through 2 members of Team BC, goes up for the shot, switches to the left hand in a moment that recalls images of Jordan doing it to the Lakers, and converts the nice lefty layup. This was simply a special basketball play by a dominant offensive basketball player.

Pitto jumps into BC who is standing straight up. Pitto forces the ball into BC’s vertical hands, attempting weakly to draw a foul call. The refs buy it and Pitto goes to the line. BC stands there incredulously, with the ball no less, wondering how that play just happened. In BC’s defense, that was maybe the worst call in PCTI history. Blocks don’t get any cleaner.

BC is shown on film noticeably chatting up members of Team Eskildsen on the bench. Meanwhile, play is happening on the other end with free throw attempts. In a related story, BC only averaged 5.9 rebounds a game in PCTI 2. Also, BC’s reputation for caring more about being a pretty boy and less about grinding out boards for his team grew infinitely during this sequence.

Hops picks Abe’s pocket clean as a whistle and initiates a fast break. Abe, clearly the more physically dominant basketball player, loafs back on defense wondering when his next touch on offense will be. A very telling sequence between a talent and a grinder.

JT scores on Pitto and yells “Weightroom!”. Pitto immediately proceeds to hit a 3 pointer on the other end not 5 seconds later as JT is still looking for Deuce and the camera. In a related story, Thompson didn’t have much to say after Pitto drained the 3 in his eye.

Abe literally shoots a fingerroll from 15 feet away from the basket and misses. Damndest shot I’ve ever seen in all my years of hooping. Long story short, he misses the fingerroll, but the next trip down the floor drains an off balance 3 from 23 feet. On the one hand, you have to admire this guy’s ability to score. On the other hand, you really have to stop caring about your teammates to reach this level of terrible shot selection.

Sabin steals an errant pass from Team BC and sprints down the floor for an uncontested layup while Thompson mockingly yells “And one!” from the bench. Sabin points at Thompson on the way down the floor, indicating that Thompson is too small to mess with the author. In a related story, Sabin and Thompson almost came to blows a few minutes later. Great sequence.

Dovetailing this sequence, as Sabin runs back down the floor, Pitto can audibly be heard saying “He plays way too hard”. And that is probably all you need to know about why we aren’t best friends in PCTI.

There is a possession before halftime where Eskildsen, Ben, and Pitto make plans for an offensive play before the buzzer. All 5 other teammates are excluded from the plan, and consequently have no idea what we are doing on the floor. In a related story, the play itself did not work and was busted pretty early.

Team Eskildsen went from down 7 in the first half to up 13 at halftime. That 20 point swing is an indication of how well we started to play in the middle part of the tourney.

Deuce is now actively calling for Joe to act a fool when he scores. When Thompson does score, which is rare, Deuce gets hyped, laughs, and says “Joe, get in the camera!”. Joe, of course, mugs for Deuce while Team Eskildsen is scoring on the other end. It really is a disgusting relationship that those 2 have.

BC during a timeout, goes to the camera and says “Joe don’t talk smack, he smacks talkers.” However, there is no proof that Joe talks trash, and even less evidence that he has the ability to smack talkers. Not sure why this phrase was uttered except that BC likes to make Joe laugh.

DK is held scoreless for 38 minutes by a combination of Sabin, Hardin, Hops, and Murray. The other 2 minutes of the game, DK goes off for 8 points. In a related story, Pitto was guarding DK during that time.

Bruise spikes one of BC’s shot attempts like a volleyball player. Bruise then puffs his chest out and lets the gym know that this is his house. Consequently, BC then turns to Pitto, the smallest guy on the floor, and begins to talk trash. I’m not sure what any of it means, I’m just glad that Bruise is my teammate. I love that guy.

Wes takes a hard fall out of bounds close to the blue. He gets up, thinking that he was playing with a bunch of brothers, and says “I’m straight”. Not sure if he was saying he was OK, or if it was a declaration of his sexual preference. Either way, seemed like a weird thing to say at an all-white basketball tournament.

I’m just gonna say this…Scott Donley and Bruiser Van Horne are men on the boards. No excuses, no looking for foul calls, no babies allowed. Just big, strong dudes doing big, strong things in the big, strong paint.

Hops makes a nice pass to Ben for a layup that displayed their nice chemistry playing together. They no doubt learned this chemistry at the University of Unathletic White Guys. Hops went on to get his masters.

Joe Thompson calls a timeout when his team needs to draw up a play down 69-71 with 15seconds to go, and utters the following: “OK, Donley sets a pick for Abe. Abe you roll to the basket. BC you spot up in the corner, and Danny you do too. Wait, Danny, are you in the game? Oh, McKinney’s in? Damn it, OK, McKinney you spot up with BC. Oh, you’re not in the game either? Well, who’s in the fucking game? And who’s throwing the ball in?” At this point, time has run out and the buzzer sounds to resume play. Thompson responds with this gem…”Damn it. Just somebody set a backpick for Abe and we’ll see what happens”. With that kind of insight and coaching, how did they ever beat us? I don’t know either.

Last Play of the Game: As mentioned before, I respect that Abe made a great play to tie the game and ultimately win it on the free throw line. Yet, Team Eskildsen gave away this game as a result of our timeout decision on the last defensive possession. Somehow, Eskildsen, a really good defender, subbed himself out in favor of Pitto, a not-so-good defender, presumably for free throws. Unfortunately, that meant Pitto was guarding cockstrong Scott Donley. Of course, Donley sets the screen that frees Abe and Pitto neither tells Hops about the backpick, nor hedges the screen, nor switches, leading to disaster for us. In a related story, we then went on to lose the series in 7 games. And yes, I’m sure that I will always be bitter about this as I’m sitting at 0-2 in PCTI.

Sabin