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I have said it many times before and I will say it once again: “LA SALLE IS THE BEST 38 MINUTE TEAM IN THE LEAGUE!” This must have been one the best games La Salle has played yet they lost.

For 38 minutes they held Ateneo at bay. The Blue Eagles were just out of sync and totally lost. The defense of La Salle was awesome. Ateneo looked like a team who just didn’t know what to do.

With 2 minutes left and a 6 point lead, I was again unsure of the outcome. I knew that this was La Salle’s weakness. I knew that they are at their most vulnerable in the last 120 seconds of the game. On the other hand, that’s where Ateneo is most dangerous.

Ateneo took their time even if they were behind by 6. Tiu hits a pressure laden 3, which was Ateneo’s only triple of the game. On the next offensive play by La Salle, who still had the lead, they are running and hurrying. With the 24 second clock winding down, PJ Walsham takes a long shot. With the 24 second clock running down, why even give him the ball? I don’t understand how a veteran player like him will take a long shot when Ateneo’s Baclao, who had 4 fouls, was guarding him. Walsham is a veteran player and yet his shot was just a symptom of what happens to the team in the last 2 minutes.

Then Casio gets a steal and instead of setting up the offense, he drives to the basket on a bad angle and misses the shot badly. Ateneo gets the rebound, sets up a play, takes a shot and misses. But Baclao makes an easy tip in. La Salle takes a hurried shot once again and misses. Ateneo brings the ball down, makes a pick and roll play that gives Chris Tiu a drive to the basket for 2 points and Ateneo leads by 1 with 7 seconds to go.

La Salle has the last play and with Casio, Tang and Maierhofer on the floor, but the ball ends up with Malabes who takes a desperate shot. I don’t understand why Casio or Tang did not take the last shot. Maierhofer driving the lane would have been a better option.

La Salle played a an excellent defensive game. Norman Black was dumbfounded. Aside from Ford Arao, the rest of the Ateneo team just couldn’t contribute. La Salle forced Ateneo to two 24 second violations and two 5 second inbound violations.

La Salle’s other weak point has been foul shooting but today, the team only missed 6 foul shots during the entire game. Ateneo, a good foul shooting team, missed 9 free throws.

La Salle’s offense was horrendous. They took 63 shots and made 22, while Ateneo took 49 shots and made 23. Malabes alone went 3 for 12. He reverted back to the make the shot or air ball player that i thought he had grown out off. He made 1 out of 6 three pointer. La Salle had more attempts but Ateneo made more made shots. It was all about shot selection.

What La Salle did not do was to score off the 24 turnovers that they caused Ateneo to have. This was their 2nd highest turnovers of the season. Tiu, Arao and Escueta had 16 turnovers combined. La Salle had 17 total turnovers, with Pocholo Villanueva getting 6 turnovers to go with his 7 points.

With 5 minutes left, we finally strung up points and build a 7 point lead. But then the curse of the last 2 minutes hits La Salle again.

Why do they rush their offense when they have the lead? Is there no one on the team who knows how to manage a game clock? In 2 minutes there are five 24 second possessions. Is that too hard to determine?

If you look at the stats and do not look at the final score, you wouldn’t believe La Salle lost. Statistically it was one of the worst games of Ateneo. They didn’t beat La Salle, we beat ourselves.

On a final note, to give credit where credit is due, Chris Tiu should be commended for having the guts to take over a game. That’s what separates the good players from the great ones.

Tags: NU-Bulldogs, The-Green-Mind

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Posted in The Green Mind