Awesome view from Newport today

View of San Gabriel Mountains from Jamboree and the 73 today in Newport Beach.

Taylah beats the buzzer to put SJM over St. Norbert 18-17

Going into our first round of playoffs yesterday the expectations, admittedly, were not to high. The SJM Basketball team did not fair very well at the Mater Dei tournament this past weekend, and I thought there would be some hangover going in. Round one of the playoffs was held at St. Jeanne in Tustin, and we didn't know what to expect. The Kids seemed pretty relaxed during warm-ups and proceeded to goof around as usual.
The Game started off slowly as both teams were feeling each other out. We struggled to score (as usual), but we were able to put up a good number of shots, they just weren't falling. St. Jeanne had only one stand out player that we had to worry about, so we ran a box-and-1 defense on her which slowed her down a bit. At the half we were down 6 points, and in a low scoring game, that feels like a lot. Taylah did a very good job in the second half of securing almost every rebound. She picked it up on defense, as did the rest of the team. We never led the entire game, but were slowly creeping back into it. The two teams really got after it defensively, and it was a battle just to get a shot up. With 1:08 left in the game we called a timeout because we had to remind the kids that it was do or die. If we don't score, we go home. After a couple of broken plays and turnovers on both sides, we had the ball for a final shot. Sunny had it at the top of the key and just before she hoisted up a desperation shot from there, Taylah cut to a open spot under the basket and Sunny delivered a perfect bounce pass. Tay caught it and layed it in as the clock expired to win the game!
This buzzer-beater reminded me of her days playing club soccer, when more than once she scored a last second goal to either tie or win the match. It's safe to say I'm very proud of both Sunny for making the perfect pass, and Taylah for finishing the shot...whew...we get to do this again on Tuesday...

Ethan's 1st Basketball game

It was a rain-soaked drive to the downtown Anaheim YMCA gym Saturday morning where Ethan was scheduled to play his first game with the Timberwolves. He really looked the part with his new Nike Air Zooms and Nike Dri-fit basketball shorts, and he was noticeably excited/nervous. During warm-ups he made 2 out of 3 layups and I think that helped his confidence. He is probably one of the youngest, shortest, most inexperienced on his team but I think his coach sees something in him (as we do) because he started him at point guard. The game was very close and the two teams exchanged leads countless times. I was really impressed with how easy going his coach was in contrast to the other teams obnoxious, overly boisterous coach. Ethan was admittedly confused on where he was supposed to be on defense, and I was encouraged to see him ask his coach for direction. Ethan was not excited about his debut because he rarely handled the ball, and had no shot attempts. I told him that he did fantastic for his first game, and that it would only get easier for him over the course of the season. His team lost 26-25 and had a chance to win with a buzzer-beater. It is going to be fun to watch him develop and he always makes me proud.

Lakers make a trade

"Space Cadet" as Phil Jackson so lovingly called Vlad Radmanovic, has been shipped to the Charlotte Bobcats for college standout Adam Morrison and 3rd year player Shannon Brown. It sucks that Phil decided to go with Luke Walton over Vlad. I'm not the biggest Luke fan, and I thought Vlad at the least had potential to score consistently from the three point line. I know the Lakers have no problem scoring whatsoever, but I thought he gave the team a lift in the 1st quarter as the Lakers tend to pick it up more in the second half of games. One good thing about the trade is that Vlad will probably get a lot more PT, and be able to show off his Super-arc jumpshot.