And that's a wrap

2009 (Head Coach): We were just happy to be there. After beating mighty Liceo de Costa Rica as the third seed, we made it to my first Finals. We won the first game in Escazu, breaking a very long losing streak to Barva. We then lost two pretty close games at Barva in which we displayed some horrible free throw shooting. Then in the fourth game of the series, we lost a heartbreaker as Ike St Rose banked in a three point shot with seven seconds to go to win the game, a loss that has always haunted me. While I felt our chances would have been pretty good in a fifth game, that was only the Finals of Clausura; it was doubtful we would have outlasted Barva in a subsequent series. For personal reasons, I walked away from the team after the Finals.

I've now been Sub-Campeon four times, twice as Head Coach and twice as an Assistant Coach (and GM). It doesn't get any easier...if anything it's getting harder. To come up short time after time is a draining experience. I have to ponder my future as I look back.

Sanatura Escazu, Campeones de Clausura

Ike St Rose hoists the Clausura trophy.

I've been quiet for the past couple of weeks on the blog, but I wanted to make a quick entry and include some pictures.

My team, Sanatura Escazu won the Clausura Tournament, beating the defending national champion Coopenae USJ ARBA (aka San Ramon) in a series that went down to the wire. Now it's on to a best of five series against Ferreteria Brenes Barva to see who walks away with the national title.

Drenched in Gatorade with my Dad, Alfonso Robelo and Michael Jackson.

I can't be more effusive in my praise for the San Ramon program. From their administrators to their staff to their players to their fans. They have been top notch all the way through. My hat off's especially to Coach Josh Erickson and the work he has done with that team. It's not always easy for a foreign coach to come in and be accepted in this environment, but Josh has left his imprint not only on San Ramon but the entire Costa Rican basketball scene. As I've gotten older, I've learned to appreciate the precious opportunities where you can make new friends; I love talking hoops with Josh, something we couldn't really do lately because of competitive circumstances, but we got some catching up to do on the golf course.

Our crowd support in our two home games was great. Actually the atmosphere in all three games was awesome; the crowds were supportive of their team and respectful of the opponents (for the most part). It's what basketball in Costa Rica should be.

More than single out any one player on our team, it was truly a team effort. I'm still amazed when it's late in the season and we have 16 guys show up and practice hard. A lot is made about our stars, and they certainly deserve the praise, but the contributions down the line that go unnoticed are just as important.

Point Guard Alonso Sanchez with the trophy. 

Bustamante, Ike and Sebastian Lacayo.

Dave Millinier came up big in Game 3. 

Dario Fraile and David Carnegie.

Two of our rooks, Adrian Chavarria and Ronny Johnson

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Perez Zeledon 84 Escazu 100

We have a rule in Costa Rican basketball that forces teams to play players under the age of 21 a certain amount of minutes; our basketball federation believes this will help develop young talent by forcing teams to play young players. While the specifics of the rule has varied over the years, I think it's a poorly designed rule that has unintended consequences. I'm a big believer that players should earn their minutes. This rule force feeds minutes to players that are either not ready, or haven't earned that opportunity.

Escazu 74 Limon 63

A hot, humid night in Limon was the scene for our visit to the Caribbean coast. Players are drenched in sweat by the time they're finished warming up. I've always wondered how long it takes for guys playing for the home side to get used to the extra stickiness.

San Ramon 72 Escazu 79

And exhale.

Michael Jackson going in for the score.

In the second game of the Clausura tournament, we went to San Ramon and snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat in the last four minutes, overcoming a ten point lead in the last four minutes. So we expected a pissed off San Ramon team coming for some revenge. In Apertura, under similar circumstances, San Ramon came to our gym and throttled us, giving them a valuable home court advantage in the playoffs.

Escazu 80 Grecia 76

For reasons I still don't comprehend, we ended up with a two week break right in the middle of our season. Actually, I do comprehend; the decision making in this league is terrible. Liceo de Costa Rica dropped out on the eve of opening night for the Torneo de Clausura and the powers that be refused to adjust the calendar accordingly; as things stood, we would have two teams being idle on any particular game night. Some teams didn't want to give up weekend games and the "juicy" gate receipts from those games; they made it sound like this is the NBA where we're raking in the millions. So here we are with only six teams and a calendar that doesn't make sense. Costa Rican basketball in a nutshell.

Barva 77 Escazu 93

What a difference a week makes. The previous Saturday we lost in a lifeless effort to a game Limon squad. This past Saturday? After a good week of practice, we came out with much better intensity from beginning to end to put our first quality outing in the Torneo de Clausura.

2013 NBA Playoff Preview

Eastern Conference

Miami over Milwaukee
NYK over Boston
Indiana over Atlanta
NJ Nets over Chicago

Miami over NJN
NYK over Indiana

Miami over NYK

The Heat and Knicks matchup is looming. I don't think anyone else in the East can derail these two teams, unless Derrick Rose decides to make a special guest appearance for Chicago, which could throw a monkey wrench in the showdown the TV execs must be wanting.

Western Conference

OKC over Houston
San Antonio over Lakers
Denver over GS
LAC over Memphis

LAC over OKC
Denver over San Antonio

LA Clippers over Denver

Things will be pretty starightforward in the first round, though Memphis could steal the series from the Clips. The Lakers without Bryant will not have enough ammo to beat San Antonio, but I expect a very competitive series. Things will not be as conventional in the second round. My upset special is the Clips over OKC in the second round; the Clips have enough bodies to throw at Durant and I expect Chris Paul to have a special series. Denver and its balanced attack may have just enough to beat San Antonio; a lot will depend on Ty Lawson being healthy enough. The Clippers have not been playing great the last month of the season, but I expect them to turn it up a notch in the postseason.

Escazu 89 Perez Zeledon 71

Coming off a dissapointing loss last Saturday, we had to regroup for the long ride over the mountains to play against Perez Zeledon. PZ was the upstart of Apertura, taking Barva to the brink of elimination. However, in the midseason period they lost some key pieces in Hernol Gardener, Jake McKenzie, Carlos Melendez and Urwick Anderson. While they still have a very dangerous trio on the perimeter (Jackie Acuña, Semaj Inge, and Thomas Douglas), their team looked shorthanded for this game.

Limon 79 Escazu 75

This is arguably the best team I've had on paper. We have guys that have won titles, we have guys that have played on the national team, we have guys who have led the league in scoring. So our lackadaisical, selfish play through the first three games is the most frustrating time I've had on the court. We are not going to win the title. We are not getting to the Finals.

Yesterday we got steamrolled by a Limon team that wanted to win more than we did. We gave up 50 points in the second half; to say we stopped defending is an understatement. We left guys wide open, we made some incredibly stupid fouls, we missed assignments. Every time we had the opportunity to make a stop, the Limon guys stepped up and made big baskets.

On the offensive end we combined poor shot selection with missing some point blank shots. And our fast break that was effective in the first half came to a grinding halt in the second half, coughing up the ball on numerous occasions.

Normally, I wouldn't vent here on the blog, but who are we kidding. The secret is out. We're not a very good team. The guys in the Barva and San Ramon locker rooms are reading yesterday's score and licking their chops. As they should...we have struggled to play quality basketball. And that's on me because I'm responsible for this absolute disaster.

Escazu 64 San Ramon 63

Michael Jackson being guarded by Amaurys Ripool

San Ramon swept us in the semi-finals of Apertura; the games were close but San Ramon had the clear upper hand. They eventually lost to Barva in the Finals in a series that went down to the wire. San Ramon's has a great combination of size and speed, but their calling card is the frontcourt duo of Daniel Simmons and Jefney Anderson. In the "offseason" they decided to go all-in on big men by prying away Hernol Gardener, a 6'9'' big man who's played in several leagues abroad.  They now have five post players that would start for any team in the league.

So as the second game of the Clausura, an early away game San Ramon was a measuring stick for us. On top of that our fourth post, Dario Fraile, had a slight hamstring pull at the end of Monday's practice. So there we were Tuesday night, a little short in the post going against the league's biggest team. The game was a tale of three parts.

Grecia 79 Escazu 86

Even tough we had swept the Apertura against Grecia, the scores didn't reflect the adversity of the struggle. In the first game our guard-depleted lineup was able to stay off a furious Grecia rally to come out with a win. The final score of the second game gave us a comfortable twenty point margin that didnt reflect the close contest in the first three quarters. So when I saw the schedule with Grecia as our first game, I knew we were in for a challenge right off the bat.

Grecia won only a couple games in Apertura, yet they were virtually in every game. Their star player is Panamanian Amir Alvarado, a mainstay of Costa Rican basketball over the years. Amir can go inside against smaller defenders or gou outside and stick jumpers against slower defenders. In Apertura he was Grecia's primary weapon, which made for easier game plans: stop Amir and you should win the game. In the offseason, Grecia brought in American wing Sahlih Butts (that's the spelling on the score sheet) to add some firpower opposite Amir. We got a look at Butts in the Grecia offseason tournament where he showed a good mix of athleticism and range on his outside jumper. That will be a dangerous duo for teams to handle on the offensive end of what is a very skilled squad in execution.

Clausura 2013 Preview

I've largely left the basketball blog abandoned these last few months. Things have been busy at work. Putting together the largest mass event in Costa Rican history has been a serious drain on time; man does this work thing really gets in the way of basketball. The time between Apertura and Clausura hardly lets you catch your great, but this week we're back at it.

Here's a quick recap of the inter-tournament period:

• Barva won the Apertura tournament in a tight Finals against San Ramon. Not much I can say, Barva has a very good team and pulled out the wins when their back was against the wall. Plus I'd really like to avoid another formal complaint by the Barva management against my person.
• San Ramon has decided to double down on its big man strategy by bringing in Hernol Gardener, who's played in several overseas leagues. So what was an already imposing post rotation only gets bigger for Clausura. Here's an article in Al Dia: http://www.aldia.cr/baloncesto/Baloncesto_nacional-Sanatura_Escazu-Coopenae_San_Ramon_0_109189109.html

• We made a few changes to our roster, particularly in our foreign line-up. Michael Jackson is back in the fold finally. We brought in Isaac St Rose who had been a big part of Barva's title chokehold. Dwayne Grant went back to his native Canada after a long absence and John Chappell followed his fortunes to Australia (we're still waiting on pics John). We also brought in Dario Fraile to shore up the post rotation; Dario was on our 09 team that made it to the finals. 
• Grecia, Perez Zeledon and Limon are all in the mix to keep up with the stronger teams and try to qualify for the semi-finals; each of them made tweaks to their roster. We'll see who made the right moves.
• Costa Rica won the gold medal at the Central American games. I was fortunate enough to be on the staff. I'll dedicate a future post to that tourney and the future of the Costa Rican national team. 

Our rookies trying to keep it together at the press conference.

Semi-Finals

Jaythiev Davis slicing through our defense.

Last week we faced off against reigning champ San Ramon in the semi-finals of Clausura, and I got picked on by the Federation. A quick recap of the week:

Perez Zeledon 82 Sanatura Escazu 103

David Carnegie making it rain.

Perez Zeledon came in with its high octane offense, featuring three of the league's top scorers. Newest addition, Hernol Gardener, was rolling into our gym for the first time with sharpshooter Jackie Acuña and Thomas Douglas in tow. PZ is tied for fourth place and is in need of wins to tie up the last playoff slot.

The two teams were very even throughout the first half as Hernol scored from different spots. Our offense, again missing Alonso Sanchez, was generally effective and balanced, but we had a hard time stopping PZ's various weapons. We built small leads only to see PZ recover each time. Finally we got some stops to take a 5 point lead going into the half.

Grecia 59 Sanatura Escazu

Winless Grecia came into our gym without any pressure at all and scared the living hell out of us in the first half.  With starting point guard Aonso Sanchez out with an injury, Dwayne Grant saw extensive action since suffering a leg injury himself earlier in the month. The first half was marred by sloppy defense on our end coupled with Grecia player Vinicio Vargas hitting rainbow jumpers to keep the game close, giving us the slimmest of leads at halftime 39-38.

Dwayne Grant getting into the lane. 

NBA Trash Talk Videos

These videos are just too funny to pass up. 

Barva 67 Sanatura Escazu 72

A week ago I was bitching about the refereeing in the San Ramon game. Today, I'm as quiet as a mouse. Did we get a favorable whistle on Tuesday night? Maybe....but I also think we got jobbed in the game at Barva. So I guess things even out in the long run, which doesn't make it right or fair.

Barva came into the game undefeated. They have more resources than any other team in the league: professional players, ample court time, weight gym, full coaching staff. They can easily outclass any organization. And then you factor in the tradition of winning titles, which they're anxious to recover. With all due respect to the other teams in our league, they have been the team to beat this year.

San Ramon 79 Sanatura Escazu 62

In the second game of the season, we were able to go to San Ramon and beat the defending national champion in surprising fashion. San Ramon more than returned the favor, applying a smackdown at home winning by a fairly large margin.

San Ramon sputtered through that first swing of the schedule, dropping three games and not playing high quality basketball despite having an impressive payroll (albeit with a key injury to Daniel Simmons). It's hard being the champ and getting everyone's best shot. The Christmas break was a welcome respite as San Ramon was able to work on their team and tweak their roste. They got rid of their American player, Carlos Jefferson who never seemed to fit in despite an impressive resume, and swapped him out for another American player Chris Giles.

  

The teams traded baskets early in the first quarter. Veteran Franklyn Ferguson was active early on for Barva. We were getting good looks at the baskets, but not quite converting all our opportunities around the basket. Our point guard, Alonso Sanchez, picked up his second foul bringing Dwayne Grant off the bench. Soon enough it was evident that Grant's leg injury against Limon was not fully healed, as he had  hard time accelerating and cutting.  The first quarter finished 21-14 as San Ramon went on a 8-2 run to break out a lead. 

In the second quarter newcomer Chris Giles knifed through our defense supplying some easy points, extending the San Ramon lead to 10. Diego Loria came off the bench to supply some instant offense with John Chappell and David Carnegie  crashing the boards, and we were able to go to the locker room at the half down by 4 on a big three pointer by Javier Bustamante.

San Ramon got a couple baskets early in the third quarter. Then they started a death march to the free throw lines, getting sent to the line on six straight possessions. We hung around keeping it a two possession game to close out the third quarter. In the fourth quarter our foul trouble kept getting worse as several of our players got to four fouls. After one particular dubious call, Sanchez got Ted up, letting San Ramon shoot four free throws to build an eleven point lead and never look back, eventually winning by 17.

Game Notes

• San Ramon shot 41 free throws, while we went to the line 20 times. Both teams shot very well, which is rare in our league.
• Diego Loria and Dave Millinier led our scoring with 14 points apiece. Chris Giles, in his second league game, scored 24 in a very efficient manner. I'm getting a deja vu all over again; last year San Ramon replaced Darrell St Rose (out with injury) with Greg Platter and it made an enormous difference in their season.
• I get very frustrated how they ref our center John Chappell in this league. Twice he got clean blocks and got called for fouls by a ref out of position. San Ramon's center, Jefeney Anderson, who is a very good defensive player in his own right, gets much more latitude with his contact. 

Limon 64 Sanatura Escazu 76

I can't express how much I dislike the change in schedule. In prior years, the season ran roughly from March til October. This year the Federation decided to move up the calendar. The first reason is to coincide with the FIBA international calendar. The second, and main reason, was that so the national team would be in fighting form for the Central American Games this coming March. On paper, both reasons make sense, but there was a huge problem in execution. To make that happen, they moved up this year's start four months which means we got a very short break between the last season and the current season.

The other big consequence is that we know have basketball games in December and January. Costa Rica shuts down from December 25th til mid January. Throughout December there are a bunch of office parties, family gatherings and Christmas shopping. Then most people take breaks to go to the beach or spend time with their families. Our league is not used to playing or practicing this time period, this being the first year it was hard to schedule practices and keep the team activ for the league's twoo week brea (in our case it as a little longer since we had our bye date coincide with the last weekend).
So after two weeks of uneven practce (and suspending for about ten days), we went into a game against Limon still shaking off our collective cobwebs. The first surprise of the game was that Limon was missing its post players: Hernol Gardener, Libert Cohen and Marlon Samuels. So our preparation for a post dominated team went out the window as we adjusted to lineups that basically didnt have a true post.

We jumped out to a big lead based on our fast break attack. Everyone got in on the scoring as we built a 16 point lead. Late in the second quarter, Harold Mitchell got hot for Limon, knocking down three 3 pointers and reducing our lead to a mere 4 points. We just didn't do a very good job of recognizing the hot hand in a four minute stretch where Mitchell caught fire.

In the second half we went back to our running game and made some defensive adjustments, expanding the lead to double digits. We then rotated our bench and gave everyone a chance to knock the cobwebs off their game, leading to an uneventful victory.

Game Notes

• David Carnegie had a strong second half, scoring 13 points and adding 11 rebounds to lead us in scoring and rebounds. We had several guys score more than ten points, as we did a pretty good job of spreading the wealth.
• Harold Mitchell ended up with 29 points for Limon. 
• One of the younger refs was at the game and it showed. Dave Millinier got mugged on repeated occasion without drawing the foul calls. A total of 27 fouls were called in the entire game, which is about 15 fouls less tahn the league average.
• Our three point was uncharacteristically bad in this game with Diego Loria hitting the only three pointer. We have been a pretty good shooting team but we were ice cold.