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.