Coaching in the Tropics: Road Trip X2: at PZ (Part 1)

Riots in Limon over the JAPDEVA strike last month led to our game getting re-scheduled. Little did we know at the time that it would get rescheduled for this past weekend, on the Sunday immediately after our trip to Perez Zeledon. That meant over a weekend we would log 250 kilometers round trip to Perez Zeledon (six hours on a bus) on Friday night and then 320 kilometers to Limon on Sunday (another six hours on the bus). Two tough road trips, two wins.

Perez Zeledon 85 Sanatura 95

Our driver on Friday was fast, even while on the phone.

The first step in these long trips is pure logistics. Can everyone make it? Can you get everyone on the bus on time? Do you have a competent bus driver? For an eight o clock start, you need to be in the gym ideally by 7pm, which means you need to leave San Jose at 4pm. Since most guys in our league work in a regular job, not everyone can sneak out early. Usually you ask a few days in advance, but not all superiors are accommodating. In this particular trip, we had two guys who couldn't make the trip for work reasons (Bustamante and Sebastian Lacayo). Then at noon that day, we got news that our starting point guard was nursing an injury suffered in the San Ramon game. So all of a sudden we're down three guys without stepping on the bus. Out went the call to our backup point guard in Guanacaste, who was originally going to take the game off, to make the grueling drive to Perez Zeledon. The rest of the team got on the bus and off we were to Pere Zeledon, making great time and getting to the gym early (Carlos didn't make it til after the start of the game.

Warming up at PZ.

Perez Zeledon had made a few changes since the last time we faced them. The biggest change was replacing Dominican Cesar Chavez with offensive dynamo Antonio Jones. The quiet, lightning quick point guard lets his game speak for him; he has been averaging over forty points a game, torching every defense he has faced. Paired with league leading scorer Jackie Acuna, they have plenty of offensive firepower on the perimeter. The other big addition is Ulrick Anderson in the post, giving them much needed size down low. These new additions have helped PZ pull off some good wins and jockey into fourth place, on the cusp of playoff qualification.

The game was tight throughout. Without Chava, Busta and Carlos (in the first half) we went with a bigger lineup with Henry and Jaythiev splitting point guard duties. Our ball handling suffered a bit, but we were effective on offense and able to get inside. Jones was able to get into the middle of our defense, but we did a decent job of helping inside. The game was tight throughout, but we were able to build a slight lead going into halftime. The third quarter was much of the same; Carlos rotated in and tried his hand at slowing down the speedy PZ pg. We carried a decent lead going into the fourth quarter, despite Jones and Acuna making three point baskets at will.
Henry Martinez had gotten slapped in the face once or twice earlier in the game. On a set play for PZ, Anderson set a screen on Henry that he ran right through with a lot of physicality (Henry got called for the foul). A couple plays later, Henry scores on a breakaway lay-up and as he's turning to get back downcourt, he gets elbowed in the face by the PZ big man which drew a delayed ejection. In a display of toughness (and probably not so smart on our part), Henry shot the free throws and played a few more minutes to seal the victory.
While the rest of the team was having a quick snack at a local pizzeria, Henry went with part of our staff to get checked out. Things looked okay at a local clinic, and then Henry blew his nose and his left eye puffed up, swollen shut. From there, they went to the local hospital to get X-rays, coming back with a diagnosis of a fractured cheekbone. We ended up leaving PZ at almost 1AM, making a long trip longer, and returning to San Jose at 4AM.