BuzzerBeater Forums

A new NT/U21 season and two victories to start us off!

It was a team effort for the NT, so it was tough to pick just three top performers. Vote for NT MVP here: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/YVyPmmeN9nN)

It was the same story for the U21's with a variety of excellent statlines. Vote for U21 MVP here: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/LVyK88a47n0)

Many thanks to testudo for opening the thread, season 60 for the NT and u21s which started today.

I'll be doing the reports this season, partly because it takes away one small job from our two NT coaches but mainly because I volunteered because it will give me something to look forward to in what could be two very bad losing seasons for me.

But enough about me.

(68625)
England 124 Indonesia 100

All first games are tricky and this was no exception. Indonesia doing well to counteract our run and gun offence with their 3-2, and half of a double prediction being correct. We played man to man versus their motion.

Alexey Sanders got us off to a good start with the opening points from a pass by Magdeleno Banuelos, but Indonesia replied and took the lead in the second minute briefly but once we were ahead seconds later we stayed ahead for the entire game.

If you check the box score by clicking the link above you'll see we led after a quarter by 16 points. We managed to hold the llead around that mark for the rest of the game, winning in the end by 24.

testudo has already pointed out the top performers. I'll just add that the bench performed extremely well, not entirely surprising at this level but still very encouraging as game shape fluctuates and backups and starters will not be the same in each game.

The only place we were outperformed was beyond the 3 point line. We were slowed there by Indonesia's 3-2 and they themselves shot well from 3 (42% to our 32%.) It was a relatively comfortable performance and js8 can be pleased with how the team performed.

(68409)
England 81 Scotland 61

The u21s began with a game against mighty Scotland, clearly a much bigger BB nation than us, as we're too small to have a GM, but they do have one.

No predictions here, arrowspg5 going with look inside against Scotland's man to man, and Scotland playing a patient offence against our 3-2, a win for arrows.

Just like the senior team the juniors scored first. Boddie, a familiar name already, winning the tip off, and 6 seconds later scoring the opening basket, and impressive two handed dunk. Again mirroring their senior counterparts we lost the lead early but after almost 6 minutes of play Big Dale MacLachlan gave us a 14-12 lead, and Scotland were never able to draw level again after that.

For much of the game the lead was narrow, 6 pts at the end of the first, 7 at half time, 10 after the third, but a 7pt run at the start of the fourth gave us a bigger lead which we then increased slightly by the end of the fourth. A 20 pt win in the first game of the season is nothing to be sniffed at, even though its a game we should expect to win

We shot 47% from the field, decent by any standard, rebounded well, PG Greg Clarke had 7 assists, and impressing me for sure "Cat" Stevens backup PG with 4 steals in his 14 minutes.

A very good start for arrows and his boys.

Two comfortable wins this week.

MVP voting here:

NT: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/NoZr3zJPGy3)

U21: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/7rnzmVDw6yO)

(68414)
Norway u21 62 England u21 89

Arrows excelled again by predicting a normal pace (Norway went for motion) while using Inside Isolation on the offensive side to avoid a possible prediction there, though in fact Norway didn't make a prediction.

Similarly to last week England took the lead from the start before a few changes of lead before retaking the lead in the 6th minute with a Bunce 3 which we then never gave up. The first half saw constant attempts by England to extend the lead but Norway kept fighting back.

Two threes to start the second half saw Norway pull within 3, and following the panicky timeout actually closed to within 2, before England held Norway scoreless for over 5 minutes in the second quarter while scoring 12 of their own to get a much more comfortable lead, which never looked threatened.

A highlight was Boddie's 25 rebounds, good for 3rd best all time single game performance, which also lifted him to 7th all time. Boddie also scored in the 20s, as did Clarke and Bunce. A stat line I particularly appreciated was our SF McAvoy who had 8pts, 7 rebs, 5 asts, and 3 blocks. Allison who started at PF contributed 6 blocks an outstanding defensive performance.

(68658)
New Zealand 82 England 111
A clash between the two teams I famously coached. (What do you mean you didn't know I was England coach, let alone the New Zealanders!)

For the first time this season an England team didn't score first. New Zealand gaining an early 2-0 advantage but it would be their only lead of the game. The legend Banuelos scored our first points, a vicious dunk following a Cassell pass, Kanjilal on his debut put us ahead from close in to make it 4-2, then England pulled away through a strong first quarter leading 32-18 after the 12 minutes were done.

The lead remained around the same mark for much of the second quarter until a very strong last two minutes for England, stretched the lead to a comfortable 22.

The third quarter was much like the second and by the fourth the starters were all having a rest, England finally running out 29 pts winners.

Points, rebounds and assists were all shared around with no individual standing out, a real team effort. Kanjilal impressed on his debut, Cassell impressed me with 5 assists playing C and Smith top scored with 17. The bench also contributed, and all 12 players managed to score.

Two games both teams were expected to win but reassuring to see two promising performances from both sides to kickstart the season. Thanks for the write ups mate, enjoying them!

Two good wins for the NT teams. Nice to see my guys performing well for each team. Boddie with a monster 20/20 game, Allison blocking everything, but seeing Kanjilal’s performance was the highlight for me! 8 seasons of training paying off!

Two very good write ups again Gully! Let’s hope both teams keep up the good start to the season.

I'm sure you noticed I "borrowed" some of your comments from the discord.

I thought you’d find them interesting ;)

Two more wins! MVP voting:

NT = (https://strawpoll.com/polls/poy9Wk10DgJ)
U21 = (https://strawpoll.com/polls/ajnEO1l00ZW)