Yesterday evening, against BC Delfinii Purpurii, we should have won. Not just because we played against the weakest team of the other conference, but at home and with higher enthusiasm, too. We needed to win to shrink the distance between our opponents and us in the relegation fight.
Somewhere in the first quarter, BC Delfinii Purpurii led us twice by one point. But in the rest of the game, it seemed that we would win the game, even though they defended themselves correctly, because of our inside attack. But at one moment, we led by 16 points. From that point, something happened, and we started to score less and to commit more fouls. But still in the lead.
The 4th quarter was painful for us; there were more minutes when we didn't manage to score any points, and the opponent came by behind us. There should be a timeout from our coach, but it didn't happen! Anyway, we were still in the lead in the game, but our play was not good anymore. Less than one minute before the end, we made a foul, and they scored both free throws. Then they made 2 fouls, and we received nothing!!! The bad luck continues: Dwayne Starr attempted, guarded closely by his opponent, and missed. Both rebounders back off, but the referee rules that the Reghin Bulls touched the ball last. Then came their time-out, and after that, they scored! And they led us by one point! We had 12 seconds remaining to score the shot that gave us the victory. But after our time-out, the bad luck was still there for us. Even Gilli Blau loses his man and uses the open space to set his feet before taking a jump shot, guarded closely by an opponent, he missed the shot!!!
This way, we lost the second home-court game by 1 point against a team that tries to survive in the RBBA League! If before this match, our chances of surviving were 30%, this painful loss reduced them to 15% or less.
We will still fight to survive, but the remaining schedule doesn't give us the hope anymore that we will manage it. Finishing in the 7th position will bring us the best team from the other conference, who will not catch the playoffs!