Watertown runs a basketball clinic at Belmont’s expense

UPDATES:

March 3, 2010 - The debate has been going on for a while at the online edition of the Belmont Citizen-Herald, under the article written after the Belmont – Dracut game.

[Full Disclosure: My son, Luka Ladan, plays for the Belmont Marauders. I've never coached basketball on any level.]

“Winning is like deodorant – it comes up and a lot of things don’t stink.” – Doc Rivers, The Celtics Coach

Not long ago, the Belmont Marauders basketball team was undefeated, 15 and 0. But, they lost two of their last three games, first to Reading, then last night to Watertown. Both these teams are considered serious rivals and getting the wins was extremely important to the team. The game against the Watertown Raiders was particularly important because the team wanted to go into the post season on the wings of a decisive win against a great rival. It all looked possible as Belmont thoroughly outplayed Watertown (watch full game here ) in their first game of the season. This time, the final score was Watertown 57 – Belmont 53.

In my article from January 13th, 2010, titled Big win for Belmont against undefeated Reading, I highlighted what Belmont needed to do differently to get more decisive wins and to prevail in tough situations. When the article came out some people expressed their consternation that I was too pessimistic while the team was winning. I wanted the team not to be oblivious to the “deodorant effect,” to look at their performances objectively, and start fixing problems while there was still time. Read more ->

Four players in double digits

Just to re-iterate my point from yesterday’s article: Belmont blows teams out when four players score in double digits.

Here’s a brief article (more a sentence really), from the Boston Globe about the game.

The final score was Belmont 84 – Stoneham 45. Would this kind of game always work? Passing wouldn’t be that easy in some games, of course, but I will only re-state what I said earlier: Belmont wins in double-digits against any team in the Middlesex League when they pass the ball well and have four players in double digits.

Big win for Belmont against undefeated Reading

Belmont won an important game, maybe the most important game of the first part of this season. Again, they played a tough 4th quarter, and I don’t expect anything but toughness from this team any more. They took over a close game and made it into a blowout. Overall, the team played well, but the final score is somewhat deceiving. I say this mostly because Reading missed 15 free throws. That’s a big hit even for the best teams to take.

Among good things, the inside defense was solid. Reading centers and forwards couldn’t easily score. Belmont hit more than their typical 20% of threes attempted, which helped quite a bit.

Among not so good things, the defense on penetrations was shaky. It looked like Reading guards could get into the paint any time they wanted.

Read more ->

The League Breakdown by Steve Pacheco

On December 23, 2009, Steve Pacheco wrote a column published in the Daily Times Chronicle in which he talks a lot about Randy Parker from Woburn (that’s what the article is about after all), but at the bottom he talks some about other players coming onto the scene. John Dillon and Luka Ladan are singled out from Belmont. Read more ->

The Outlook of the Season

First, let me remind myself and everybody else about the teams I am committed to write about. Cibona and Partizan from Croatia and Serbia respectively; Boston Celtics, arguably the most famed NBA team (LA Lakers come as very close second); BC Eagles and Harvard Crimson for college basketball; and Belmont Maruaders for high school basketball. This year I am adding the Maine Red Claws NBDL team, associated with the Boston Celtics and the Charlotte Bobcats.

Why did I chose exactly these teams. Either because they are geographically close to where I live, so I am more likely to watch live games, or because of the memories from years ago (I used to watch Partizan in the late-eighties and Cibona in the mid-nineties).

Read more ->