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Happy Ourer: Hello and welcome to another season of Linndale Basketball! I am Happy Ourer, and joining me as usual will be Joshua Doe, Sam Dunkley, and Jimmy Buckitts. Let’s get right to it! Joshua, what are you looking to see this season from the team?

Joshua Doe: After a disappointing finals, I want to see coach Pio Reina go deeper into his bench and bag of tricks. I want to see Carlos Frias all over the court. I also want to see Walt Pasman improve his offensive game and see Petey Buckets play a little defense.

HO: Sam, what are you looking for?

Sam Dunkley: I want to see how Lecian and Craig improve this season. There is an opportunity for Lecian specifically if he can improve his ball handling and shooting. I also want to see Joy Beko progress on offense.

HO: Jimmy, you’ve been with the team in training camp. What have you seen?

Jimmy Buckitts: Happy, the coaches told me they like that they can move Joy Beko around on the floor and want to be able to that with more players. The key will be how the younger guys develop. We’ll see how that plays out. Air Allnite was particularly excited to see Petey Buckets working on his defense and rebounding. He also said Leandro Leao isn’t where they want him to be, but he’s close.

HO: Well, let’s find out what the General Manger of the team, Roberto Gurgone expects to see. Roberto, thanks for joining us.

Roberto Gurgone: Thanks for having me. Great to see everyone back for another season!

HO: Explain what the plan for this season is.

RG: We’ll deal with the playoffs when we get there. This season is all about versatility. We need to get back to being unpredictable offensively and defensively, and versatility allows you to do that.

JD: Roberto, the team already appeared to be pretty versatile as it is, what exactly are we going to see?

RG: There’s being able to do something, and being able to do something at a level expected. We want to get to the point where you know who’s on the court but you don’t know where. We want our guys to be able to play a variety of positions at a high level. We have a guard we can put in the paint defensively and a power forward we can put on the perimeter at the same time. That kind of versatility is a weapon. We want more of that, but we also want them have the skills needed to play multiple positions on offense. Beko or Pasman defensively anywhere isn’t a surprise, but on offense you largely know where they will be. That’s going to change. Guys are going to be able to guard multiple positions and be a threat on offense at multiple positions. That protects us against injury and gives our opponents nightmares. How do you game plan for that?

HO: That sounds like the return of a fan favorite could be in the offing. Will we see a backwards game this season?

RG: That depends on both the matchups, and if Coach Reina says our guys are ready for it. I think he’d want to see two, maybe three more players improve in certain areas before he pulled that out. That’s his call. I’ll allow that we’ve told Pio to go into his bag of tricks to find out who can do what. Last season, he wasn’t as willing to do so, and played things pretty conservative. I think he’ll be more aggressive this season. He won’t care about losses as long as we make the playoffs. Let the players play.

HO: We’ll be back with Roberto Gurgone when we return from this commercial break! When we return, we'll find out if Pio Reina is on the hot seat.

RG: That's ridiculous! I'll explain why he's not when we return! Come on, Happy! You can't be serious!

(laughter on set from everyone)

HO: About Pio Reina on the hot seat? No. About the commercial break? Totally! I told you I'd get you! We'll be back in 90 seconds!

Jimmy Buckitts: Jimmy Buckitts with head coach Pio Reina. Coach, what was the plan for tonight’s game?

Pio Reina: We just wanted to get started with a good half of basketball, and get the work in our guys need to get them where we want them to be. We wanted to focus on our ball handling specifically; I’m sure you noticed the guys in the backcourt tonight are all guys we want to see improvement from in regards to ball handling. Particularly, we need to see improvement from the guys that ran on the second unit tonight. If you can’t take care of the basketball, that is going to affect playing time, so you’d better improve if you want playing time.

JB: Was this first half offensive production a function of the defense for the Eagles being good tonight, or was this a function of a bad shooting night for your guys?

PR: Give them credit. Neither team is going to be the same at the end of the season, but give them their credit. We do not care who is on the floor for us, we have expectations. We did not meet those expectations in the first quarter on offense. Credit their defense. We did not meet those expectations in the second quarter defensively. Credit their offense.

JB: What did you see that you liked out there?

PR: I liked Pasman’s aggressiveness on offense. I thought Beko and Kops were both aggressive on the boards. I thought defensively we forced turnovers, and made it difficult at times to shoot.

JB: What improvement do you want to see?

PR: We have to stop giving away free points at the foul line. They’re comfortable when they shoot the three ball. They’re attacking the offensive glass. That’s three right there. Let’s see how the game goes on, and give both teams a chance to put their best foot forward.

JB: Thanks for your time, Coach, and good luck in the second half.

PR: Thanks, Jimmy.

Jimmy Buckitts: I’m here with coach Pio Reina after a 109-89 victory over the New York Eagles. Coach, what did you like out there tonight?

Pio Reina: I like that we cleaned up our free throw shooting as the game went on. I liked that we were able to keep turnovers to a decent number while working on our ballhandling. Our starting backcourt combined for 1 turnover, the number 2 backcourt combined for 2. We were also able to briefly get the third unit on for a moment, so that went well.

JB: Was there anything you didn’t like?

PR: There was a lot to not like, but I’m not going to weigh it too heavily. First game, and I don’t think anyone out on that floor had a particularly sharp game. There were things I liked and a lot more of things I didn’t. I liked Pasman in the first half. I thought he kind of disappeared in the second. He’s just one example; I thought there was a lot of inconsistency out there, though I expected it.

JB: Are there reasons that we didn’t see Carlos Frias or Gao Rongjing tonight? Their absences were noticeable.

PR: Carlos wasn’t needed with what we wanted to do tonight. With the focus of the game for us, Carlos is where we wanted him. Kops and Bolibok were also, which is why they didn’t play in the backcourt; they’re working on other things. Leao looked sharp, Pasman was solid, Enfes was acceptable, Uzek looked a bit shaky.

JB: Congratulations on the win, Coach, and thank you for your time. We’ll see you back home Tuesday night. Back to Happy and the guys in studio!

Happy Ourer: Thanks, Jimmy. Joshua, I saw your eye twitch when Pio pointed out the disappearance of Walt Pasman in the 2nd half.
Joshua Doe: If you mean he disappeared on offense, I can buy that. On offense, he gave you nothing in the second half. Defensively, he was his usual fantastic self. The bigger picture is his offensive output. I don’t see him putting up 17 a night every night, or even every other night; this team has too many players who are better offensively than he is. If he can improve his outside game and finishing around the rim and also improve his ball skills, the versatility we talked about on the pregame show gets unlocked. Pasman is a huge key for what Pio Reina wants to do.

Sam Dunkley: Joshua, I agree that Pasman is important, but don’t undersell Leandro Leao either. For whatever reason, Pio Reina and Roberto Gurgone both indicated he wasn’t up to their minimum at the point guard position, but he was close. If you want to play Carlos Frias off the ball, you need another ball handler on the floor. Eight assists and no turnovers tells me he wants the ball in his hands.

HO: I don’t think either of you gentlemen are wrong on this, but I also think the performances of Cafer Enfes and Midas Kops bear watching. Kops had a sensational night rebounding for him, and Enfes in the backcourt had a pretty good night himself. Pasman is very good defensively, but those two might have something to say about his playing time as well. Pasman is the best defender of the trio, but Enfes can match him on the boards and is stout defensively. For his part, Kops is the most versatile of the three offensively and not as stout as the other two defensively, but still a very, very good defender.

JD: Well, let's hope the improvements continue for the boys Tuesday night when the URI Rams show up at The Speedway! I'm pretty sure we'll see Gao Rongjing and Carlos Frias then. We're out of time, so we'll see you Tuesday!

HO: Hey, that's my line!

SD: You snooze, you lose! Dinner's on Happy tonight!

HO: We'll see you Tuesday night, folks! Tonight's final Linndale 109, New York Eagles 89.

Happy Ourer: Hello Linndale faithful! You know who we are and what we do! For those who don’t, I am Happy Ourer and my pals are Joshua Doe, Sam Dunkley, and Jimmy Buckitts. Before we get into tonight’s game, I wanted to touch on Tuesday’s game a bit. It seems we have some thoughts about it.

Joshua Doe: Doggone right we do! I don’t care about the quality of the opponent because you still have to execute, but what I loved that Pio Reina took the opportunity afforded him to give playing time to the younger guys to develop, and the guys that played responded. Ercan Uzek was solid, Cafer Enfes was outstanding, Stuart Grubbs was solid, Luis Isarre showed a little something, and Leandro Leao continued his great play in a brief appearance.

Sam Dunkley: Joshua, did you see Carlos Frias at the power forward? That was interesting; I don’t think we’ll see that too often. Piotr Bolibok lived up to his nickname. It was nice to see Petey Buckets, and he was efficient! Midas Kops looked good but his board work was surprising: I want to see more. Ondrej Lecian left me disappointed. I expected more from him.

Jimmy Buckitts: I was just hoping to see Bernie Craig get more time on the court. It was clear that Gao Rongjing would have his way out there and he absolutely did. Also, anyone saying they expected 53 assists was lying. That ball was moving!

HO: You guys all make good points, but Pio Reina said he wanted to develop guys and try new things and combinations. I don’t think he’s begun to dig into his bag of tricks yet. On to tonight with COGERS, what are we looking for? Jimmy let’s start with you?

JB: I expect to see guys working on their shot, especially in the back court. I look for Linndale to run the motion offense after the dazzling passing display Tuesday. Pio’s gonna want them to show him it was for real, but he also wants them to clean up the turnovers. We’ll find out if what the young guys showed was sustainable.

SD: No we won’t, Jimmy. Tuesday was nice but didn’t really tell us anything. We knew our guys were better then and we know it coming into this one. What we need to see is if they can continue to execute while working on their games. I’m told the young guys did improve, but just as important, veterans like Cafer Enfes and Leandro Leao also got closer to where the coaching staff wants them to be. If everyone is getting better, that’s what you want to see. So far, so good.

JD: I gotta agree with Sam, here. We’ll know more from the guys when we actually see the improvement and not a second before. I’d like to see guys get shots up, but make them good shots. Part of working on your shooting isn’t just making shots. It’s also shot selection, it’s working to get the good shot, and it’s getting the ball to someone with a better shot.

HO: Yeah, but if the guys are telling you to shoot it, you better have the confidence to shoot it.

JD: That’s a good point, Happy, but you also have to make it. It’s one thing to shoot it because guys tell you to, but if you can’t make it and they know it, they won’t be so encouraging.

JB: And you won’t get playing time unless your game is just exceptionally in some other area.

HO: With that, when we come back, Sam Dunkley picks a position group and Joshua Doe breaks down what to watch for from them. We’ll be back in two minutes on the Linndale Basketball Pre game Show!

Happy Ourer: Halftime sees Linndale on the road to a strangely underwhelming 49-25 lead. Joshua, what’s going on out there?

Joshua Doe: They aren’t taking care of the ball or moving it well enough. 16 assists and 5 turnovers don’t seem bad for a half, but this is a team that had over 50 assists in their last game. Also, Cafer Enfes is not nearly as efficient as he was last game when he seemingly couldn’t miss.

Sam Dunkley: Joshua, defensively I like that they are definitely getting after it and making shots hard to come by and harder to make. On the boards, Rongjing has nearly outrebounded COGERS by himself with their entire team having 17 rebounds to his 15.

Jimmy Buckitts: Sam, I gotta go back to the offensive side. The execution isn’t as crisp as it was last game. You can see Linndale is executing, and they are working on things, but it is not nearly as crisp. They are working to get good shots and largely making them, but that crispness and consistency isn’t there tonight.

HO: Wouldn’t that be a sign of youthful inexperience? Frias and Leao haven’t been on court and those two are the leaders.

JD: That’s a fair point, but Midas Kops and Joy Beko should be able to help Ercan Uzek and Luis Isarre run the team and that’s not happening. What is happening is they are giving the young guys room to find their way, and that’s exactly what you want them to do in this situation. IT’s on those young guys to respond, and right now, they aren’t leading or running the offense the way a veteran like Frias or Leao would.

HO: We’re going to break for local news. When we come back, can Stuart Grubbs keep up this torrid shooting outside in the second half? We’ll be back after the news!

Last edited by Speedtraps at 6/22/2024 9:05:17 PM

Happy Ourer: Folks, I don’t know what Pio Reina said in that locker room at halftime, and I’m not sure I want to. What I do know is that Linndale was a different team in the second half. Thinks were far more crisp, execution was better, and Walt Pasman was a man possessed. Picking up the accuracy banner from Cafer Enfes in the previous game, Pasman seemingly could not miss!

Joshua Doe: The huge part of that is that his only miss was a three ball, and he was 5 of 6 from out there. He just dominated that second half when he was on the floor.

Sam Dunkley: I don’t know that he dominated, but the ball movement got much better and that will help the efficiency of the shooters. Let’s not get overboard on his performance.

Jimmy Buckitts: Happy, you were talking about Stu Grubbs in the first half, but he only took 1 three pointer in the 2nd half and missed it. You sure you didn’t mean Walt Pasman when you mentioned torrid shooting?

HO: I was trying to talk the young man up! He had a nice first half.

SD: I liked that Midas Kops had another game of strong board work, and had a complete game off the bench. He scored, he rebounded, he passed, he defended.

JD: I gotta give love to the bigs doing the grunt work. Rongjing was a force with 14 points and 16 boards in 24 minutes, Craig brought his lunch pail with 9 and 7 in 24 minutes, Beko just kind of got out the way and let Rongjing do his thing, but while his numbers weren’t eye popping, his game just does. 2 points 6 boards and 6 assists don’t seem like much, but every team needs that glue guy and Beko is a supremely talented glue guy. Then there’s Lecian, his understudy. He brings a similar skillset and affects the game in a similar manner, with his 10 boards and 6 assists. Being able to get that kind of playmaking from the bigs is a huge advantage.

JB: Let’s not forget that Beko played some point guard in the past and can do so for long stretches. We’re talking about a guy who could literally play any position on the floor and start.

HO: I know Pio Reina and his coaching staff are working on trying to get Beko to shoot more, but is that a guy who knows his game, is that a lack of aggressiveness, or is that him being passive?

JD: Beko is not a passive guy; he’s an observer who once he sees what needs doing goes out and does it. Need a distributor? He’s there. Rebounds? There. Shut down defender? There. He does it while staying within himself.

SD: Happy, Beko knows he’s got to improve his offensive game, and he works extremely hard on that. However the guy is just so good at getting the ball to where it needs to be. How do you stop a guy who’s game is everything else but scoring?

JB: You take away his options and make him shoot, except with this team, it’s extremely difficult to take away all the options. We didn’t see Bolibok or Siuta tonight. Kops was solid tonight. Pasman was on fire tonight. Enfes was on fire a few nights ago. Leao can fill it up. Frias can score. Rongjing is a force. It takes a supremely strong defensive team to tackle that challenge successfully.

HO: Well, I for one, expect t see another night of this on Tuesday when Linndale returns home to face the Swamp Donkeys. We’re out of time, so we’ll see you all Tuesday at the Speedway. Your final tonight, Linndale 121, COGERS 53. Have a good night everyone!

Happy Ourer: Welcome to the Post Game Show! My colleagues Joshua Doe, Sam Dunkley, and Jimmy Buckitts are all working on various assignments and will be back with us shortly; we’re flying solo tonight. Tonight was as expected; Pio Reina’s squad went out on the home court, looked over their opponents and said “Here’s what you are not going to do in our house: you are not going to do anything well. You are not going to do anything well inside. You are not going to do anything well outside. You are not going to do anything well after timeouts. You are simply not going to do anything well. We run this, and you will simply accept it.” That is exactly what happened.

Josef Siuta quickly asserted himself with 25 points and 18 rebounds and Ondrej Lecian took advantage of the starting opportunity to start with 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists as they led the way. However, the story was in the backcourt, as the young point guards used the court time to show why they could handle the backup point guard role Pio Reina stressed would be so important. Rookie Luis Isarre had 10 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 blocks, and no turnovers. Ercan Uzek backed him up with 4 points, 2 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 blocks. Stuart Grubbs was perfect from the field, hitting all 6 2 pointers, a three pointer, and both free throws for 17 points. If you want to find fault with Linndale’s performance overall, you might take issue with the 7 turnovers they committed, or only 4 steals, or only 17 of 23 from the charity stripe. There just wasn’t much to complain about with team’s performance.

This is how dominant of a performance this was; Linndale had 71 rebounds, 48 assists, and shot 66.7% from the floor while only taking 6 three point shots, making 3 of those. 7 players scored in double figures, and an eighth missed it by a bucket. Linndale scored 43 points in just the third quarter alone; their opponents scored 54 for the game. Folks, this game was never in any doubt. You want consistency? Linndale scored 65 in the first half and 71 in the second. They allowed 25 points in the first half and 29 in the second. This is the kind of performance shown against the URI Rams and COGERS. In their toughest test of the young season, we saw similar consistency against the New York Eagles. We’ll get a better read on the team’s progress in the next 6 league games, but what we’re seeing right now with the results on the court and player improvements initially in this young season indicate another season where the expectation should be an appearance in the league finals at minimum. They are hungry, they are deep, they are versatile, and they are scary. We don’t know how good they are, and they don’t know how good they can be; that’s a scary combination.

Folks, we’ll be back after a commercial break with assistant coach Air Allnite on tonight’s game. (Fade to commercial.)

Jimmy Buckitts: Hello, basketball fans! Jimmy Buckitts here with Roberto Gurgone, the General Manager of Linndale. Roberto, thanks for the time. We have a lot of topics to cover; where would you like to start?

Roberto Gurgone: We lost a championship series we fully expected to win. We were too cocky and confident. It started at the top with me. Pio [Pio Reina, head coach] and the staff tried to straighten me out, but I wouldn’t listen. The team picked up on that. That’s all on me.

JB: Well, I appreciate the candor, and I’m sure our fans do as well. I’d like to ask about the finances; it’s been noted not a single player was added last season, and that’s very unusual given your history of churning the roster with the back end guys and players who may be deemed no longer necessary for success. Now we see the sale of Jozef Siuta; what gives?

RG: I felt we could run that squad back, win the league, and get back to D3. We all thought that. Pio felt we should win it all, but he wanted the team to work for it. I felt it was a coronation waiting to happen. We needed that promotion cash. We had to make Jozef Siuta or Gao Rongjing available; we could lose one and it didn’t matter which one. We didn’t want to lose Siuta, but we were well positioned to do so.

JB: Talk about the young players on the team, specifically the 1st and 2nd year guys. What does the team see in Bernie Craig?

RG: His big man skills were ready to play from the second he arrived. He’ll only get better with time. He’s a guy that doesn’t need the ball to be effective.

JB: Stuart Grubbs is a guy that would not have made the team in years past; why was he able to stick around?

RG: He’s got range, he can handle it a bit and drive, and he can defend the paint. We like his upside. His skill set is intriguing.

JB: What about the rookie, Luis Isarre? How does he fit with Ercan Uzek aboard?

RG: We think Isarre is a point guard with size, and he can pass the ball. He’s raw, but we like what we’ve seen so far. Uzek is a bit bigger, and to be honest, we’re not sure if he stays at point guard. He could be a 1, 2, or 3. We’ll have a better idea of what he’ll be at season’s end.

JB: You and the coaches have stressed versatility. Why?

RG: I don’t claim to speak for the coaching staff, but from my perspective, the more versatility you have, the easier it is to withstand injuries. You’ll have to ask them what they think about it, but I think they like knowing they have at least 2 defenders you can put at any position on the floor and not worry about.

JB: You’re talking about Walt Pasman and Joy Beko.

RG: Defense wins championships. We didn’t win the championship, so we’ve got to be better on defense.

JB: Who’s better?

RG: Pasman is the best perimeter defender on the team. Beko is the best interior defender. The difference between the 2 in each area is surprisingly small. I suppose it depends on the day of the week and who had what for breakfast.

JB: Where else do you think the team needs to improve?

RG: I’ll just say that we are constantly evaluating and are prepared to make changes as needed, but they have to make sense.

JB: Does that mean the back end of the roster is open for churning again?

RG: We’ll see, if the right move presents itself.

JB: What move would you like to make?

RG: You’ll find out when we make it.

JB: That’s our time with Roberto Gurgone, Thanks for your time, and I hope we get to talk again soon. Back to Happy and the guys in the studio!

Happy Ourer: Thanks, Jimmy; that was a solid interview!

Joshua Doe: What you mean, Happy, is that is as solid as you’re gonna get from Roberto. He didn’t say a whole lot.

Sam Dunkley: I think he said quite a bit, Joshua. He admits the team was cocky last season, and takes the blame for that. He is literally saying that he was responsible for that attitude, and the head coach was fighting against his boss on that. He’s admitting he was wrong for that. You never hear stuff like that.

HO: Exactly! I think you underestimate what Roberto did there, Joshua.

JD: I saw a GM taking heat off of his coach there. That’s what a GM should be doing. The man went 19-3, then went to a full 3 games in the finals. That means they had a chance to win it all. It’s ok to be disappointed, but that was for the fans who wanted to fire Pio Reina. He was telling them that isn’t happening.

SD: I’ll give you that, but there was a lot more he said. He admitted the team was low on funds, hence the sale of Siuta. He also indicated that Siuta was a luxury and not a necessity.

JD: Where’s the lie? Go on…

HO: He in effect said they are looking for more defenders and the back end of the roster will change at some point.

JD: No. He said they want better defenders, and the back end could change. You guys have to understand, every GM wants better defenders, and every GM should be looking to upgrade the roster. That’s his job! Look at the defense on this team. I love Petey Buckets, but his defense is not up to the standard that Pio Reina and the coaching staff has set. If it was, he’d be a full time starter. Walt Pasman should be the sixth man off the bench. His defense plays everywhere, but he can’t shoot. The reason they can’t play Frias the way Pio Reina wants to is Leandro Leao isn’t up to the standard they want at point guard. Think about that for a moment. Leao doesn’t turn the ball over, he makes the passes, and he can score, but he’s not up to the standard? That tells me the point guard is an infinitely important position to the team, because the things Leao is good at is what point guards are supposed to be good at. The man is good at his job, and they think he can be better. They are demanding he be better. That’s saying something.

SD: Happy, I gotta agree with Joshua there. If you’re not looking to upgrade, you’re not trying. That is the job.

HO: I concede. We could go on about the interview, but let’s switch gears and talk about tomight’s game. We’ll talk more about the interview at halftime. What’s the key to tonight’s game?

JD: Limiting turnovers, defending the three point shot, and not letting John Bort go “Fullcourt” on us.

SD: Linndale is the stronger team inside. Take them down low and work them over.

HO: I think you both are right. I think if the Fiends are going to have a chance, Bort is going to have to have a huge game and he’s going to have to do it down low, or be incredibly hot from the outside, and I don’t see either likely. On the flip side, who’s going to be the star of the game for Linndale?

JD: If he plays, Gao Rongjing. If he doesn’t, I’m going with Cafer Enfes. This game is tailor made for Rongjing to dominate, but with the lineups we’ve seen, he’s not guaranteed to play tonight.

SD: Neither is Enfes, to be fair. I think it’s going to the coming out party for Bernie Craig. I don’t think Rongjing plays.

HO: Sam, that’s a bold call there. I think Joshua is correct. It’s gonna be Rongjing or Enfes. If Rongjing plays, he gonna snatch someone’s soul.

JD: It’s gonna be fun to see what he can do without Siuta next to him or in front of him on the depth chart.

FO: Folks, we have to go to commercial now, but when we come back we’ll go to Jimmy Buckitts courtside from The Speedway. We'll be back in 2 minutes.

Jimmy Buckitts: I’m here with Pio Reina after a 97-71 victory over the SLC Fiends. Coach, what was the secret sauce tonight?

Pio Reina: Jimmy, there was no secret sauce. We saw what we viewed as their strength, and we took it away.

JB: How do you think the team responded to losing Jozef Siuta?

PR: You tell me; Cafer Enfes played the power and had a double double. Our best defenders shut down the best offensive threat on the other team. Our bigs had 43 rebounds to 25 for theirs. We didn’t play our best big and our second best was playing out on the wing, so this wasn’t our “A” lineup. We wanted to get our work in and shut their engine down. We feel like we did that.

JB: Coach, you don’t seem pleased with tonight’s performance.

PR: I’m not. On offense we were disjointed. It didn’t flow. We weren’t smooth. On defense, we were too laid back. I didn’t see enough aggression out there. I want to see us attack defensively. Too passive out there on both ends. Also, give them some credit because we did not shoot well. There is a lot of work to do.

JB: Thanks Coach. Happy, I’m throwing it to you and the guys in studio!

HO: Jimmy, before you go, who in your mind had the big game?

JB: I have to say the SLC Fiend defense. It wasn’t the stoutest but it made a more talented group from Linndale work and threw off the rhythm and flow of that Linndale offense. Some of that was due to the lineup Linndale used, but some of that was SLC being better tonight than advertised defensively. Pio knows his squad has work to do.

HO: Thanks Jimmy! Good teams find a way to get it done even when they are not at their best. We’ll talk more about the team’s performance when we come back from break.

Pio Reina was livid. “That’s how this is gonna be, huh? You guys can’t be serious! You got outrebounded! You didn’t take care of the basketball! The things we are supposed to be able to control, we didn’t!!! Rebounding is effort!!! You werem’t smart of careful with the basketball!!! THAT WSA NOT LINNDALE BSKETBALL OUT THERE!!! THAT WAS NOT WHAT WE DO!!! Lecian, you tapped out after 10 minutes!!! What was that?!? Rongjing!!! I don’t know if you noticed, but Siuta ain’t here anymore. You get paid like a big dog to BE the big dog. You didn’t give Beko any help out there! Enfes, that was your worst shooting game we’ve ever seen from you! Only a few of you guys seemed to give any effort! Why are you guys wasting the time and resources of this organization and my coaching staff?”

Pio take a deep breath, then continued. “What was good out there? Lecian, you were good for 10 minutes. I guess that was too much for you, huh? Frias, you weren’t bad, but you need to be better than that. Petey Buckets… we’re just gonna have to live with you. I want your defense to be on par with your offense, but it seems you score in bursts. That defensive effort you gave will keep you on the court. Keep that up, son. Kops, another solid, all around game. The problem is, we’ve expected more from you. We’re not getting it. Beko, we know who you are and what you bring. We’re going to get you some help. Gentlemen, this was a most disgusting display of basketball. There will be consequences and repercussions felt for a long time after this display. If I were you, I’d act as if my job were on the line. You’ll continue on somewhere, but it won’t be here. Unacceptable!”

Meanwhile, on the court…

Jimmy Buckitts: Coach Helm, can we get your thoughts on the game?

Byron Helm: Yeah. That team out there beat the brakes off of us. Losing Lecian was a game changer for us, but this team played like they expected to coast to a win. A few guys gave the effort we expect, but this was bad. This was unacceptable. Look, I’m not taking away anything from the other team out there; they played tough defense, they attacked the boards, they took better care of the ball than we did, and they made free throws. They did what we expect to do day in and day out. They took care of the things they can control. They out ussed US! Tonight we looked soft and lazy for the most part. The bigs are in for it. I’m gonna kill everyone of them, even Beko. Coach Marshall Richards is gonna crush the wings. Coach Air Allnite is going to be absolutely livid with the ball security and the shooting. Then, we’re going to sit down with our GM. He can’t be on board with what we saw out there. Changes are coming. We’ll get whoever sticks around where we want them to be, and the new guys up to speed. We will right this ship. Anyone not on board with that is gonna be gone. It’s one thing to lose a hard fought game, but we can’t get be playing our own game. That is unacceptable. A lot of people are gonna have to answer for this.

Jimmy Buckitts: Thanks for your time, Coach. That was associate head coach Byron Helm, and folks, the coaches are pissed off. After this debacle, expect changes. Happy, back to you in the studio.

Happy Ourer: Thanks, Jimmy. We’ll talk more about tonight’s game with Joshua and Sam, when we return from the break. There’s going to be a whole lot to talk about!