You be the judge

The outcome of the Hiroshima-Taoyuan championship game for the EASL’s $1 million first prize could’ve gone the Pilots’ way if the right coaching calls were made in the homestretch of the thriller at the Studio City Event Center, Macau, last Sunday. As it turned out, the Dragonflies seized the lead with 26 seconds to go and held on to win, 72-68.

Here’s how it went down. With 1:18 left, Pilots’ import Treveon Graham hit a jumper to put Taoyuan in the driver’s seat, 68-67. Hiroshima center Kerry Blackshear missed a shot, time down to 1:03, and Taoyuan’s Senegalese import Amdy Dieng, classified as a local for attending a Chinese-Taipei school, grabbed the rebound. In the ensuing play, Pilots’ 7-1 Alec Brown took a triple to try to create a two-possession lead but missed his 13th attempt from the field with 0:39 seconds left. Shouldn’t he have tried to use his height advantage by coming close to the basket rather than risk a low percentage shot? Why was his offensive position hardly adjusted to get him into more scoring situations at the low post? After all, the tallest Dragonflies were 6-10 Blackshear and Tshilidzi Kawata.

Toshiki Nakamura claimed the rebound after Brown’s miss then Blackshear turned it over, time down to 0:31. At that point, Taoyuan coach Iurgi Caminos called a timeout. Inbounding from the backcourt, the Pilots nearly lost possession on a five-second violation but got the ball to Lu Chun Hsiang who was trapped near the end line. A jump was called with the possession arrow pointing to the Dragonflies. Hiroshima called a timeout and coach Shogo Asayama designed an undergoal inbound play to screen Graham off Dwayne Evans for a quick unmolested layup. The play was executed to perfection and Hiroshima regained the lead, 69-68 with 24.6 ticks remaining.

Caminos called another timeout and decided to advance the ball. He declined the option of throwing in from the backcourt. That would’ve maxed the time left and not given the ball back to Hiroshima. But in advancing, the Pilots’ shot clock was reduced to 14, leaving 10 seconds for the Dragonflies to score. If the Pilots scored a two, they would’ve gotten back the lead by one. If they scored a three, they would’ve opened a lead by two. Either way, Hiroshima would get the ball back and try to win it with a two if the lead was one or three if the lead was two. When the play was resumed, the Pilots couldn’t get off a shot on time and was slapped a shot clock violation, leaving 10.6 seconds. Evans was fouled on the next play and converted the second of two free throws. By then, the Pilots had run out of timeouts with 9.2 seconds left so the option of advancing the ball was gone. A UAAP coach said he learned from coach Yeng Guiao to always leave one or even two timeouts for the end-game in case of necessity. The Pilots inbounded from the backcourt, down by two and Lu hurriedly tried to cross the timeline but Ryu Watanabe poked the ball loose, got the steal and raced home for the final blow to win it.

Caminos called two timeouts in the last 30 seconds, exhausting his allocation and could’ve used one to advance the ball with 9.2 seconds left. Should he have opted to throw in from the backcourt, max the shot clock with 24.6 seconds left and go for the winning basket? When he didn’t, the door was left open for Hiroshima to get the last possession. It was a thrilling finish to an incredible EASL season and Final Four. The debate will go on and on as to whether Caminos made the right calls down the stretch. You be the judge if he called it right or not.