Here are Coach Kannemeyer's 3 Keys to the Game:
Passing, Passing, Passing
After two straight losses to the league leading Edmonton Stingers at home last week, the Bandits have to do some serious soul searching to reclaim their offensive identity.
Losing Marek Klassen several weeks ago has had a lasting impact on the roster with only four games left. Still the leader in assists for the team, Klassen had the ability to identify the hot hand, reward the bigs for strong defensive play and knew when to create his own shot. Klassen was the floor general that the current Bandits desperately need to get back to their winning ways.
The guard play needs to get better, the passing needs to be sharper and the team needs to execute in transition at a much higher clip to get back to get those momentum buckets that help spark offensive runs. The team has struggled mightily to score in odd man scenarios and I feel that this burden falls on Alex Campbell, Malcolm Duvivier and Shaquille Keith. Keith especially needs to see the tape. Because the hulking forward is one of the Bandits' best scorers, the ball is in his hands often. And as teams load up to stop Keith from getting to the rim, the forward needs to find his teammates and share the ball when the situation calls for it. With more of the burden falling on his shoulders, Keith could make even more of an impact offensively if he can begin to make better reads in both the half court and in transition.
How to Stop Xavier Moon?
The two time MVP completely dominated the two game series in Abbotsford last week. Moon was able to orchestrate in transition, in the half court and conducted the Stingers' offence with little resistance -- none of it had to do with a lack of effort. The Bandits have played hard on defence all season, but allowed Moon to find his rhythm whenever he needed a bucket against the team's pick and roll coverage. Over and over again, the Stingers got their shot when they needed a score because of Moon’s tremendous offensive talent.
The Bandits for the majority of defensive sequences against the Stingers' pick and roll played drop coverage. This means that the man guarding the ball is forcing their matchup to use the screen or not get screened at all. The defensive big man drops to the free throw line and protects the rim. As the ball handler gets over the screen, he has a defender chasing from behind and a big man staring him right in the face. More often than not this forces the offensive player to take a long contested two-point shot.
Moon is the one player in the league that can destroy this coverage with his devastating shot off the dribble. He was manipulating the screen so well in their last matchup that he was able to take lightly contested off the dribble threes, which in theory is a low percentage shot. I expect the Bandits to adjust for this two game set against Edmonton. We could see less Brandon Gilbeck in the second and fourth quarter allowing the team to switch onto Moon to take away this shot. We might also see the team try and trap Moon off the pick and roll occasionally to help take away his rhythm. Whatever the team chooses to do, I expect them to change their coverage throughout the game to try and disrupt the tremendous rhythm all the Stingers are playing with offensively.
Grit and Grind
The margin for winning for the Bandits is such a fine line. Three of the team's five losses have come by single digits.
However when the Stingers did miss, it seemed more often than not, that they were quicker to the loose balls than the Bandits. Who on the Bandits is best suited to go through the proverbial wall for his teammates? Gilbeck is often preoccupied boxing out and Ryan Ejim does not play enough minutes to make that type of impact when it matters in clutch time in the fourth quarter. A guard has to take on this role. The floor dives, the charge taker, flying into the crowd for no other reason to spark their teammates. This level of hustle is infectious and it might just take one desperate act to get this team going.
I’m going to nominate Kenny Manigault for this assignment on Wednesday, not because he’s the best at it but I think it might spark him and get him going on both sides of the court. Manigault is the team's smoothest athlete and is clearly a great leader. If he can kick it into high gear with hustle plays, adding to an already solid offensive repertoire, Manigault could propel himself to becoming one of the best import players in the league. More importantly get the Bandits back in the win column Wednesday night in Edmonton.