This was a game that had been talked up for most of the second half of the season and it did not disappoint. The game was a game of two halves. The first half belonged to White Plains. White Plains jumped out to an early lead and I must say that it looked like it was going to be no contest. White Plains outside shooting was on fire to start the game. It seemed like they could not miss a three pointer. It must have seemed that way to Linden and worse. Linden was looking for the hyper ness of the game to wear off.
It did not happen until the second half for them. White Plains shooters had their way in the first half. White Plains had open up a five point lead and then a ten point lead and then fifteen point lead and finally they had over a twenty point lead. I am sure White Plains supporters where having a great time. Nothing went wrong for them in the first half. Their bench seemed to come in the game and not skip a beat in the first half either. They came into the game and their shots were falling as well. White Plains was making it looked like an early night for the starters.
If anything went wrong for White Plains you could not tell it by how they played. I actually felt that White Plains would have struggle in the first half since their other starting guard number 31 hurt himself during warm ups. I figured White Plains would have to adjust to not having him on the floor with their point guard. But the White Plains machine just rolled on.
Linden was out of synch in the first half. They could not get the ball inside to their big men and that seemed to throw them off of their offense rhythm. Linden guards were doing everything they could to slow down White Plains point guard but nothing seemed to work. Linden made their regular substitutions and rested their players. They did not panic. They just kept on playing. They starting to put some pressure on White Plains at the end of the half and that twenty plus lead started to come down.
By halftime Linden had gotten the lead down to a overwhelming fourteen points. Fourteen points is a huge mountain to climb against a good high quality team Like White Plains. Fans at halftime were writing Linden's obituary saying that Linden was done. I must admit I was one of them. All that White Plains had to do was just play like they always played and Linden had no hope no chance. Well someone forgot to tell Linden that they were done.
The second half started and I remarked to my assistant coach Tyrone James that if Linden wanted to have any chance of winning this game they would have to get the fourteen point lead down to ten by the fifteen minute mark. They had is down to nine. Linden started playing with a new since of urgency and it was paying off. White Plains star point guard stumbled and made a few mistakes. He got a five second call for over dribbling the ball and he misread which way one of his guys was going. Both turnovers lead to points for Linden. Linden two starting guards made it a personal challenge to stop White Plains point guard. Lindens' guard Matt got two huge steals on the White Plains point guard leading to easy scores for Linden.
The game was now officially on. The lead was under ten and both teams now had a chance to win this game. The pressure seemed to be falling on White Plains now. Was there a crack in the armor? They had made just about every free-throw in the first half and now they were missing a few. Linden on the other hand were now making there's. This was now a heavyweight championship fight. Both teams were now playing like they had played all year. It was punch and counter punch. Linden was landing the big shots in the second half but White Plains kept countering. Linden got the lead down to two and you could not help but feel that Linden was going to win this game.
White Plains was not rolling over to give the game to Linden however. Linden had done a great job of keeping the ball out of #13 hands for most of the second half and even when he had the ball the defense on him was tight and he could not do much with the ball. This game had come down to the wire. With just over two minutes to go White Plains had built their lead to six points. The momentum had gone back to White Plains. But just that quick #13 get his pocket picked and the lead is down to four. Trying to redeem for his mistake #13 cannot get the ball from his own teammate and the teammate throws the away to a linden player. Linden takes the ball and goes down and score and the lead is now two. With around one minute to go Linden ties the game up. But White Plains did not come this far because they did not have the heart to finish a game. White Plains comes down and hit a giant three-pointer to take a three point lead.
They next play on Linden end of the court; I felt was one of the biggest plays of the game. Linden was running out of time. There was only 30 seconds left in the game. Linden took a shoot and missed. Due the urgency of the clock, time running out, Linden put everything it had in getting the offense rebound.
White Plains and Linden were in a wild scramble for the ball and in desperation, a White Plains player, just trying to get the ball out of Linden end of the court, threw the ball over his head backwards. Linden had broken their normal defense setup and all five players got caught below the free-throw line fighting for that precious ball. White Plains had a guard that was above the free-throw line and as a result he won the race for the ball and the prize was an easy two points.
White Plains is now up by five with 19 seconds to go and the game was still not over. Linden rushed the ball up the court and hit a three pointer to get the lead by down to two. Linden fouled quickly to stop the clock. All White Plains had to do was hit the two free-throw and the game would be over, but they missed one and the lead is only three. Linden put in all of their three point shooters to give themselves the best chance of tying this game up and sending it into overtime.
Linden rushed the ball up and they make a couple of passes and the ball ends up in the hands on Linden three-point specialist. When he set up and starts to shoot you are visional zing the ball going into the basketball. The ball leaves his hand and in fly's superman; able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
#5 of White Plains came flying in and blocks the shot. As he is blocking the shot the horn goes off to end the game. You are standing there saying wow. What a great game!!
White Plains, #13 made the clutch free-throws down the stretch to seal the victory. I think everyone in the gym felt that #13 was the difference maker for White Plains. Linden played a great game. The White Plains first half lead was just too big of a hole to come back from in the championship game.
Congratulations to both teams on a well played game and to White Plains on winning the 2009 title.
