Y-Basketball: Celtics 14, Bulls 12

The one-year-plus winning streak is over.

It was great fun while it lasted, but the Bulls couldn't get the job done against the upstart Celtics this morning and took their first loss of the league season, 14-12.

Luke scored the first basket of the game for the Bulls and we took a quick 2-0 lead. But that was our only lead of the game as the Celtics scored six straight to grab a 6-2 advantage. The Bulls were forced to play catch-up for the remainder of the contest and the Celtics' biggest lead was 12-6. The Bulls made a nice run in the end, outscoring the Celtics 6-2, but it wasn't enough to gain the victory. Ironically, George made a 10-foot jumper just after the third quarter buzzer sounded that would have tied this game at 14.

We coaches decided to try teaching and running a stack offense for this game: But the Bulls players struggled mightily with this offense and ultimately, that confusion likely cost us the game. Everyone was just too mechanical out on the floor trying to run the stack, and it was clear that there was too much thinking going on and not enough intuitive playing or having fun. In fact, the Bulls got to the point of frustration, running more one-on-one than any other team offense. There were far too many long jumpers going up and clanging off the rim. The good news is that the YMCA refs are letting us play run-and-gun: This is our bread and butter as our tough defense creates easy scoring opportunities for us.

Michael and Joe paced the Bulls with four points apiece. Michael played very hard again, grabbing rebounds and loose balls and hustling on defense. Henry and Luke each added a basket to round out the scoring for the good guys.

The Bulls continue on with a 2-1 record. Next up: a game against the Heat at 9 AM at the Champaign County YMCA.