Thursday, December 17, 2015

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Yes, Christmas is without a doubt the most wonderful time of the year.  Celebrating the birth of our Savior is such a special opportunity each December.  The kids love the decorations and the music, the traditions and the extra time together.  We all love the spirit that fills the air.

There is, however, another thing that I look forward to this time of year...BASKETBALL!

Taylor and Parker both made the Providence Hall High School team.  They worked hard in pre-season practices, and then poor Taylor injured his knee in the first game and will be out until
January :(.  Poor kid!  He loves basketball so much, it's killing him to miss these games.

Parker is doing SO well.  As a 9th grader he is starting on the varsity team as the point guard.  He runs the offense very well, he averages 3 or 4 assists and 4 or 5 points per game.  But his defense and energy is what really sets him apart.  Defensively he gives the other teams fits.  Their point guards can't get in rhythm with Parker's constant deflections, steals and overall disruption of their sets.  He is so fun to watch!  (And so AWFUL to play against!)

Last night was fantastic!  (I'm not sure when my voice will recover;)  We played Rockwell, who is crazy good from the 3-point line.  They hit 70% (13/19) from behind the arc last night.  That is an almost unbelievable percentage.  We started out slow and they went up by 17 points.  It looked like it was going to be a long night.  Parker started slow and came out after a couple of minutes.  At the end of the 1st quarter we were down by about 15.  To start the 2nd quarter, Parker came in and never left the game again.  Parker's defensive intensity really helped the team to slow Rockwell down.  We closed out on their 3-point shots, limiting the number they could get off.  We rotated well to the ball.  And slowly we started to close the gap.  We were down by 5 at halftime.  Up by four at the end of the 3rd quarter.  Then it was a back and forth game in the 4th quarter.  Our big guy and our best 3-point shooter both scored a lot of points.  With 13.8 seconds left, we were down 45-44 and we were inbounding the ball.  We ran a play for our big guy in the middle.  He had scored 25 points on the night and was doing very well.  They anticipated that and as soon as he got the ball, 3 guys smothered him.   He spun around, but couldn't get a shot up.  He passed it down to Parker, who was on the left side of the hoop, about 5 feet away.  Parker took the shot...and made it!  With no time left on the clock!  We won 46-45.  Like I said, my voice is still just a hoarse whisper:)

Congratulations, Parker.  He was named player of the game by his coaches.  Here is the quote from Max Preps:

Player of the Game

Congratulations to #5 Parker Green for being selected the Providence Hall Basketball Player of the Game.
5 points, including game winning basket with no time remaining, great ball pressure defense leading to 4 steals plus numerous deflections and bad passes, 3 rebounds, 4 assists.

Taylor has been so supportive of his brother's success.  I'm so proud of both of them!  Her are some pictures.  They are from a game last week when our team got to play at the arena the Utah Jazz play in.  Fun!  Love you guys!  -Dad



Looks like he's trapped...

Not so much:)

Taylor looks glumly on.  Hope that knee heals quickly!!!









Wonderful boys.