SBL Champions and Return Trip Home

In reading the headline of the post you can figure that we won the league title. However, I'll backtrack a little bit and give you more of an idea about how we got there since my last post was some time ago. The last update I gave mentioned that I had been sick and missed the first game of the semi final series against a very tough opponent, but we were still able to come away with a win.

The following week that Geraldton team came down to our place trying to force a third and deciding game. It was a Saturday night game in our home gym, and wow did the people come out to support us. I think it was easily our biggest crowd of the year and the people were packed in tight. I remember taking a look up at the fans at one point during the game and saw people sitting in the aisles, standing two or three deep at the top of the stands, and people pulling chairs into the far corners. All this energy translated into an electric and loud crowd (gym holds less than 1000 people). I think this really helped us in the game. The game could best be described as back and forth. I don't think either team led by more than 7 or 8 points at any point in the game. It was just close the whole way thru. With under a minute and a half the game was tied and we were able to make a couple big plays (I hit a three and another player scored a basket, got fouled, and made the free throw) that gave us the lead by 6 with about 50 seconds left. After some free throws on our part and a made three or so thrown in there by the opposition we were able to come away with a 4 point win. It was a good win, gave us a berth in the championship game, and everybody was loving it. I was ridiculously happy that we won, but just as much so that we won that Saturday night in game 2. If Geraldton had beaten us and forced a game 3. It would have been the following afternoon, about 18 hours later. I would have been STRUGGGLINNG. Saturday's night game was another physical contest and I took many hits and shots thru out the course of the game (nothing necessarily dirty, just a hard fought game). It would have taken a while to get going had we played on Sunday.

Everybody on the team, and again many supporters, were so anxious for the championship game the next Saturday night. This story may put it in perspective (for the interest in the game as a whole). When the tickets went on sale to the public on the Tuesday leading up to the game, they sold out in ten minutes. Granted, the site of the championship game is again, not a very large venue with just a little more that a grand capacity probably, but I mean c'mon TEN MINUTES. People all over were fired up for this game. Even more so that the team we were playing were I guess like the face of the league - they play there home games at the venue - so it was basically a home game for them. Only it wasn't a home game for them when Saturday rolled around, I'll touch on this in a moment.

Leading up to the game, we had a great week of preparation and really worked hard to be ready to go. Finally, Saturday came around. It felt like an eternity waiting as we were all so ready to go out and get things going. When we rocked up to the game about and hour and a half before tip off there were already fans lining up waiting to get in. Not just a few fans, I mean a serious number. What made it great was that I think just about all were Lakeside people, so we walked thru the crowd and everybody just started cheering and getting fired up. By the time I had gotten dressed and ready to go onto the floor to get some pregame shots up, the doors had been opened and our fans were quickly filling up the bleachers on both sides. This is probably at least an hour before tip off and a majority of all the Lakeside people were already getting in. By the time the game started I think both bleachers were filled with about 2/3 Lakeside people compared to the rest for the opposition. It was absolutely great. Such a great following and atmosphere by our fans....I know I've gotten on quite a roll about our fans, but really they deserve it, and was an atmosphere and interest that I personally have never experienced before. All this did was just help us and fuel us even farther. And did it show once the game started. We jumped all over the other team, Mike Tyson style back in his prime. Before they knew what happened we were up double digits and led by 12 at quarter time. If you were watching I think you would have thought the other team looked lost and didn't know what hit them. Maybe they weren't quite ready to play, maybe they were. But regardless, we were and we came out hard, really hard. In the first half we got the lead up to as much as 28 points. It would have been easy to think this was the game, and in reality maybe we did a little bit and they got it to 18 at the half. The second half got even more interesting. They played much better, I think we got a little tired after the amount of energy we expended early, and they made the game very close down the stretch, cutting the deficit all the way down to 3!! Honestly, I'll admit that this was kind of a shock. Suddenly, the atmosphere in the stadium was going crazy again and they were feeling very good about their position, and rightfully so. Personally, I'm not going to say that yea I wanted this to happen (it would have been just as sweet to get an easier title game, a blow out), but really, I was seriously enjoying every minute of this. The game got close and there was just the rush of adrenaline, and just realized how fun it was. The atmosphere, what was happening, ect. However, like we've done all season, we responded very well and just kept defending and getting some key stops and made a couple big buckets and were able to get an 8 point victory. Once the buzzer sounded, everybody - players and fans - erupted. It was a good time, and a good celebration. Just feels real good to have put in hard work the whole season, and to have won the regular season title and the league championship (or Grand Final as it's called) was super satisfying. We took pictures, got the trophy, sang our team song, cut down the nets, did all the things a team does after winning a title, and it felt great. It was also nice that the supporters (who have been there the whole season) were able to come onto the floor following the presentation and share the moment while we cut down the nets. This means just about all the Lakeside people who were there joined on the floor. After that, it was out for a little bit to celebrate with the guys and enjoy my last couple nights in Australia.

Yep, I'm finally headed home. It doesn't really seem like finally, as the whole experience seemed to go by really fast. Once that last game was played, those final two days went by extremely fast. So here I am now, 2:30 AM sitting in the Melbourne airport waiting on my 6 AM flight to LA bored as I don't know what. That's why if you're reading this you're probably asking when this post is ever going to end? I got nothing else to do and seemingly all the time in the world. I am glad to be going home, but this journey home is going to absolutely nightmare. Anyways, I'll be home one day in the future - reality, Tuesday night, hopefully. Once I get home I think I'll give a little bit more of a run down on the whole Australian experience, but for now I got to go find some bloody (see more Australian/English slang) food in this deserted airport. See you soon.

Semi Final and Sick Recovery

This past week or so has been pretty uneventful for me minus getting pretty sick and trying to deal with that. About a week ago I came down pretty sick. I'm pretty sure I didn't get the flu but was just floored by a cold. I struggled so much that I was unable to play in our first semifinal game last weekend. That was real tough to take but it turned out great for the team and me. Even tho I wasn't playing the team played an unbelievable game and were able to come away with a big road win. This definitely lifted my spirits as I would have been feeling even worse if we had lost and I knew that I wasn't able to help my guys out. That gives us a slight edge this weekend, but still know that it's going to be a very tough task and we'll have to play our best. As for being sick, I'm good now. No real lingering effects. The only thing that I noticed was that my conditioning and stamina took a hit as I didn't really do anything for a week, and was practically in bed for about 3 of those days doing absolutely nothing.

Other than that there isn't really much else happening. Everything is just winding down. Simply put, I'll be on my way heading home in about 10 days or so. Crazy to think all 6 months of work and so far away is coming down to this last week of basketball. Hopefully, we'll be able to close it out right.

Playoff Win

Hello again. We were able to win our first playoff series in three games (best of three series). It did turn out to be a fairly tough series. We started the round off with our backs against the wall as we lost the first game and were thus facing elimination from there on out. However, following the first game, we had a good week of practice and preparation featuring hard work and good adjustments. The next weekend both games (if needed the 2nd) would be at our home facility. In the 2nd game of the series we jumped all over them and basically crushed them. We won by 25 or 30. It wasn't really even close past the 2nd quarter. Obviously, this was good momentum going into the deciding game the following night, and we used this to cruise to another fairly easy win. Again, in this game we came out and hammered them early, leading as much as nearly 30. In the end they made it somewhat interesting and I think the final difference was 12. Funny incident at the end of the game that pretty much sums up what we did to the other team in the final two games was that I had the ball at the end of the game with maybe a 7 second deferential between the shot clock and game clock. Basically meant that we could get one more shot up or take the shot clock violation but the game wouldn't end with the ball in our hands. As the shot clock ran down I had the ball at the top of the floor right around the mid court circle, and had decided that I was going to shoot it or pass to someone else who could shoot it rather than take the shot clock violation. The defense had already given up the game and weren't going to foul so the guy that was guarding me was a good ten feet off of me. With maybe 2 seconds on the shot clock I took one dribble in from the circle and just let it fly. It's strange, cause when I shot it, it was one of those moments where the ball just seemed to suspend in space for a time, and then it went thru nothing but net and the place just erupted. It was a deep shot....really deep. I think everyone in the gym was kind of shocked that I would shoot it so far out and then almost even more so when it went in. I remember thinking before I shot it that a. I was too tired to drive it or make some kind of play, and b. the games over what the heck just let it go. I guess it was a good exclamation point to finish out the series and definitely created some good laughs. I don't know how many people came up to me after the game and said "great shot" or sarcastically and with a smile on his or her face "that was rude". Definitely capped of a very strong two game performance by our team. 

On to the next task, and a tough task it will be. Our next opponent is the Geraldton team that we split with during the regular season and who also beat us by 35 at there place (5 hours up the road). It's going to be a very tough series and we'll have our work cut out deep for us. 

In other bad news it's about 2 days before the first game against them, and I'm coming down pretty hard with a cold (hopefully just that and not flu). Other teammates are also having similar problems so we're not getting any favors before hand. 

Wish us luck, I'll check in soon. 

Playoffs

Ok, so we won easily last weekend and thus wrapped up the regular season title and number 1 seed going into the playoffs. It's very rewarding to have completed such a successful season (team and personally), but again, there is still a lot to accomplish in these playoffs. Our first round opponent (best of three series) is against a team that we split with in the regular season. I think it'll definitely be a tough matchup and we'll have to play good and consistently to guarantee our survival to the next round. We'll see how it goes, but we are very confident and also seem to be very loose going into this series. 

In other news....well, actually there isn't really any other news. In between the fairly consistent rainy days here in Perth its really quite nice. For example, today I wake up to find it fairly cold yet sunny in the morning (sweatshirt and sweatpants needed), only to leave the house around lunch time to be able to change into shorts, t-shirt, and flip flops. Very niiice. Keep in mind that this is basically the middle of the Perth winter. That's pretty much how the weather goes unless its raining, but even then still not really that cold, just depressing overcast skies. 

Ok, will let everyone know how the game goes tomorrow night. Till then.....

Gameday

It's about mid day Saturday as I am writing this. We have a game here in about 7 hours or so, and it's actually the last regular season game. I'm sitting here thinking where did the rest of the season go? Everything has really gone by fast. As far as the playoff situation goes, its pretty simple. We win and we're the regular season champions and the number one seed in the playoffs. If we lose then we could possibly fall to number two. Obviously, it's a pretty big game for us as we want to win the regular season and go in to the playoffs as the number one seed. I'll give a update or so tomorrow to let everyone know how we came thru. Take care back home. 

Back On A Winning Streak

Since the last time I wrote two weeks ago or so, the Lightning have gotten back on a winning streak yet again. Three to be exact. There wasn't anything really all that unordinary in the three games. After somewhat of a slow start in our first game following the loss, we really picked the defense up and kept it up very strongly in the following two games. In some other news, the team that was in second place behind us has now lost three in a row and we have basically a three game lead in order to win the regular season. I will admit that that is pretty exciting. When I first came over here I thought we had a good team and had a chance to be successful in the league. However, at the same time I had really nothing else to go on. I didn't know what any of the other teams were like or any of the players. So honestly, I can't say that I necessarily came in thinking that we would compete for the regular season title. Of course I hoped for that but there was just too much uncertainty. Now, we certainly got a chance to finish the regular season on top, but there is still plenty of work to do. With that said, I haven't even mentioned the playoffs yet, so there's lots to still take care of. 

Talking about when I first arrived here and then my impressions of where the team stands today brings me to a new line of thought, which is just how quickly the time has passed. In about another week, I'll have been here five months already (believe me I know, I got it on the calendar). There are only four regular season games remaining, and depending on how far we go in the playoffs I could be home in 6-8 weeks. I won't lie that's pretty exciting as well. Don't get me wrong I love being here in Australia and hope to stay through a Grand Final win, but also the prospect of going home is starting to get under my skin slightly. It's been a while since I've seen family and friends (and dog Honey) and after a while it starts to wear a little bit. Now if you're reading this, don't think that I'm trying to say that yea I'm ready to come home now or that I'm homesick. It's not like that at all, I'll just be happy to come home. Until that time take care and wish the Lightning luck. 

A Loss?.....

After about two months of not experiencing the feeling of a loss, the Lightning finally had that feeling after this past weekend. More on that in a minute, but I'll start with the victory we picked up on Friday night. There isn't much to say about this one. This would probably been somewhat boring for someone just sitting in the stands. We ended up winning by about 20, it's just that there wasn't much happening in this game and the other team was not very good. I will say that it was absolutely freezing in the gym where we were playing (away game). I walked in before our game and didn't take off a jacket until the starting five had to walk out on the floor for the tip off. This isn't the first time that this has happened. I've come to figure out that most homes and other places in Australia do not use central heating (even as I'm writing this I'm sitting by a little heater in the living room where I'm staying at). Apparently, it just doesn't quite get cold enough for a long enough time here for people to really consider needing (or wanting to pay) for heat. Instead, people just really pile the clothes on and bundle up at night. Right now during the day it warms up to about 65 to 70 degrees (great), but at night it goes down to about 40 (not good). Obviously, at night...no heat...it gets a little nippy. As you can see, this comes in to play when all our games are after the sun goes down. 

Enough of that, on to the game that we lost. As I mentioned, this was the first time that we have lost since the end of March. It's quite disappointing that we lost, but also in the way that we played and that we beat this team by 35 the time before. I could get into a lot of reasons about what happened, but basically our defense wasn't there as it has been before (a long with some offensive issues). That said, a lot of credit to the other team, who I thought was very much improved and shot the ball extremely well. We are still sitting on top and in good position, but we MUST look at this loss and improve on some areas that we haven't been doing very well as of late. Hopefully, we will do just that starting tonight at practice.