Top of the Ladder

This past Friday saw the top two teams in the league meet. We were the second place team and the opponent was the top team of the league up to that point in the season. In the week leading up to the game I could tell everybody around the club and fans were very excited for the game. I don't know how many people came up to me to tell me that it would be a big and good game and that the place would be packed (playing at home by the way). Also, apparently Lakeside and our opponent, Cockburn, are pretty big rivals and always have tightly contested and heated games. The game only turned out to be only one of those types of games. We jumped on them quickly and built a double digit lead fairly early on that reached a 30 point lead at the end of the third quarter. We began to coast a bit in the 4th quarter but the damage was already done and we ended up winning by 19. 

Despite it not being a very close contest it was still very competitive. I would say this was one of the most physical games that I have been apart of (definitely since I've been here). This was especially the case for me. One of the things that has annoyed me the most about the refereeing in this league is that they call absolutely nothing off the ball. It has to be murder for them to make a call. Holding, grabbing, robbing, throwing, you could almost do whatever here. This is tougher for me because teams have really started to try and focus on doing as much of this as possible to me to try and slow me down. So far, I've done a really good job of playing through it, using other alternatives, and keeping my cool and not letting the defenders throw me off my game. BUT, that still doesn't mean it hasn't affected me physically. Saturday morning I was absolutely a wreck. So sore and bruised and knocked. At least thats all it was tho, and nothing serious. So I'm ok and as I'm writing this on Thursday, but wow it can take a toll especially if we have back to back games like we do this weekend. All in all tho, I had another good game against Cockburn, and was very satisfied with the result. 

Also like to note that this past Saturday I got to go to another AFL (football A.K.A. footy) game. This time it was a regular season game and the action was much more intense and interesting. Me talking about a physical basketball game compared to this game makes me almost want to never complain about getting bumped or bruised again. Maybe I should just suck it up. These guys absolutely look like they could kill each other sometimes. Made for some very entertaining football and a fun night.  

Nice Road Win

This past Saturday we made the road trip into somewhat of the interior of Western Australia to the mining town Kalgoorlie. This wasn't just a short ride, it was an 8 hour bus ride. This would equal about one of the longest bus rides I've ever made to play a game. The difference is that in the past we have never made such a long ride and then played the SAME day. Yep, thats what we did. Well not only did we do that but we played a really good game and ended up winning against one of the better teams in the league. They had also won the league championship each of the last two years. Needless to say, everybody was very excited. Of course we knew we could win, but given the circumstances of the trip and also that very few teams ever win there it was a good feeling, and made the ride home a lot easier. As for me, I also had a very good game. I think I scored like 21 points in the first half, and in the second half they made it more difficult by throwing a box in one on me and I finished with 30 points. However, late in the game they had cut our lead to 4 points and not too long after that I hit a couple big shots that gave us a little more space. That was then tho, and now we got another big game this week against the team that is tied with us atop the standings. So obviously, whoever wins will be in first place in the league at this moment. Let you know how it goes!!

Blowout

This past Thursday we had a very easy win. I believe we won by 41. It wasn't necessarily that the other team was very bad, but it was our most complete defensive performance thus far this season. We totally dominated the game defensively. In the third quarter alone we gave up only 7 points. Guys were all over the place on the defensive end, and this was the first time all year that it has been like that. I probably had my weakest offensive performance of the season (16 points on 5-15 shooting) but despite that still thought I played a good all around game. 

Our game was on a Thursday instead of the usual Friday or Saturday allowing for a long weekend without any commitments. I haven't really planned to do anything in particular. Several of the guys that I would usually hang out with have gone away for the holiday, so that's not really an option for me. I do know that Australia will get Masters coverage, so I'm sure I'll be finding time to check that out. Also hope to get out and about and maybe explore a little more of Perth and the local area. Who knows tho, we'll just have to see what comes about. 

Hope everybody has a wonderful Easter and takes time to reflect and appreciate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Win

We picked up another win Friday night here at Lakeside. I believe the final score was 111-89. It was a better showing by us compared to last weekend. Also helps to have our best rebounder back playing with us. We still have many areas that need improvement, but its always good to get a win regardless. Personally, I had a pretty solid game finishing with 30 points. 

Not a whole lot going on right now. Basically been relaxing a bit and then either practicing or working out. Although today (Sunday), is the first game for the 14 year old team that I am helping coach at Lakeside. Be interesting to see how that goes but it'll be fun. 

Also know that the Final Four games have been on and already played. I'm trying hard to keep my eyes and ears closed around here as to not hear or see the result of the games, to some success. I think I've heard that there was an upset. I'm guessing that that mean's either UCONN or UNC went down. Also, would mean that any hope I had at winning my bracket competition just died. My suspense will be lifted later tonight when the games will be broadcasted here. So hopefully, I won't hear anything else till then. 

First Loss

Alright, so we've lost our first game of the season. We didn't just lose either, we got smoked. Saturday night saw us make a 5 hour bus trip to a town up north on the coast called Geraldton, get smacked around then have to make the trip home in the middle of the night. Not fun. The opposing team exposed all the weaknesses and faults that I have talked about in earlier posts. It's just that they were good enough to punish us, and I mean punish us. However, we didn't play well and were missing an important player. They are better than us right now, but I know they are not 35 points better. It will provide us a good opportunity to see what areas we need to improve drastically in order to be around come the end of playoff time. As for me I feel I had a decent game. I just had to work extremely hard for whatever I got. There weren't many easy looks in this game. Think I finished with 23 points. 

All and all, minus the past game, everything in general is still going well for me. It is a good and fun group of teammates and I'm still enjoying everything about Australia. I haven't had much time to see much of anything that I assume would be considered very exciting lately, but again its still enjoyable. A couple days ago, Jason and I went with a couple teammates to go eat and hang out a lil bit at a restaurant that was right on the beach. It was a good time. There was good food, a  live band playing, and then a clear day with the sun setting over the ocean. Made for a very relaxing and neat evening. So, basically I'm still not homesick. 

Lightning 3-0

This past Friday night we had another game at home. During the week leading up to the game, most of the fans I ran into kept saying that we should have a pretty easy time with the team we were playing. It was far from that. It was a tough and physical game. We seemed to be a little shocked and were down at halftime. In the second half we came out with more energy and a sense of urgency and ended up pulling away and winning by about 10 or 11. I played a fairly good game. I believe I finished with 22 points, but I struggled in the second half. I think part of the problem was that I got tired. That's something I'm still working on and need to improve, my endurance. The game can get fairly lengthly with a 24 second shot clock and 48 minute game. In this game I played 44 minutes. That's a good deal more than I ever played in college on a given night. 

Our next game is this Saturday. We have to make about a 5 hour bus ride up north to play apparently a very tough team. It's going to be a real challenge for us. We are going to be without one of our top inside players and the consistent league leader in rebounds every year (also didn't have him this past Friday). That will give them a significant advantage. That's ok tho, I'm looking forward to it. It's traditionally a testy contest and will provide us good assessment of where we are against the rest of the better teams in the league. 

Lakeside Lightning 2-0

Well we finally had a real game this past weekend, actually two. The first game was a home game on Friday night. I'll start off by talking about the atmosphere at our stadium/gym. Our home games are played at a rec center (Lakeside Rec Centre). The main court has one side of stadium seating, probably 20 rows high and the length of the court (not as big as the seat side at Upstate). On game days a removable grandstand is put up on the court adjacent to the main one, so this gives a little bit of extra seating. Obviously, it's not a very big arena, but once the game got started the atmosphere was very good. I was impressed actually. Very loud and involved crowd, and I noticed that it was just standing room only. We played a team that would probably be about 25 minutes away called the Eastern Suns. Throughout the game it was very close and I don't believe either team led by more than double digit points at anytime. We ended up winning 93-90 as the Suns hit two three pointers with under 20 seconds left to make it even more interesting. Some thoughts on the game; this was my first experience with a longer game (games are four 12 minute quarters) and the 24 second shot clock. The biggest thing I think this does is obviously lengthens the game, and the game is played at a faster pace than the college ball I'm accustomed to. The funny thing tho, is that we played at such a fast pace anyways the shot clock didn't even matter. Speaking of the length of the game, I think this had an effect on several of the players including myself. There were three or four of our players who had trouble with muscle cramping. Keep in mind that it is also summer at the moment here, and even tho it's not 90 degrees at night (like many daytimes) it is still pretty hot in the gym. Interestingly enough, I still managed to play about 40 minutes. With regards to team play a lot of times we took seemingly ill advised shots or tried to force plays. Some of this is probably that it was the first game, the team we played was pretty good, and also this doesn't really bother Andy (coach). I think we'll get a better feel of the offense that we run and improve in these areas, but overall I think we did pretty good job anyways. Always helps to start with a win anyways. As for me, I think I played a pretty good game. I didn't shoot the ball particularly well but finished with 19 points and feel it was a good start. 

Our next game was less than 24 hours later against a team called Perth Redbacks. This was an away game but here in the city of Perth, so didn't take but about 20 minutes to get to the facility. After a physically difficult game the night before, it was quite nice to have an easier game. We won this one easily with a score of 120-85. The game was actually about a 10 point game late in the second quarter but we went on a 24-3 scoring run and never looked back. This team wasn't as good as the one the night before, but we still did a better job offensively and got whatever we wanted. I am a little concerned about our team defensively, it was even visible in a game like this. It could come back and haunt us against a better team. Once in the half court I think there are some deficiencies especially guarding screens and such. However, this doesn't really surprise me as we don't do any defensive breakdown drills in practice. Whatever tho, seems pretty apparent we are going to try and outscore people. I had a very good shooting game and finished with 38 points and 7 threes. Hopefully, the team and I will be able to continue to play well and win in the upcoming weeks. Our next game is at home this Friday night.