Week #9 recap - Game #11 vs Rockingham Flames (107 - 102 win), Game #12 vs Perry Lakes Hawks (117 – 82 loss)

First up we played the Rockingham Flames on their home court. It’s a strange atmosphere down there, with the court being so far away from the spectators, and the backboards suspended in mid-air with so much space around.

We went in with a plan and to their credit, the players executed it and fought hard. We put ourselves in a position to be competitive, and ended up taking out the game. We played at close to our best and the Flames had I think it is fair to say, an average night.

We backed up the next night against the Perry Lakes Hawks, and it was always going to be an uphill battle. As expected they outrebounded us 62-40 and showed us why they are in the top 3 defensive teams in the league by holding us to 35% from the field. Conversely, they had plenty of high percentage shots under the basket exploiting their height to shoot 53% from the field.

The reality is that a split of the games for the weekend is a fantastic outcome for the team. If we can continue to refine our game plan, improve the intensity and execution, we will surprise a few teams this season.

The strong points across both games:

• Continued defensive intensity and forcing opposition turnovers : Flames 21, Hawks 24 (Flames are lowest in the league for turnover ratio, Hawks are fifth so a particularly good effort)
• Continued strong games and consistency from John Taylor (31pts, 10rbd, 8ast & 21pt, 10rbd, 6ast)
• Solid contributions across the weekend from varying players

Lowlights:

• More of being outrebounded - Flames 55 to 48 (-7), Hawks 62 to 40 (-22)
• Those pesky free throws again (surprise, surprise) - 61% vs the Flames (11/18), and 67% vs Hawks (14/21)
• Loss of focus on the offensive end, particular against the Hawks with 28 turnovers

There are common themes and we are working hard on the areas we know we need to improve. I am confident that with continued focus we will eventually overcome these issues, and the younger players will start understanding what is required.

This weekend is a single game against the Stirling Senators, as much a ‘traditional rival’ of the Eagles as any team in the league. They have a game the night before against the Cockburn Cougars, we have our annual quiz night…I will take the quiz night over getting beat up by the Cougars heheh. As always, if we play at our best we give ourselves a fighting chance.

Week #8 recap - Game #9 vs Bunbury Slammers (114 - 129 win), Game #10 vs Geraldton Buccaneers (121 – 97 loss)

We continue to make adjustments to our game in order to accommodate what looks likely to be our final lineup for 2008. Whilst we have not written off the late arrival of Mike Jones, we cannot plan for it either and Tim Kruge is out for the duration. So we are implementing some new defensive schemes, and offensive options.

Against Bunbury we had great desire and intensity, and the whole team clicked as a unit. We had a 25+ point lead mid-way through the fourth quarter and the Slammers made a run back. It would have been easy to panic and put the starters back in, but the bench will be important for us as the season wears on, and we had another game the next day. The bench settled somewhat and played out to a 15 point win. Of course if we had hit better than 60% of our free throws (37/62), the scoreline would have been a little different.

Facing the Buccaneers the next day was always going to be a challenge. Both teams were coming off a game the night before, and it was a physical affair. In the end there isn’t a lot you can do about being outsized in every position (by a significant amount). To the players credit we fought hard the entire game and made a number of runs, but not enough to get us over the top. Perhaps the most damning statistic is being outrebounded 70 to 39.

The strong points across both games:

• Defensive intensity and forcing opposition turnovers : Slammers 31, Buccs 29
• Strong games against the Slammers by Damian Stack with 15pts (67%), 5rbds, 4asts (unfortunately 50% free throw shooting didn’t help) and Jon Moon with 13pts (50%) and 6asts in 17 minutes (we need to work on those fouls!)
• The solid games and consistency being found by John Taylor, who is starting to add rebounding to his game (averaging 9 per game)
• The continued improvement and strong performances of Jarrod Balcombe and Nathan Friend, who are being joined by rapidly improving Nic Donlagic and Ty Alabakis

Lowlights:

• Being massively outrebounded in both games - Slammers 65 to 44 (-21), Buccaneers 70 to 39 (-31)
• Continued free throw shooting issues - 60% vs the Slammers (37/62), and 63% vs Buccaneers (15/24)
• Losing focus on the offensive end for periods of time, and going too individual

It doesn’t get any easier, here’s the upcoming schedule for the next 6 weeks (ladder positions as of week #7 in brackets):

Week #09 - Friday 23rd May vs Flames (3rd) away
Week #09 - Saturday 24th May vs Hawks (1st) at home
Week #10 - Saturday 31st May vs Senators (8th) at home
Week #11 - Friday 6th June vs Lightning (5th) at home
Week #11 - Saturday 7th June vs Hawks (1st) away
Week #12 - Saturday 14th June vs Cougars (2nd) away
Week #13 - Saturday 21st June vs Wolves (6th) away
Week #13 - Sunday 22nd June vs Giants (7th) at home
Week #14 - Saturday, 28th June vs Tigers (9th) away

So a tough schedule and some very tough double headers. The team has come together well despite the adversity, and we are constantly improving. I have no doubt that with the character of the assembled players we will continue that improvement and surprise a few teams.

This weekend shapes up as a true test of that character as we face the 4th placed Rockingham Flames and 1st placed Perry Lakes Hawks. Both teams have very strong and deep lineups, featuring excellent imports (Bush, Moore, Sonderleiter), NBL players (Caporn, Trahair, Crawford, Garlepp) and solid locals (Moore, Godfrey, Watson, Tupaea, Anstey, Petrov).

Take a deep breath and here we go.

Week #7 recap - Game #8 vs Perth Redbacks (122 - 95 loss)

Full credit to the Perth Redbacks for a strong game. They have built a team based largely on local talent that has been cultivated over a number of years, and added an import to strengthen it. Their bench has more locals, all ready to step in and contribute. They took the game to us from the outset and in particular we struggled to match their size, and eventually intensity.

Tim Kruge went into surgery on Wednesday, and was readmitted to hospital on Thursday. He remained in hospital with complications until Sunday, various things causing him a great deal of pain. He was discharged Sunday evening and is now resting. Our thoughts are with him, and the team will be visiting him to keep his spirits up.

Without Tim we have some work to do on how we will fill out the team and rotate through the bench. I tried a few things unsuccessfully during the game, and we will continue to adjust as we figure out a solid combination and rotation.

Our offense stuttered as we reverted to a perimeter team, ceased attacking the basket and had no inside options. We made adjustments but they took time to gel and came a little late. Our defense was below par, in particular interior and rebounding. It is a common theme for us, our defensive focus and intensity is poor and whilst we have continued to work on this, it hasn’t shown through in our performances.

Highlights…to be honest, I’m struggling…:

• A double-double performance from John Taylor with 12pts/10rbds on 45% shooting, despite a pulled hamstring in warmups
• Some promising signs for Damian Stack, who is getting fitter and contributed for 10pts and 6rbds in 19:37mins (on 50% from the field)

Lowlights:

• 36% from the field, 20% from the 3pt line, 62% free throws
• Outrebounded 60 to 48
• Allowing an opponent to shoot 47% from the field
• General defensive lapses

We move onwards and renew our focus on the team coming together and defensive intensity. Without Tim and yet to hear any word of Mike Jones arrival, we have entirely local players. There are no magic wands to wave, it is simply a case of our desire to compete, pride, and taking it to teams in every game.

A tough weekend looms, with Saturday night against the Slammers and Sunday against the Buccaneers. If there is a bright side, it’s that both games are at Morley however since we don’t actually train on the court it’s not much of an advantage. To the player’s credit we had a good session last night, the spirits and intensity were up and despite a large amount of running and sprints they stuck with it. If we can keep this up and maintain our focus, we can at the very least remain competitive on any given night.

Finally thanks to Marg Prior for permission to post a couple of photo’s from the weekends game.

Week #6 recap - Game #7 vs Lakeside Lightning (125 - 96 loss)

Ouch. Sometimes luck, fate, whatever you want to call it, just doesn’t go your way.

At the 3:35 mark of the first quarter on Friday night against Lakeside Lightning, Time Kruge went down grabbing his knee. He was taken to hospital and the initial diagnosis was that it may not be so bad. He went back and had an MRI on Saturday morning, and then met with the specialist yesterday (Monday).

It was at that meeting he was given the news that it was a snapped ACL.

Firstly and most importantly, this is devastating news for Tim. He will be a good 9 months away from competitive basketball. Tim made a joke earlier in the season that he has never played without an injury of some sort, and he has shown his grit in the past playing an entire year of college with a fractured leg. I am sure he will come back from this, but it’s never something that should happen, especially to someone with Tim’s character.

As for the team, this is a massive blow. Now matter how much you talk about opportunities, stepping up and all the clichés, you cannot replace someone like Tim mid-season. The 2008 Eagles SBL team has gone from a planned 2 import players surrounded by talented locals to the talented locals fighting it out. We still await news of Mike Jones possible arrival, however that has become an ongoing joke with the “2 weeks” being the usual response…for the past 3 months.

If you can get such a thing from a game like this, here are some ‘bright spots’:

• The return to the top end of the “up-down” cycle of Jon Moon. After rolling his ankle badly in the last game, he returned to a 23pt, 4ast performance on 10/20 fg (9/15 inside the arc)
• John Taylors continued return to form with a near triple double (20pts, 12rbds, 7asts)
• Nik Donlagic’s solid performance in limited minutes, which has now extended over the last few games

In order for us to remain competitive in 2008, we will need to work on a lot of areas, some of which are:

• Our first half field goal percentage was again poor. Partially this could be blamed on the shock of Tim going down and subsequent adjustments, however 22% in the first quarter is 22% whichever way you slice it
• Consistent defensive focus, rather than applying in bursts
• Improving our zone defence. In order for us to apply different looks and apply pressure to the opposition, we need to have excellent man to man and zone defensive options

Next week we will be reviewing the individual goals set during our team talk last week. This should give us an idea of how individuals are progressing in regards their own improvement programs. As a team, we realise we now have to step up consistently, no more excuses. The league is exceptionally competitive, every game is a challenge and we will be looking for more of our younger players to follow in the steps of Jarrod Balcombe and Nathan Friend and provide consistent strong contributions.

This week we have the Perth Redbacks on their home court at Belmont. I watched their game on Saturday night against the Rockingham Flames and was impressed with their lineup, chemistry and efficiency. They are a very strong team and have pushed some of the top teams to close results in their last few games.

How we handle the remainder of the season will define who we are as a team, and how we are remembered. Will we wilt under the pressure, not believe in our ability to compete and fade away? Or will we rise to the challenge, fight out every game and do it against the odds. Romantic notions aside, I like to think we will take it to every team. Let’s see shall we.