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.