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.