Week #13 recap - Game #17 vs Joondalup Wolves (129 - 109 loss), Game #18 vs Goldfield Giants (117 - 99 loss)

Two tough losses, against two very well credentialled teams. The boys fought hard and there were a few surprises in there, but in the end not enough to get the wins.

Saturday night against the Wolves was a fiery clash. Both teams were hard at it, and perhaps there was a little too much 'attitude' from both teams. However at least the referee's kept it from turning into something I think everyone would have regretted and instead it was an exciting and passionate game.

We played zone the entire game, and came out hard...so hard in fact that at one stage I believe the score was 24-1 in our favour. We established a 22 point lead in the first quarter, entirely based on our defensive intensity. It was pleasing to see, and set the tone for the game. However you cannot keep a good team down and it was inevitable that the Wolves would fight back.

At the end of the third we were level, and the final quarter was an early tug-of-war, before the Wolves showed their class and we ran out of legs. I was very impressed with the Wolves team, they have tremendous depth and versatility, and will surely progress deep into the finals.

The next day we backed up against the Kalgoorlie Giants. In what became a bit of a comedy routine, we arrived at the stadium only to find that unless we were planning on a bit of hand to hand combat, we wouldn't be playing there. The center had been booked for a Karate tournament and apparently that had been overlooked. I did offer Coach Charlton a Karate match, winner takes all...I reckon with our lineup we would have had half a chance heheh.

We ended up relocating to Perry Lakes for the game at 12:30pm. My apologies to the Giants team, the spectators and many many thanks to the various scorebench and statisticians that came to our assistance with little notice. We managed to get the game going at 12:30pm on court one, and thanks to the Giants entourage the crowd was one of the best Perry Lakes has seen for a while!

A notable absence from our lineup was John Taylor, who had badly hurt his foot against the Wolves the night before. Also Jarrod Balcombe had hurt his hand badly and only played limited minutes. We battled on nonetheless and yet again put ourselves in a position to be competitive, being level midway through the third quarter at 66 a peice. We ended the third down 74-85 and ended up losing by 18.

Again our defensive intensity was pleasing, and we fought hard against yet another bigger team. At the end of the day with both games, players get tired but they don't shrink. And it is something that will continue to hurt us and we must fight hard to overcome.

In both games we had the pleasing outcome of shooting a higher percentage than the opposition. Against the Wolves we were 47% to their 43%, and against the Giants 46% to 44%. The major issue in both games was the shot attempts. Against the Wolves we had 86 to their 112, the Giants was us 85, them 117. And in case you hadn't guessed, it was all about rebounds.

The Wolves outrebounded us by 28. The Giants by a massive 44. It is extraordinarily difficult to win a basketball game when your opponent beats you that badly on the boards, unless you can make up the difference somehow. The reason the possession count wasn't further out with the Giants was because we managed to force them into 21 turnovers, whilst we kept ours at 13.

Highlights:

• Strong performances on Saturday night from John Taylor (29pts on 56%fg, 6rbds, 4ast), Jarrod Balcombe (22pts, 7rbds), Jon Moon (15pts on 55%fg, 10ast) and Andrew McLennan (16pts on 60%fg, 11rbds, 3stls)
• Similarly Sunday Jon Moon (12pts, 7asts) and Ty Alabakis (31pts on 50%fg, 10rbds, 5stls)
• The continued development of Jon Moon into a true point guard, and a legitimate threat
• Continued defensive intensity, forcing 23 and 21 turnovers

Not so highlights:

• Being massively outrebounded each game...28 and...ugh...44
• In particular with the rebound count, allowing opposition teams to obtain 34 and 32 offensive rebounds (those second chance points are killers)
  
• Undisciplined behaviour at various times across the weekend...we are working hard to establish a reputation as a hard working, competitive team, we need to also improve our attitudes and behaviour
• The ongoing injury toll
• Oh and just to add it for consistency...free throw shooting (63% and 68%)

We now head to Willetton to face the Tigers. Ty Alabakis is managing to play with his sore shoulder, however we received word tonight that John Taylor is out likely 3-6 weeks with what has been diagnosed as Plantar Fasciitis. We aren't sure how Jarrod's hand will heal up, here's hoping he is resilient and it's all ok. And to rub salt into the wounds, we had a visit from Justin Brown during training last week. Unfortunately he wont be playing with us this year.

Regardless, we will face the Tigers and put everything we have on the court. We expect them to do nothing less and let the cards fall where they may. It is guaranteed to be an entertaining game.