PAOCBC Season 2009 Weekly Wrap-Ups
Finals Week 2
After a somewhat disappointing Finals Week 1 (for you guys ... not for me and my boys cos we have made it through to the GF already), the teams came out determined to make it through to next weekend’s Grand Finals. The A’s were up against Modbury who are as talented a team seen in the A Grade – if they keep their team together for 2 or 3 more years they will be almost unbeatable ... but this isn’t the future (where we have been promised flying cars and hoverboards*) this is 2009 and the A’s needed to win to avoid the disappointment of finishing top and not making the finals. The B’s were up against a full strength Somerton side, who spent the week seemingly more concerned that our website had not been updated than concentrating on the task at hand. A full strength Somerton would prove to be very difficult –
if they had this side all year a top 4 finish would not have been an unreasonable goal. The D’s were up against SPOC C, who are an imposing challenge for any team (I have a vague recollection that they played and defeated my squadron earlier this year ... ahh best to not dwell in the past when I can’t recall specifics). Either way the D’s had a massive fight on their hands.
A’s v Modbury A – The A’s hit the court with a full lineup for the first time in weeks with Purge returning from his overseas sojourn. This was win at all costs for the A’s – lose and the dreams of back to back titles disappear too.
1st Half - The first few minutes was Nic Blair at his best ... he opened with a 3, hit a tough 15 foot fadeaway on the break, was cleaning house on the defensive boards and hit another 3 to make it 9-9. #20 Pike for Modbury was dominating and had Modbury’s first 9 points on little jumpers in the lane. Free throws, like last week, were costing the A’s – 1 of 10 midway through the first half (so bad at one point even the best FT shooter in the history of the club, Jack Harford, missed 2). The only thing that was stopping this game from slipping away was the usually good shooting Modbury were struggling from 3 and the 16 points from Blair** who made back to back 3’s to close the half – the second one was from way out. Half time A’s up 3 (19-16).
2nd Half – Jack opened the scoring, getting to the basket for 2***, Blair made a couple of FT’s, and then blocked #4 Geer, dribbled the ball up court and made a super-tough 18 footer to make the lead 5 (25-20). The A’s then went on a run and their D began to dominate Modbury, who were settling for a few too many jumpers and not attacking the basket. Stu missed a lay-up, grabbed his own board and put it in for 2, Blair drew a defender and flipped the ball to Jack in the corner for 3 and A tipped a missed FT to Blair for 2 – up 9 (33-24). The 2 bigs were playing well in D and making it easy for Stu and Blair to get rebounds – both would have had over 10 rebounds for the game. I have a note here that Modbury clearly tip the ball out and didn’t do the “good guy” thing of admitting it came off them – “karma will come back and get them”. Modbury mounted their final run capped off with #44 Goodluck (which is an ironic name considering that karma was about to get them) with a big 3 getting it back to
3 (33-30). Stu then hit a 3 on the next possession (36-30). The last minutes were scrappy – Modbury trying to shoot their way back into the game but the Reds’ D was holding strong and some ok FT shooting (2/2 to both Blair and Stu) got the lead to 10 (40-30). In the closing seconds Modbury hit a late 3 and the A’s won by 7 (40-33). It wasn’t a great game but the A’s defence was awesome – Purge and Jack up the top, Stu and Liam on the wings got to all the Modbury 3’s and Blair, A and Goody did a great job keeping the long and athletic Modbury off the glass. Good work.
B’s v Somerton A – This was going to be a tough game – Somerton have a big presence inside surrounded by 5 good shooters ... especially with no Lunny, B-Rad and Heath.
1st Half - In a scrappy opening, Jay hit a runner and a 3 and Vods (who was filling in for the B’s) hit a couple of FT’s but the first 10 minutes was highlighted with a number of turnovers, lots of offensive boards, missed put backs and fouls (an 8-2 foul count in Somerton’s favour). I was talking up #4 Beard Somerton as The B’s Killer – seconds later he hit a 3 in the corner and Somerton started to get on top (7-12). The B’s stayed together – Baker got to the basket for 2 and the foul and a minute later did the same thing – and the good run was capped off with Adam “The Puppet Master” Vodopivec getting an offensive board and put back to tie the score (14-14). If you want to see how to dance like Vods check out this video. The last 5 minutes of the 1st half saw some great basketball action - Somerton hit a 3 and Big Somerton Smith (BSS) got a 2 and the foul (14-20), Altmann then hit back to back 3’s (20-20), Somerton came back - #5 Kerwin
hit a 3, Tigerland Tommy with a great finish on the break and Baker got a Tech and BSS made both FTs to end the half for Somerton with a 7-0 run, B’s down by that margin (20-27).
2nd Half – Orken had been quiet in the 1st half getting the short end of the ref’s stick but he started strong. Opened with a nice post move for 2, tipped in his own miss and then took an ill-advised off balance 15 footer off a spin – swish (26-30). Somerton again applied the pressure – got a fast break layup and a 3 to get the lead out to 9 (29-38). The B’s just would not go away – Mike Tye hit a 3, Baker banked a 3, Altmann hit a runner and a 3 of his own to make reduce the deficit but every time Somerton need a basket they would hit a tough shot, capped off with BSS hitting a 15 foot fade – B’s down 8 (40-48). With 3 to go Vods hit 1 of 2 Ft’s and Altmann hit a 3 (44-48). The B’s got a stop and for the third week in a row Jay made a massively clutch 3 – B’s down 1 (47-48). With 1.45 left Orken blocked Tommy and the B’s had 2 chances to take the lead but couldn’t score. With 40 seconds left Somerton shot missed, BSS got 2 offensive boards and put the second one in to get the lead to 3
(47-50). The B’s then failed to get a shot off and Somerton ran out the clock as the B’s couldn’t steal the ball or foul to put the Thunder to the line. With a late score to Somerton, the B’s lost by 5 (47-52). A disappointing way to end the season but the boys were valiant in defeat – showing real heart to pull back a lead not once but twice.
D’s v SPOC C – (Report by Corey MacLean) - After last week's loss The D’s came across Saints and their man mountain, which is always a tough task as the D’s are not a huge team.
1st Half – The D’s started off slowly missing a few makeable baskets early as well as giving SPOC’s big guy a couple of easy looks. The defence was a tad soft in the 1st half and the offense struggled but to the D’s credit they hung tough and managed to be only 4 down (10-14) at the half time break. The D’s needed to find ways to score and needed to improve their defence and rebounding in the second half to get the W.
2nd Half – The D’s managed to hold on and be only a few points down with a few minutes to go. Corey started getting to the foul line and working hard inside, Jaime and Pete nailed a couple of 3's, Udit got himself to the foul line and splashed 2 free throws (the Michael Jordan Tutorial worked!). Down 3 with about a minute and a half to go, the big guy fouled Corey on a baseline spin (his 5th foul) and he completed the 3 point play to tie the ball game (29-29). The D’s got a stop and Corey was fouled again which put us to the line as Saints were in the bonus. Corey clanged 2 free throws but Macca got the offensive board and was then fouled. Macca missed 2 free throws and Corey got the offensive board, missed the put back but got another offensive board again and was fouled again. Corey made 2 free throws - thank goodness after missing 2 before! The D stepped up when they needed it and they grabbed a couple of crucial boards. Another stop - Jamie was fouled and managed to make the first free
throw to put us up by 3 (32-29). Jamie missed the free throw and Corey got half of the O Board but the other half was grabbed by #24 for SPOC which gave him 2 free throws with 22 seconds left to play. The D’s called a time out (good call by Jamie) and iced Saint’s player. Pete, Cliff and Corey all grabbed the board and Corey ended up with it and was fouled. Again Corey made the 2 free throws and another stop ended the 5 point win (34-29). Corey had 15, Jamie had 8, Udit**** 4 and Pete/ Nigel 3 each. The D’s didn't play their best but they got the W and after such a good season they deserve to be in the GF.
Palky's Player of the Week
Click here to see who's been imortalised as Palky's Player of the Week this week.
*This is only 6 years away – some nerd better be working hard somewhere on this.
**The ref on the bench doing the clock and the subs was amazed at Blair’s 1st half antics. He asked me does he play any higher - I mentioned that he might play ABL next year – he said to me without a hint of sarcasm “ABL ... he should be playing NBL”.
***He is so my favourite player these days ... sorry Stu.
****Udit is proposing to shave a Jordan symbol into his hair for this weekend’s game – is it 1994 Udit?
