10th Game: vs Globo Gym Purple Conbras

Well this game I was late missing the first 10 minutes as I left Small Group before basketball. Devo thought the game was at 10:10pm and missed the first half of the game. James apparently turned up but left with a headache. Watson played this game so we ended up with Seven players.

When I arrived the score was 8 all. The trailed by 7 at half time, 12 to 19 with Tim and Harbs each getting 2 points, Dave and Watson each scoring 4. Watson made 2 of 3 free throws. The second half Watson dominated our scoring with 15 points which included alot of drives and fast breaks. Harbs scored 2 points and Devo made 1 of 2 free throws. We ended up losing 30 to 32.

The last 30 seconds of the game the other team were just trying to hold the ball and not try to score. I suppose we should have fouled them and sent them to the line. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

9th Game: vs Saints

This is the second time that we have played against the Saints this season, the first time was when Dave injured his ankle and we played most of the game with just four players and got absolutely hammered.

This game on the 14th September at 9:20pm saw us with six players again, but without Devo. We lost the tip, but the ball ended up out of court so we gained posession. We got on the board fairly early in the game, but a couple of bad shots and turnovers allowed the Saints to skip away to a healthy lead. Their #21 seemed to be able to hit any shot he took in the first half, he is also an umpire who I mentioned in the report when we previously played this team.
The first half Dave made two points, Simbo made four points and James made seven which included a 3pt play from a single free throw. They each had two fouls at half time too. We were behind 13 to 37 at the break. The second half, Dave shot a 3ptr and another field goal for a total of 7 points for the game, Simbo made 2pts, Timmy started to get the ball to fall driving in a few times and scoring. Timmy made 7 points in the second half including an alley oop that was passed by James, and also included a 3pt play free throw. Harbs got to the line for two free throws, but was unable to connect on them. James made another 2 baskets, plus made four of four free throws in the second half. The two times he got to the line was due to tech fouls called against the saints. The first tech foul was because the player kicked the ball after his teammate #21 scored a basket, and the second one was with about 8 seconds remaining a player said or did something that the umpire deemed to be inappropriate.

Our team had 8 fouls in the second half, with Timmy gaining 2, Dave another 1, James another 2, and Simbo another 3. Simbo fouled out with 8.8 seconds on the clock. After the second tech foul we had the inbound, and I was looking to take a 3ptr, and Dave tried to get it to me for the shot. The first attempted inbound was knocked back out, so we had another chance at it, I received the ball and went for the shot and got fouled. This meant I got three free throw attempts, and its the first time I've been to the free throw line in along time. I can't remember the last time, but I do know that the first game that I played with this team I started I made 2 of 2 free throws for the first points for the teams history. Anyway I had been way off with my shooting all night, I think I attempted 3 3s and another 4 other field goals. My first free throw was off to the right, the second shot just went in, and the third was a sweet shot. The final score was 37 to 59, with Timmy and Dave scoring 7, Drew scoring 2, James scoring 15 and Simbo 6 points.

This game Simbo played harder from the start which was good to see, and the fact that he fouled out, meant that he was trying harder in defense, although there were several foul calls against us when we made no contact with the player, but that happens sometimes. I had to tell Simbo not to take the in bound pass from the base line, he should be ready and looking to receive the in bound pass in the hope of scoring points inside. Also he shouldn't be left to dribble the ball up the court, as he can be easily stripped by most opposing teams. This was a game were I attempted to many shots that weren't a good option.

Anyway our next game is on the Wednesday night at 9:20pm. If anyone reads this and would like to support us feel free to come along to the Minerdome.

The Four Knights

September 11, 2006
Vs Saints.

The game started with both sides having four players, and lucky for them that myself and Devo were there to do the scoring. Anyway the four knights were Adam, Scotty, Troy and Terry. Adam was on fire from the start scoring the first few points of the game. About 5 minutes into the game two more players arrived for the Saints, which meant they then had a substitute. One of the late comers was #23 who was a young guy who had a fair bit of speed, and who I would say was their best player. He ended up scoring 10 points in the first half and the score at the break was 21 to 18 with the knights leading. The knights used their timeouts well in both halves so that they wouldn’t tire to much. In the second half the Knights were up by as much as 10 points, but in the last 4 minutes the Saints closed the margin so that they were level after a couple of 3ptrs. The Saints picked up more than 10 fouls in the second half with #23 fouling out of the game with a few minutes remaining, and three other players ending the game on 4 fouls. With under a minute left the Saints #21 picked up a tech foul after he slammed the ball down following a foul call, and possibly said something that the umpire heard. So for the rest of the game the Saints continued with 4 players on the court. The final score was about 44 to 38.

The four knights moved well taking the ball to the basket finding the gaps in the defense. They got a few fast breaks despite being a player short. The biggest part of the game was the way they managed to draw the fouls on the Saints players. This being an early game is why only four players showed up.

8th Game: vs Blue Devils

7th September 2006

This team were in 4th place on the ladder, and are a group of young guys with one player who is taller than Simbo. This meant that there was more competition for the rebounds.

For this game Tim was unable to play due to a leaders meeting or something. Dave returned after his injury, which meant that we had six players with Harbs, James, Devo, Simbo, and myself.

We actually started this game pretty well as we took a lead early on, but once the devils got themselves together they pulled away from us on the score board. The first half Dave (“they call me Bruce”) made two shots just outside the key, Harbs got the drive to the hoop, Simbo got a shot from a bit outside the key, Devo made his first points with a jump shot about half way out to the 3 point line and James continued his scoring feet with a 3ptrs and two 2ptrs. We had 5 team fouls in the first half and were behind 17 to 35 on the board. Simbo says it takes him 25 minutes to warm up in a game, which means that he should run to the stadium before each game, although that would probably take an hour or more.

The second half Harbs made scored 4 points and had a couple of free throw attempts, Simbo score 4 points once he was more committed to the game and scored after cutting in from the top and receiving the pass, and pushing the shot in. James made 5 points including one free throw, and Dave made another 2 points.
Our defence in the second half was a little bit better as we prevented them from scoring 60+ points. The final score was 32 to 57.

The next game is at 9:20pm on Thursday the 14th.

7th Game: vs The Outsiders.

This was an early game, and when the clock started we had only three players there with Devo, Simbo and myself. James and Harbs arrived and we started the game with 3 minutes gone on the clock and 3 points down. Timmy arrived a few minutes after we started.

I was feeling like crap, exhausted, fatigued and think I have the flu, this is probably due to my walking this week, but that is off the topic really.

The opposition scored the first 13 points of the game, and when Timmy arrived we took a timeout when we were down 2 to 15. I sat down already tired after about 3 minutes on the court.

Timmy had two free throw attempts late in the first half but missed them. James made three shots and Simbo two shots in the first half so the score was 10 to 30 at the break. Unfortunately at this point Simbo was playing to the same level that he had in previous weeks which meant that we didn’t get enough rebounds.

The second half was better with James scoring 11 points including a 3ptr, and Simbo making another 4 points inside the key. This might be a little harsh, but Simbo shouldn’t be looking to dribble the ball up the court when we have other players who are better ball handlers. I sometimes take the ball up court, but I’m not the best at it by any level of judgement. With about 10 minutes left in the game, Simbo started to pull his finger out, so to speak, and got into better position and brought down some more rebounds. The two shots I remember taking myself were in the key, one in each half, the first missed the backboard, and the second was a hook shot that went in the ring but bounced out… so close. I know that on many occasions I take some stupid low percentage shots, but I’m trying to do that less. I rarely score any points, but that doesn’t matter much if James is scoring heaps and Simbo could get 10 or more a game. Timmy and Harbs had an off night with their shooting, while Devo doesn’t take a lot of shots, but his overall game has improved since he started playing with us.

We should have kept the opposition to around 50 points, but instead the final score was 25 to 71.