Hoops

Tonight - 36ers v Taipans @ 7pm

I reckon incorporating Coops occasionally in the offence (cut to the basket) would be a handy trick up our sleeve. No team's going to expect it, & he could find himself a spot under the basket easier than a heavily guarded Luke or Adam. Pretty hard to stop a quick catch & dunk (yep, he can do it).
What's more he'd revel in it.

Just saw the replay of the last play on Sports Tonight - Thomas *was* out of court, tiptoe-ing on the line, when he recovered the ball after the block, and at the top of the screen, you can see the clock stop at 5.6 seconds as he does so - obviously the score bench incorrectly anticipated one of the Three Blind Mice blowing their whistles for him being out of court. The clock went out of picture almost straight away so I didn't see it restart, but I reckon it added at least one second, maybe two, to the game.

Kobe:
"Justin i wonder if hes related to the greasy fat fuck that sits behind me?"

Kobe, you have such a way with words. : P

We lost the game last night from the free throw line. 57% is not acceptable for any level of competition. It's called the charity stripe for god's sake.

The only thing worse than our foul shooting was the performance of the three referees. They did have a negative influence on the outcome of the game, which can bring to mind what happened in the NBA. We narrowly avoided having a bench tech called on us when Brett Maher became quite animated and provided vociferous "advice" to Ray Hunt's twin brother Mike. Passion rarely displayed by Brett during his 500+ games.

We definitely were found lacking in the guard department, but with the oldest being 22 was a major contributing factor. Burdon was not an credible option down the stretch, 2 turnovers in 9 minutes he was on court reinforces that, while Bruce had 5 in 40 minutes. Fatigue also may have contributed to the couple of brainfaid passes by Bruce in the last. Brad Hill,who plays in a similar manner to Ninnis, is great in the open court does not perform when closely attended, was therefore not really an option in the last quarter.

Unfortunately my concerns for the team, when the coaching panel was appointmented, is being realised.

I've held off comenting on the game, waiting to get a feel of the hoopers here. Pretty clear cut, some hated it, some enjoyed it. No surprise that with a loss come the hate, so in with those that enjoyed the game. I thought it was an absolute cracker. I had the pleasure of 2 extremely level headed & respected fans as companions last night & we yacked for ages (indoor discussion interrupted by Weslo) outside.
Plenty to love about the game, which in my mind, far outweighed the human errors that happen in every game. One of the things that amazed me, was that we had 4 players in double figures at 3/4 time, yet our scoreline was 59 at the time (we actually had those 4 double figures playerss with 3 or more minutes before 3/4 time).
The low scoreline was a complete reversal of what established 36er fans would've exoected, & even more amazingly, it was from hustle & effort. The Catt had only 5 easy baskets, of which 4 were from the free throw line. Put up your hand if you thought (before the game) that Grabber would top score for the Pans. I saw Darnell look very frustrated that he got out hustled during the game. Considering that the Catt & Darnell are premium ex-36er players, that speak volumes for our youngs on the floor.
On the gripe that Eze should've carried the team in the last quarter, where were you guys when our 9th player only got junk time? To dump on Scottie for not putting Eze on in the last, is pathetic. Eze wouldn't be bitching (he got 10 freak'n minutes court time FFS), why are you guys? It wasn't that long ago that the consensus here was that Eze was a shooter, & nothing else.
I hope I haven't offended anybody with my aggressive bi-polar rant. It's all fun.

dave thomas tipped in a free throw from schench pretty obvioulsy from where i was sitting, should have been 2 points not 1, but as many have said a very winnable game if not for air balls and missed free throws. 7 or 8 missed free throws cost us the game not the refs and not aaron bruce.
(Grab)au is a chep and dirty defender that should get called for hand checks constantly.
Bruce has been getting no love from the refs in the last couple of home games you can understand his frustration.
One question i have is since when have players been able to touch the refs? Cat tried intimidating the ref after a travel call and physically grabbed his shoulder. Not a good example for the young kids watching the game n my opinion. If its done in humour i have no issues but when arguing a call its a no go area.
Great game, evryone i saw leaving the game had a smile on their face which is great to see even in a loss. Really exciting game as all have said.
I just wish some fans would get into it more. Me and my mate stood up in excitement after the block from tinny with 5 seconds to go as many others did to then get a ear bashing from the guys behind as they were too lazy to stand up and get into the game. We may have an educated crowd but a lazy one that needs to get more pumped up.

STAT & Rookie, stop being so absurd about Bruce. He tried his heart out yes I agree, but don't make excuses when it comes to professional sport. Its not like a child (in this case Justin's 12 year old brother) but a professional sportsman. You can encourage a good performance from a child because they are still learning and gives them encouragement to keep learning. In Bruce's case you expect a whole lot more. I know that Bruce is only young himself and still has lots to learn, but despite that he tried his heart out, he gave sweet bugger all to the game last night.

squid, you are totally wrong, the 36ers had actually won that game by 1 point if the scoring was called correctly. Everything they did wrong tonight was going to be a non factor to the win. They were robbed of 2 points that was going to be a win instead of a loss. Even if it was by 1 point and at home, it was still quality opposition they were up against. Before the previous 2 wins which instilled a lot more confidence, one could have given up on winning this game before it was even started.

Why did Cat change shirts?

and take his shorts off only to pull em up again? lol

sixersfan, I thought he was out of bounds as well. I was at that end of the court behind the basket and had a good view. Because I was watching him I didn't notice the clock stop, but I can believe it did, the hooter went off later than I expected.

The refs were rubbish. Someone upthread asked why Schenscher only played 24 minutes - foul trouble. He collected his 4th early in the 2nd half and spent most of the third quarter on the bench. Also as mentioned above, he got fouled a lot more than were actually called by the Three Blind Mice.

Bruce knows he stunk it up, I saw his reaction after the siren, he was gutted.

When there is only 1 point difference in a game you can think of a million occasions when the game was lost, the poor first quarter, the poor free throw shooting, the poor performance on offence (for once you can't say they lacked D), the turnovers, whatever they are they are numerous. One can accept a loss when the team is entirely responsible for that loss. When you start adding umpire errors, that's when it becomes unbearable. Yes, the umpires cost us the game. Despite the 36ers' shortcomings, they had actually done just enough to win the game if the refs called it accurately. As others have pointed out, I also saw Cattalini's foot on the line for two shots counted as 3 points. There alone is the game reversal. The 3 second key rule got overlooked several times. The pushing and shoving the opposition got away with. The fighting on court started by the opposition, where was the T although just about every spectator was shouting out for it and making hand signals. 5,000 people can't be wrong. Schenscher had several disagreements with refs to no avail. He pointed out that he had been slapped on the arm but no call made. Whether any points would have been scored if these errors were not made is something that is not definite but what is definite is that Cairns were credited with 2 more points that they were entitled to.

I thought our offence was really poor tonight, often our movement left us with no decent looks and putting up crap with the clock expiring. Not many of our guys look comfortable with the current structure. Still, credit must go to Cairns for their pressure D at times.

Hopefully Bruce can rebound from that abherration and post a good game next time...

XztatiK,
Comments on tonight's game spot on.

Captain Baldy needs to go back and ref U10's. 5th foul called on Luke was rubbish!

Grabau should be cited for smacking Bruce in the face. Suprise, suprise, Baldy was looking the other way

Thanks for the smile Skip. I saw one sneak out tonight.

Might have been a scrappy game, just on box score,looks bruce had a shocker.

Darnell buzzer beater? Can't wait to hear more about this one.


Steered clear of betting on this game to risky :-)

Maher and Davidson will be back on Wednesday, for the Dragons game, after plenty of time on the bike.

Thanks Skip, I'll throw a smile and wink your way as you wander past!

I would shout you a cornetto at half time, but the kiosks don't seem to sell them anymore

OK.
I don't think Maher or Davo are playing. I think that was Boti article, from memory.

Any info on how the bookies rate the game ?

Stephen Black back for the Taipans or still out?

Really looking forward to tonight as well. Reckon Luke will pip Balls though seeing as though he has his confidence now. Looking forward to see "monkey man" Mark Tyndale slam a couple down after making a steal.

Hey Skip, why don't you smile a bit more on the sidelines. Has Mal got you on a "no smile" contract?