Bristol Academy Flyers coach Andreas Kapoulas is happy for his team to be the under-dogs as they face Manchester Magic in the National Cup final at the EIS, Sheffield, on Sunday
: “Reaching the National Cup is the greatest achievement in the club’s history,” he said. “This final will be a special occasion and it will mean a lot to all the staff, volunteers, players and supporters that have worked so hard over the last five years to make the club successful.”
The Flyers have never beaten the Magic in seven attempts, but that doesn’t worry the Bristol play-caller: “Manchester are a great team and have been in the forefront of English basketball for a number of years. I do not think the fact that we have never beaten them puts us under any extra pressure.”
Meanwhile, Magic coach Jeff Jones is looking forward to seeing his side back in the final and having won the competition in 2007 and 2008, and Jones admits that the competition is special to him:
“To be honest this was the first senior competition the club won and I believe it has led to our success on the floor since then. So the Cup Final will always be slightly special to me anyway and this is our fourth final in a row, and we have won twice. With reaching all the finals last year and not getting the win it would be great to win the first piece of silverware up for grabs this year.”
Magic reached all three top flight finals last season, but lost to the all-conquering Reading Rockets on each occasion; when asked if those results make his team more determined to win on Sunday, Jones disagreed:
“I don’t think so as the nature of the club means that we only have three or four guys from last year’s group, so that won’t be in the back of their minds. The main focus is getting the win on Sunday, the past is gone and you just have to learn from it.”
January 30, 2010 at 5:28 am · Filed under Brits Abroad
By Dave Ryan
Ben Gordon returned to action on Friday night, but there was no celebration as Detroit Pistons were hammered 92-65 at home by Miami Heat.
Gordon finished with 10 points in 13 minutes with from-from-six floor shooting and a perfect night at the foul line. He had missed the previous eight games with a right groin strain, but his return couldn’t prevent Pistons dropping to 15-30 – their worst position at this stage of the season since they were 10-35 in 1993-94.
“After a performance like this, there’s just a loss of words,” Gordon told NBA.com. “I don’t know why we’re not able to go out there and at least give 100 percent effort, regardless of whatever else happens. It’s definitely frustrating.”
Dwayne Wade only played in the first and third periods for the Heat, but led all scorers with 22 points, and the Heat bench outscored their starters by four.
There was much better news for Luol Deng and Chicago Bulls as they won their fifth straight game – all on the road – with a 108-106 overtime victory at New Orleans Hornets.
Deng scored 26 points, including the put-back with 0.2 left in normal time that took the game into a low-scoring extra period.
Derrick Rose added 18 points for the Bulls, including two free throws that put Chicago ahead for good in overtime. The Bulls finished a season-long, seven-game road trip with their fifth consecutive victory.
Bulls had beaten the Hornets by double figures three consecutive times over the last two years, appeared headed for another comfortable win in the first three periods. But with Hornets 88-73 down late in the third quarter, the home side went on a 21-4 run as they held the Bulls to two baskets in the first 9:30 of the fourth quarter.
West converted a three-point play with 2:48 left to give the Hornets a 97-92 lead. Chicago responded with six straight points, setting up the frantic final minute of regulation.
Deng played 42 minutes, and added seven boards on a night when he hit ten of 21 field goal attempts and chipped in with a couple of steals.
Nottingham Wildcats coach Chris Prior is looking for his team to end their trophy drought when they face City of Sheffield Hatters in the Women’s National Cup at the EIS, Sheffield, on Sunday afternoon.
The midlands club have twice reached the Cup final – losing to Rhondda Rebels in 2004 and Hatters in 1991 – and although they’ve tasted success at other levels of the game, they are yet to pick up a major piece of silverware.
“We don’t make as many finals as we’d like to, and it’s important to the club that we win something in the top flight” said Prior – who will take heart as they are the only team to defeat them so far this season.
“It means a lot to us to be in the final, and it’s the first of three opportunities to win something. We’re one of only two sides who can still win all three, but it would certainly take the pressure off us if we won the first one.”
With Wildcats having won 11 of their last 12 games – including inflicting Hatters’ only loss of the campaign on them – Prior is pleased with how the season is going: “We feel put a team together that can compete in all of the competitions, but we certainly could have had an easier draw. The games against Leeds and UWIC were certainly tough, and I think our performance against Leeds was our best display of the season.”
“Offensively we’re very good, but sometimes we seem to forget about playing at the other end. We have a lot of people who can score quickly, but we’ve been working hard of team defence, and that will be key for us.
Hatters coach Vanessa Ellis is hoping for a better performance from her team against the Wildcats look to write yet another page in their long and successful history.: “We’ve got to go in with confidence and belief. We didn’t perform well last time and didn’t have the right intensity level from the start. We can’t give them another 17 point start, we need to play the way we can play from the start and perform to our full ability.”
This weeks ’photo of the week’ from the Sheffield Sharks game again goes to Sharks’ Tafari ‘Tap’ Toney on his way to the basket in friday nights game against the Plymouth Raiders. The Sharks finished the game on the high side of a 107-81 scoreline.
January 28, 2010 at 1:47 pm · Filed under Brits Abroad
By Matt Clear
Top performer: Ben Allison
Davidson went down 77-67 to a strong Western Carolina team on Wednesday, but Ben Allison can take comfort in having had the best offensive game of his career. Allison scored a career-high 15 points in only 17 minutes, and also had eight rebounds and an assist. The sophomore forward shot 5-8 from the field and 5-6 from the line, and might have added to those totals had he not been saddled with foul trouble. Allison’s best games have come when he uses his size (6-9, 228) to get to the line, so let’s hope he continues to do that.
Davidson coach Bob McKillop preferred to focus on where Allison needs to improve: “He showed his versatility, but you know the enigma of Ben is that he shows that brilliance, and then he’ll fall asleep and put his hands on a guy, on a cutter, and get a silly foul, and that’s been his nemesis all year long.”
Allison’s numbers were almost as impressive in a 91-87 win over Georgia Southern, as he scored 12 points on 4-5 shooting (4-7 from the line) and pulled down nine rebounds. This time, Allison stayed out of foul trouble in his 27 minutes on the court. The win puts Davidson at 4-4 in the Southern Conference and 9-11 on the season.
On top of all that, Ben was singled out as a potential future GB player by Tony Garboletto in Tony’s exclusive interview with gbbasketball.net. Not a bad week, all in all!
How the other Brits fared:
• Tough break for Washington, who lost 62-61 at UCLA on a last-second shot on Thursday. Matthew Bryan-Amaning played just four minutes off the bench – the last time he saw that little court time it was January 2008 and MBA was a freshman, prompting speculation among Husky fans that he was being frozen out by coach Lorenzo Romar. Seattle Times writer Percy Allen demurred, saying, “It wasn’t a punishment or anything like that. [Romar] said the game just dictated that MBA sits longer than normal. He expected things to go back to normal against USC.”
Romar stayed true to his word, giving Bryan-Amaning 29 minutes in Washington’s second LA game on Saturday. The Huskies suffered their worst loss in three years, a 87-61 thrashing at the hands of USC, but MBA managed a good individual performance, scoring eight points on 3-5 shooting, with six rebounds, two assists and two steals. The loss put UW at 3-5 in the Pac-10.
Washington, unusually, also had a non-conference game this week, as they took on crosstown rivals Seattle at home. The Huskies channelled their anger from the USC loss into pounding the Redhawks 123-76. Bryan-Amaning had eight points and five rebounds before fouling out in the ill-tempered contest.
• Arizona State fell to 4-3 after losing their solitary game this week. The Sun Devils went down 77-58 against in-state rivals Arizona, proving once again what a wide-open conference the Pac-10 is. Eric Boateng scored three points and pulled down six rebounds in the game. Boateng’s 1-4 shooting night provided a stark contrast with that of Arizona big man Derrick Williams, who scored 20 points on 7-10 shooting, but coach Herb Sendek defended Boateng’s offensive play after the game.
“The ball has to go inside which it did Saturday. I want it to continue to go inside and I have confidence Eric is capable of making plays. He’s done it in the past and he’s our guy. It’s important we believe in him,” said Sendek.
• Justin Robinson scored 19 points in a 74-58 loss to Canisius on Friday night. Robinson shot 6-13 from the field, including a red-hot 5-7 three-pointers. He also had three rebounds and two assists.
Robinson was less impressive on Sunday, scoring nine points on 3-10 shooting, but this time his teammates pulled out a win, 62-61 over Niagara. Rider is now 4-6 in the MAAC.
• More baby steps for Mike Williams. The big centre was 2-5 from the field with three rebounds in 11 minutes against Rhode Island. Williams’ minutes were limited by foul trouble, however, as he did not play after picking up his fourth with 8:33 to go in the game. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Colin Dunlap said: “I thought Morakinyo Williams played well again, defensively. On offense, though, he does need to come around to the fact that he’s going to have to attack the basket to be successful.”
Duquesne lost the contest 75-67, but got their long-awaited first Atlantic-10 win on Saturday against St Bonavature. Williams scored two points and pulled down four rebounds, but played just 12 minutes after getting into foul trouble again.
• Ben Eaves may have gained Brit bragging rights over Williams with Rhode Island’s win last Wednesday, but he will have been less happy with his own performance in the game after playing four minutes and missing both his field goals. Eaves has been helping out on the boards – he had three in eight minutes against Xavier and four in 14 minutes against Dayton – but his offensive game has gone off the boil. The Preston-born swingman scored just one point against the Musketeers, and shot 1-5 against the Flyers.
Rhode Island were 2-1 this week, putting them at 4-2 in the A-10.
• Andrew Lawrence had the hot hand on Thursday, scoring 11 points on 4-5 shooting (including 3-3 three-pointers). Lawrence also recorded two assists and a block in 14 minutes off the bench. Charleston won the game 92-80.
The Cougars faced Wofford the following night, narrowly escaping with a 70-68 win. Lawrence had six points on 2-3 shooting, plus an assist and a steal.
The freshman guard had just three points on Monday as Charleston finally lost a Southern Conference game, Western Carolina beating them 100-90. The Cougars remain top of the SoCon, however, with an 8-1 record.
Reading Rockets coach, Sasa Punosevac has become the first EBL Division One coaching casualty of the season.
A statement from the Rockets read: “Due to financial constraints and with much regret and with no alternative, Reading Rockets have necessarily had to dispense with the services of their head coach, Sasa Punosevac.
“Rockets chairman Gary Johnson, wishes to express his sincere gratitude to Sasa for the positive changes and impact he’s made in his short stay and wishes him all the best for the future.
“Rockets’ director of coaching , Matt Johnson and the assistant coach, J P Campbell will take responsibility for the first team affairs.
“The club’s basketball coaching, school and community programmes together with their satellite club development are all separately funded, not affected in any way and will continue to go from strength to strength.”
Punosevac took charge of the Rivermead club in the summer after Dave Titmuss moved to Worthing Thunder. He certainly had big boots to fill after Titmuss had led his team to a perfect 36-0 season, lifting all four pieces of EBL silverware.
Rockets somehow survived losing their opening two Trophy games to reach the semi-finals of the competition, but are currently only seventh in table with a 4-5 record, and also went out of the National Cup at the quarter-final stage.
Having seen most of the club’s senior players move on in the summer, Punosevac lost the services of youngsters Dan McKay and “Spud” Kearney. The pair were apparently going to concentrate on their studies, but the latter has since resurfaced at Taunton Tigers.
January 28, 2010 at 3:59 am · Filed under Brits Abroad
By Dave Ryan
Luol Deng and the Chicago Bulls made it four wins on the bounce – all of which have been away from home – with a 96-86 victory at Oklahoma City on Thursday.
Chicago’s defence held Thunder to just 36.9% shooting and the Bulls out-rebounded the hosts 53-40.
Deng finished with 17 points and four boards in 37 minutes as Chicago overcame a two-point first period deficit to lead by nine at half-time. They were outscored 19-12 in the third period but sealed the win with a strong fourth period.
They are now up to a season-best joint seventh in the Eastern Conference.
On Monday evening Bulls had strengthened their play-off hopes with a surprise 98-93 victory at San Antonio Spurs.
Deng had a relatively quiet night – although a win at one of the West’s leading sides will probably clam any disappointment he may feel – with ten points, nine boards and four assists in 34 minutes.
Joakim Noah, who thought prior to tip he was going to miss his second-straight game because of a sore left foot, was the stopper in the middle for the Bulls. His defensive presence — a blocked shot of Tim Duncan and two more helps on defence with Manu Ginobili driving the lane — in the final 90 seconds helped Chicago to a 98-93 victory over the Spurs.
The Bulls’ backcourt of Derrick Rose (13-for-23 for 27 points) and Kirk Hinrich (8-15 for 18 points) provided most of their offence as they improved to 21-22 in a victory where they outscored the hosts in the key second and fourth periods.
Deng and the Bulls visit New Orleans on Friday before hosting LA Clippers on Sunday. Deng scores against Spurs. Picture courtesy & copyright of NBAE/Getty Images.
There’s still little to report on Ben Gordon and his groin. He was apparently a game-time decision on Wednesday, but played no part in Detroit’s 99-93 home loss against Memphis Grizzlies.
January 28, 2010 at 3:58 am · Filed under Brits Abroad
By Duncan Ogilvie Sarah Mckay – Cadi Le Seu. L.F.1 Spain
Sarah trip to GB doctors was good news and she has began a course of rehabilitation and hopefully will see action again in the coming weeks. Without her team picked up another win, this time at home against Gran Canaria 79-73. The win moves them to 6-10 and to ninth place, one spot out of the playoffs.
Catching up with Sarah this week she had this to say about her current situation
“my ankle has been getting stronger each day and I’m now running pain free, and getting my range of motion back. My balance and stability is very good, so hopefully I will get my injections soon and can start getting back into basketball motions in the next week or so.” Kim Butler – Panionios. Greek A1
This past Sunday Panionios traveled to face Olympiacos V.1937, winning the game 64-72. Kim played an effective 20 minutes in the win. However 20 minutes is well below her season average and this was due to picking up 3 early fouls. She finished the game with 8 points and 7 rebounds to go along with a team high 4 steal and a team leading Index rating of .60. The victory moves Panionios up to tied 4th with 1 game in hand. A victory against 3rd place Panathinaikos this Sunday the 31st could see them move up to 3rd place. Louise Gamman – Fila San Martino Di Lupari A2 North Italy
Louise and her team-mates will be kicking themselves this week as they lost to third-from-bottom team Cagliari. The game was a tense affair, finally being settled in overtime after regulation was tied 44-44. Cagliari ran out 58-52 winners following the extra period. In 39 minutes of play Louise had 13 points and 9 rebounds. The loss sees San Martino drop to ninth with an 8-9 record. On January 31st Louise and her team will host 11th placed Mercede Alghero.
GBBasketball.net (GBBN) recently hopped aboard a coach in Northwest London following Everton Tigers recent annihilation of the London Capitals and caught up with Tigers Head Coach and Team GB Assistant Coach Tony Garbelotto (TG). Our mission was to get his views on the big topics in British Basketball. With European Qualifiers this year and hopes of another Eurobasket in 2011 followed by the dream of an Olympic Games appearance in 2012 there was certainly lots of to talk about BBL-wise in the final part of our exclusive three-part interview.
THE BBL
GBBN: Finally we wanted to connect this all right back to your other job and that is Coaching in the BBL. First of all we wanted to ask about the prospects in particular of two BBL big guys and what has been one of the most highly anticipated individual match ups. Flo Versus Tap – [Dzaflo Larkai - Everton Tigers & Tafari Toney - Sheffield Sharks]. Both of them will be hungry and after a spot in Team GB – is it a direct battle?
That’s pretty tough! The first thing I want to say is that from a BBL perspective I am very happy proud and excited that we have those two players in the league – along with a couple of other guys who have that outside potential. I think if all of the Bigs on our list turn up to camp it is going to be hard for both of them to make an impact into the team. Think about it you have Betts, Archibald, Freeland, Achara and Clark that is 5 bigs there, you could take one more and you have Matthew Bryan in that mix. It is going to be a big challenge but we want to prove that these guys [Flo and Tap] can play at this next level, can keep improving and I am hoping that this year in the BBL will continue to prove that to other people.
GBBN: Obviously at the Tigers you have a core of GB Talent – not just Flo but Jerome, Olu, JJ and others. This really challenges the outdated stereotype of a League full of imports which many clubs are proving – especially the Tigers – was this a deliberate decision?
I’ve always wanted to coach a team made up of mostly British players – when I wanted to do it before it was tough because you have got to pay good money to keep those players. I’m excited at what we are trying to achieve here. At the start of the season we had a couple of aims. We wanted to be more athletic, we wanted to be younger and this team that we have put together is with the aim of not being a one year wonder type team. We are looking longer term – two to three years of keeping the same core set of players together that can grow and become a special set of players. The strong British make up is something I am happy about, I think its good for the game and I think it sends a message. We are having a meeting in a couple of weeks time to talk about what is the pathway for younger players coming through our League? And is it viable for players to have an aspiration of a career through the BBL? Hopefully it is and hopefully Everton can produce the next Darius Defoe or the next Olu.
I believe we can do it.
GBBN: Thank you very much Tony and best of luck for the Season and the Summer.
To test out our ability to post and embed youtube and other video here at gbbasketball.net, we thought we would use the clip of when basketball in Great Britain changed for ever a couple of years ago.
No, not Luol Deng agreeing to travel around the Division B backwaters of Europe but when our a member of our own GB Basketball team took one giant step for Britball in Vitoria, Spain. It was so impressive that I think you might find it inspired Devon Van Oostrum to sign for the same club and knowing one day he could make that very same move – although unlike Jeff, he might need the help of a ball.
Enjoy and sound turned up for full effect – oh and to save you time, I unfortunately had to give up acb-basket.com
