Since the last post life has been busy and I am all banged up. Last Wednesday I spent the evening at the Hulme’s for dinner. They really know how to put a wonderful dinner on. It was a really nice opportunity to meet Pia, their youngest daughter, and to see most of Karen and Randall’s pictures from Europe. They visited Portofino, Italy, a town I visited with my mom and sister several years back, so it was quite interesting to see their photos. After viewing 1,400 photos I tried to leave the other 400 photos for another evening, and maybe another dinner!
Last weekend we had a pretty ridiculous road trip- 3 games in 3 days. Usually we play a pair of games on the road, but Monday was another public holiday in Western Australia and as a result we played another game. Holidays are quite popular in Australia, and it seems as though there is a public holiday every other week. As usual we departed early Saturday morning for Perth. By leaving so early, I’m getting quite accustomed to sleeping the first 4-5 hours of the trip. Needless to say it helps the trip go by faster.
Our first opponent was Willeton. They were sitting in second place on the ladder and they have a very good team. It was a tough draw to open up our three game weekend against. We started the game very poorly and without much energy. Willeton jumped out to an early lead by scoring the first 12 points of the game. We battled back and found ourselves tied at quarter time. The second quarter was similar to the first, our play sporadic, but we found ourselves trailing by nine heading into the break. If it was not for our poor play in the second quarter the game was identical. We matched Willeton point for point in three of the four quarters. At one point we trailed by at least 16 points in the 4th, but battled back to cut their lead to 3 with minutes to go. It was too little, too late. We lost by 9 points.
The game was tough and very physical. The officials started calling a lot of quick and soft fouls. As the game intensified and grew more physical they lost control of the game. It gets very frustrating when consistency in the officiating is lost. It was an unfortunate loss for our side, and that game really took a toll out of us. I played hard and pretty well at times, but sometimes I become a victim of my own intensity and try to do too much. At one point in the game I took a charge and landed on my already bruised tailbone and as I hit the ground I felt as though I was paralyzed from that instant pain that travels through your body as if you’ve been struck by lightning. I returned to the game after sitting out a few minutes recovering and was able to post 23 points and 9 rebounds.
Game 1 was unfortunate, but we felt we could get the next two wins. Sunday we were paired against Bunbury, a team that has yet to win this year. To be completely honest we showed up thinking that is all we had to do to get the win. Trey, my amigo from AIA, and his crew had different intentions.
Bunbury is a country town on the coast approximately 2 hours south of Perth. I was really struggling from the night before and my back / tailbone were causing some issues for me. I rode down to the game separate from the team with our assistant coach Brinky. He was driving himself, his wife and their little 6 month old daughter Sophie. By riding with them I was able to stretch out and be in a car for less time than it would take if I rode on the bus.
The game started and Bunbury put everything they had on the court. They went with a smaller lineup and decided to press us the entire game and pack the lane by playing a zone against us. We were flat and they took us completely out of our game. We trailed by 4 at quarter time and by 6 at halftime. I was in disbelief of what was taking place and how poorly we were playing. By the third quarter we turned the game around and went on a run offensively and put the clamps down on defense. We erased our deficit and held a slim 3 point advantage heading to the fourth. The game was back and forth throughout the last quarter. With less than 30 seconds to go and the game tied at 88 I drove baseline and found Ryan Hulme spotting up in the baseline corner for a three. He connected. We went down on defense and tactfully fouled Trey away from the basket with 4 seconds to go. They were in bonus and had 2 free throws coming. Trey connected on the first to cut our lead to 2. I thought he was purposely going to miss the second free throw and try to get a tip or put back to tie the game. He made the second shot and Mike inbounded the basketball to a wide open Lordan down court for an easy dunk as time expired. I was surprised by their play, but we left Bunbury with a 3 point win.
Sunday night a group of us headed out to the casino in Perth to have a couple bets and watch the French Open finals. The casino has a fantastic sports bar, imagine that, with massive televisions to watch the games. It was a quite night out as we still had another game to play.
One of my biggest frustrations is incompetent people. Unfortunately I was surrounded by several of these individuals at the black jack table. Black jack is the one casino game where you have a decent chance of winning. Yes, the house still has the advantage, but the spread is far more advantageous to the player than other games when played correctly. I am not claiming that I am a good card player or that I can count cards, but I know the standard rules of the game – when to hit, stay, double down, etc.
Well these want-to-be hipster boys in tight jeans, with spiky hair as if they use Japanese anime as their styling guide, and the ultimately trendy t-shirt and tie look decided to play black jack with me. They had no idea how to play and were just handing their money, and my money, to the house. They had no clue what to do, and thus they swallowed every bust card of the dealers. I finally said something when the boy split queens against the dealer’s king. He then followed his stellar losing performance by hitting on a 15 when the dealer showed a six. One would assume the queens would be winners or a push. By splitting them, he lost both hands because he was dealt low cards and then hit and busted. In regards to the hitting on a 15, the odds are that the dealer will bust when showing a 6 and thus all players should stay when showing 12 or higher. Idiots.
Anyways, Monday we squared off with the Perth Redbacks. We held a one game advantage over them in the standings and needed to maintain that lead in order to hold home court in the playoffs. We were fortunate as when we lost on Saturday to Willeton, the Redbacks were downed by Perry Lakes. The Redbacks game was out of control from the start. I think that the officials sucked all the air out of their whistles this day. Both teams were in bonus within what seemed like a minute of the jump ball. The game was going to be ugly.
We outscored them every quarter except the fourth. We started the fourth quarter and pushed our lead to 18 points or so before Ryan Neil single handedly started to mount the comeback. He connected on three pointer after three pointer. It was too little too late. The game concluded 116-109 and it was a big win for us. The game saw 60 fouls between the teams and that included 6 technical fouls and one ejection of the opposing coach. It was a nice win in that we now held a two game lead over the Redbacks in the standings and a road trip home with a win makes the drive much more tolerable. I finished the game with 24 points and was one of six players in double figures.
The road trip was long, tough and gave my body a beating. We were very happy to get two wins on that trip and now we look forward to 5 of our next 7 games at home. As a result of the soreness I went to yoga class the other day. It was actually quite nice and I think I may become a regular. Downward dog, burning tree here I come! Until next week, take care.
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