Round Twenty Two Player of the Week

*Sorry for the lateness, I was travelling back from Melbourne on Monday and had local basketball business on Tuesday so I didn’t get a chance to do the weekly write up.  On the plus side, I will be updating twice in two days with my normal opinion piece due on Thursday.  Thanks for your patience.*

It’s getting down to the pointy end of the season with the contenders separating from the pretenders.  New Zealand beating Perth (again) is a sign that they are the outright favourites for the title, opening up a three game advantage over the Wildcats and with three rounds remaining the boys out west aren’t even assured of a finals berth as fifth place Cairns are only two games behind second place.  All in all this finals race will not be settled until the final game of the season when the Gold Coast plays against New Zealand.

Dabster Award

Round Twenty Two Dabster Award Winner

Adris Deleon, Gold Coast Blaze – 2 games, 28 ppg (58.6% FG, 60% 3P, 86.7% FT), 4 rpg, 3 apg, 1.5 spg, 0.5 bpg, 2 tpg.  ER – 28.0

I could probably leave the statistics by themselves and most people would understand why he won this week’s award.  But on top of those ridiculous numbers he also lead his team to back to back wins by an average of 12 points.  He was dominant everywhere shown by his field goal and three point percentage and even though he didn’t get to the line in his first game against Cairns he went to the foul stripe 15 times against Sydney, hitting 13 of them.  The past few weeks have been slim pickings for the Dabster Award but the man with the terrible nickname well and truly deserved this one.

Honourable mentions

Cedric Jackson (New Zealand) – 23 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals.  ER - 25

Gary Wilkinson (New Zealand) – 18 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists.  ER - 22

Shawn Redhage (Perth) – 16 points, 6 rebounds.  ER - 22

Larry Davidson (Wollongong) – 17 points, 7 rebounds.  ER – 22

Elvin Mims (Townsville) – 13 points, 10 rebounds.  ER - 21

Kevin Lisch (Perth) – 27 points.  ER - 20

The much anticipated game between Perth and New Zealand was a barnburner.  The game was so close that the two teams ended up on the same ER score at 113.  I do have the Breakers as favourites for the title but if it comes down to these two teams then it will be a hell of a great fight.

Previous Dabster Award Winners

Round One – Kevin Lisch (Perth)

Round Two – Will Hudson (Gold Coast) and Alex Pledger (New Zealand)

Round Three – Julian Khazzouh (Sydney)

Round Four – Stephen Weigh (Adelaide) and Daniel Johnson (Adelaide)

Round Five – Gary Wilkinson (New Zealand)

Round Six – Cameron Tragardh (Melbourne)

Round Seven – Diamon Simpson (Adelaide)

Round Eight – Cameron Tragardh (Melbourne)

Round Nine – Diamon Simpson (Adelaide)

Round Ten – Julian Khazzouh (Sydney)

Round Eleven – Diamon Simpson (Adelaide) and Adam Gibson (Gold Coast)

Round Twelve – Eddie Gill (Townsville)

Round Thirteen – Liam Rush (Melbourne)

Round Fourteen – Jerai Grant (Sydney)

Round Fifteen – Jesse Wagstaff (Perth)

Round Sixteen – Mark Worthington (Gold Coast)

Round Seventeen – Daniel Johnson (Adelaide)

Round Eighteen – Mark Worthington (Gold Coast)

Round Nineteen – Oscar Forman (Wollongong)

Round Twenty – Jesse Wagstaff (Perth)

Round Twenty One – Gary Wilkinson (New Zealand)

Menga Award

Round Twenty Two Menga Leader Board

1.       (1)  Julian Khazzouh, Sydney Kings – 19.9

2.       (2)  Diamon Simpson, Adelaide 36ers – 17.0

3.       (7)  Cedric Jackson, New Zealand Breakers – 16.9

4.       (3)  Daniel Johnson, Adelaide 36ers – 16.8

5.       (4)  Mark Worthington, Gold Coast Blaze – 16.4

6.       (8)  Jerai Grant, Sydney Kings – 16.0

7.       (7)  Jacob Holmes, Townsville Crocodiles – 15.7

8.       (9)  Cameron Tragardh, Melbourne Tigers – 15.6

9.       (10)  Kevin Lisch, Perth Wildcats – 15.4

10.   (NR)  Adris Deleon, Gold Coast Blaze – 15.2

Deleon makes his way into the top ten at the expense of Myron Allen who dropped from 16.6 last week to 13.4 after two games of four and seven.  Ouch.  Cedric Jackson gets bumped up to the top three after knocking at the door all season.

Zike Award

Round Twenty Two Zike Award Winner

Luke Martin, Sydney Kings – 2 games, 19:46 minutes/game, 1.0 ppg (10% FG, 0% 3P, 0% FT), 0.5 rpg, 3.0 apg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 4.0 tpg.  ER: -10

In a weekend when Adris Deleon had one of the best two game rounds of the season, Luke Martin had THE worst two game weekend in the season.  This is the first time that a player has registered negative double figures and you can see why.  His first game was atrocious, one rebound and five turnovers on 0/3 shooting and his second game wasn’t much better has he had two points, six assists, three turnovers on 1/7 shooting.  I feel terrible to say this as I am one of his biggest knockers but the sooner Aaron Bruce regains his fitness the better the Kings will be which will be next season.

Why Sports Are Just Tops

I hate when some people say sports are just people running around kicking balls.  Or for guys to touch each other’s balls.  That’s like saying art is just paint on a wall.  Or music is just noise.  It is insulting to me as a sports fanatic to have my favourite past time boiled down to its bare elements.  To all the non-sporty people out there reading this (yeah right, the people who read this blog are obviously sports fans, but this is hypothetical) then read on and I will tell you why basketball and sports in general are not just kicking or throwing a ball around to quench our primal instincts.

1.       It brings communities together

Go to a sold out Melbourne Tigers game and try and tell me that sports don’t bring people together.  Watching the first game of the season when the Tigers squared against the Kings the crowd was electric.  Seeing a prim girly girl next to an overweight aging man cheering together is magic.  Walk down a busy Melbourne street in peak AFL season wearing a team’s colours and don’t be surprised if you get stopped and have an impromptu conversation about the team’s performance.  Sports are ingrained into the population; it is in our bones.  This brings me to my next point.

2.       Everyone knows about sports

When I was growing up I was told by my mum that if I want to start a conversation with a stranger then I should use the FOSH method: Family, Occupation, Sports and History.  Any and all of these subjects are great starting blocks for striking up a discussion with a person you have never met before.  Think about that, in a sports mad country like ours sports are one of the basic talking points that can be used on almost anyone.  Most people will have a favourite sports team even if they don’t follow the sport or have no idea who is in the squad.  Living in New South Wales I have seen the impact sports have on people and surprisingly hardcore NRL fans still have a favourite AFL team and will check in on the league every now and again because sports are universal.

3.       It shows off the physical peak of human fitness

Pop quiz, what kind of men do women lust over?  Some correct answers are firemen, actors and sportsmen.  I really don’t think that a young 20-something female would be getting all hot and bothered over a sculptor.  Professional athletes are fit because their work demands it.  They push their bodies to their physical peak to get a better advantage on their competition.  Basketball players spend hours in the gym sculpting their body to match the needs of the game.  Some marathon runners have a resting heart rate in the 40s while LeBron James is six foot eight and can still make it up and down a basketball court like he is in fast forward.  This kind of body doesn’t come easy.  It shows an absolute dedication to their work and an unbelievably strong will which are characteristics most people look for in idols.  It is something to look up to so others can be motivated by their stories.  I remember watching a documentary with Jason Kidd who explained that he had to give up going to parties, give up on having a late night snack of leftover pizza and had to be focused on the goal, even before he was recruited to California for his college career.

Don’t think that all this talk of body sculpting and pumping iron re-enforces the ‘stupid jock’ stereotype.  Just look at flavour of the week Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks who graduated from Harvard University with a degree in economics and a 3.1 GPA.

4.       It brings out the best of human spirit

As many veterans of various wars can attest, war is the ultimate test of the human spirit.  It forces all forms of humans to dig deep and push through whatever hell the battle is putting them through.  Other tasks that push people are great adventures, like climbing great mountains or long and dangerous treks through harsh environments, and sports.

I’m not saying that sports are as soul defining as going to war but they do share some common characteristics.  They both have the respective participants overcome enormous odds; both tasks have a strong emphasis on camaraderie and both assignments forces the members of each team to really think about how they are going overcome those odds.  I love watching a team go on a run that brings the crowd to its feet and the team literally moves to another level.  Basketball is all about runs and stopping the opposition making one while you push for yours is intense.  When a player’s body has given up on them their spirit and courage is needed to will them over the line.

5.       It is extraordinarily complex...

Watching an experienced coach outsmart their opposition is fascinating to watch.  Seeing a team change strategies on the fly because the other team changed their strategy the play before is fantastic.  The little things about basketball and sports in general are one of the main things that draw spectators in droves.  When Carmelo Anthony was in Denver and Danilo Gallinari on the Knicks they had a showdown where each player demanded the ball to square off against the other was goose bump inducing.  Duels in sports are integral, whether it be on a small scale of a full forward battling for position against a full back or on a much larger scale like a Union team desperately trying to hold off the incoming charge of the opposition while clinging to a tiny lead in the dying seconds.

Another part of the complexity is the plays, whether they be set or free styled.  It’s fantastic to see a cricket captain set a field for a specific batsman and seeing said batter fall into the trap.  This is especially noticeable in basketball, where set plays are designed to score baskets as efficiently as possible.  The usuals like the triangle and flex are well known around the basketball community but there are thousands of manoeuvres that test both defences and offenses alike.

6.       ...yet can be played by nearly everyone

There are so many people in the world that play sports it’s probably impossible to get an accurate number.  I would guess that at least 95% of the entire world population has played some kind of sport in the lifetime.  Most sports are extremely easy to get into but if people continue with their chosen love then they will be welcomed with statistics, strict dietary requirements and an itch that will never go away (in a good way).  This kind of accessibility just can’t be matched by other kinds of activities.

There are my six reasons why sports are more than cavemen having a “who’s bigger” contest.  If sporting snobs actually took the time to look into the different kinds of contests they might just get hooked themselves.