Jazzy's Blog: Winning Ain't Easy

Added 2 May 2008

Allow me to re-introduce myself.........
Hey everyone, sorry for the delay, I know the 4 of you that read the blog have been anxious to see my next post.
You see after we dropped 3 games in a row (Geelong, Sunbury and Sherbrooke), I didn't feel like writing anything. I was embarrassed by our / my performances.
I had nothing real positive to report other than I wasn't too sure what was going wrong and I was even more unsure about how to fix it.

Winning ain't easy

After a week of soul searching the team really bounced back and played some good ball against Coburg last week.
Going in to the game we had a few injuries with Stew Cameron (knee - 1 week), Warren Staples (knee - 3 weeks) and Paycheck (back - 1 week) all out. This gave an opportunity for some new blood to come in with Kieran, Rory and Brenton's Brother.

We started well, but again lost our way and started playing at Coburg's tempo. Late in the 2nd quarter not to much was going our way. There were AL OT of fouls, with not too many calls going our way, but this is something we need to learn to play through. Pointing the finger at the refs is always the easy way out, focusing on other parts of our game and adjusting what we do in order to win is the best remedy.

Down 9 at the half we needed to make a run early. Coming out of the locker room for the start of the half, I wasn't feeling too well. I hadn't been feeling very well all day, but usually once I get out for warm-ups I generally can focus on playing and I don't get to affected, but this time I felt really light headed and uneasy in the stomach. Just before the ball was thrown in to start the 3rd quarter I thought to myself I better not start on. I better sit down and gather myself. I toyed with this decision but for too long, the ball was thrown in and I had to start on. I shot the ball quite poorly in the first half and was a little uptight and frustrated, but feeling sick relaxed me as I wasn't to concerned about the shots I had missed rather than whether or not I was going to bring my lunch up over the hallowed BSC floor.

I ended up hitting my first 3 shots and Coburg called a time out about 4 mins into the quarter. That was enough for me and I went sprinting into the change room. I won't go into what happened next but I was reminded of the corn and carrot I had eaten (but I still don't remember when I ate the corn!).

The boys then continued to put together a great run, with Mr Damage being dominant in the lane, inhaling any rebound that come his way. Wally Szerbiak shook off a game introduction mishap and found his stroke, Bellasini smothered the Coburg ball handlers and Zac Barry is quickly establishing himself as a dominant force in the 4 spot (even though he has been Pro City's finest for a long time). The 9 point deficit was soon a small lead but there was still a quarter of ball to go.

Enter the 4th quarter, enter the 'triple H crew'. I felt alot better even though my skin colour matched the green in our logo and Tommy Forde inserted himself into the game making an immediate impact, the 3rd piece of the puzzle Soultrain played his best game in a Magic uniform scoring 16 of his finest and dishing out 4 dimes. Our defense stepped up, taking Coburg out of their offense and limiting their fast break points. The lead quickly increased and everyone came in a contributed. Kieran and McLovin from our under 20 squad got on the floor and didn't let the tempo drop. Patty got some burn and didn't disappoint hustling for everything in the final minutes.

Seb was our game MVP with a 20-20 game. Remember who told you first, back in week 1 I said to watch out for the ninja. Pauly K was real good. Played some great D, and hit some nice jumpers. Everyone really contributed, which is going to need to happen for us to be successful.

Soultrain

I started with telling you all about Seb, but our sleeper this year is Justin Guppy. The most handsome baller in the league has improved his play this season and coach is rewarding him with an opportunity to shine, which he has grabbed with 2 hands and is really stepping up for the team.

The New Guy

Brenton is back training, running sprints and starting to get some core fitness back. Will be good to get his muscle, hustle and really bad beard back into the rotation.

National Anthem

Shout out to Brydon who sings the national anthem at our home games. It is something that generally goes unnoticed every week but she is the best in the league by far (normally we get a distorted recording of a Human Nature remix). Thankyou Brydon, keep up the good work.

Going Going, back back to........... Mildura

This week both teams hit the road for Mildura. Last time we visited here we were cutting down a net from one of their baskets and we were holding the biggest trophy we have ever seen above our heads. This week the winner doesn't get the silverware but the game is just as important.

Mildura stadium is a tough venue. The Heat have very passionate fans, and the stadium has a lot of history. But I like the rims, and have a good feeling about tomorrow night. PJ, and Buck Nasty (Stew Cameron) are back. Pauly K is nursing an abdomen complaint and will have up until the last minute to prove his fitness otherwise Rory will come into the line up.

Hopefully we have learned from our mistakes of Round 1 and will put in a solid performance.

Until next time

Jazzy

Jazzy's Blog: Singing The Song
Jazzy Jay Blogs on hawthornbasketball.com.au
Emily Matheson Blogs on Hawthorn Basketball Online
Hawthorn Magic Kick Off BigV Season
2008 Hawthorn Magic BigV Fixtures
2008 Hawthorn Magic BigV Squads
2008 BigV Season Photos in the Gallery