The Right Choice

So it’s nearly been two weeks and some people are still questioning why Steve Nash joined an elite list of names, by winning the NBA’s league MVP, back to back. Well, here’s my theory: his team was expected to tank following the loss of Amare Stoudamire; experts were saying that the team would do well just to qualify. How wrong they were.

Nash led by example and did what an MVP is supposed to do – make others around you better! Not only did his team qualify with the 3rd best record in the West; but his Suns were the highest scoring team in the NBA, they averaged a whopping 108.7 points a game. That was due to his league leading 10.1 assists per game.

As he (Nash) spoon fed his team-mates; running mate and Frenchman, Boris Diaw was honoured with the Most Improved Player award. He also picked up the slack where others thought the Suns would falter. He doubled his scoring tally from the previous season by hitting 13.3 points per game and he dished out 6.2 dimes per outing – Nash played a key role in that too! You’d better believe that.

Nash received his MVP crown after the amazing come back, 3- 1 down against the Lakers and 3 wins in a row to send them packing. Only 6 other teams have ever done that in NBA history! That is nothing short of incredible.

Speaking of the Lakers, K-O-B-E! Yeah, he (Bryant) was dropping numbers throughout the season, B-I-G numbers to be precise; but all of that did not make his team better. The Lakers for the majority of the season looked frustrated and pissed off at the fact that they would have to enter another game and watch ‘their’ boy Kobe take 60 shots! Slight exaggeration, but you get my point. I’ll give him credit; he did become a team player in the first round of the play-offs against the Suns. But the fact that his boys are now chillin’ on the golf course says a lot, we all know it was too much too late, as they nose dived! I think the rest of the Lakers self-destructed as they couldn’t comprehend the fact that Kobe was now passing the rock!!!

Kobe was entertaining to watch, he is one of the greatest offensive machines to ever play the game. At this moment in time he is no MVP. The trophy rests on the correct mantelpiece, at the residence of Mr Steve Nash, MVP for the second consecutive year!!

Girls Battle for Glory

RAF Cosford saw another weekend of awesome junior basketball, as U18, 16 and 14 boys and girls battled it out for first place in each age group. After watching some incredible match-ups; for me, it came down to the most exciting game of the weekend between the Haringey Angels and the Sevenoaks Suns. The U18 girl’s game was not short of drama, excitement and the mandatory nail biting finish.

Sevenoaks controlled the game from the tap, as they enjoyed comfortable double digit leads. In the 4th quarter I had pretty much thought that Sevenoaks were on their way to the trophy. With less than 3 minutes on the clock, Nicky Avery, Katie Harris and Cristal Turner of the Suns were in control of each possession both on offense and defense.

However Haringey had other ideas – Kashmere Joseph, their 6’0” centre, came alive down the stretch, rebounding Cristal Turner’s
misses and feeding her running mate Mrashi Karumba to force the break. Mrashi, has been criticised this season for hiding when the game is on the line. Not this time. On three occasions with the clock winding down she drilled three 3’s to put the Angels back in the game – now Haringey only trailed by 2-points. Suns’ Cristal Turner had 4 opportunities to ice the game, but only managed a woeful 1 of 8 from the charity stripe in the last minutes. Before she took her final shot the tears were already rolling and her team were still up 4-points at this stage.

A costly turnover on a bad inbound pass by Turner proved costly, as Haringey converted the lay-up. Suns failed to score on their final trip down the floor - Ruby Clarke, a 5’6” guard from the Angels, was fouled hard on her way to the hoop. The scores were tied at this point with only a few ticks of the clock remaining. Clarke calmly stepped to the line and sank both free throws; Haringey celebrated their ‘come from behind’ victory, while reclaiming the title they had won last year for the first time.

On the boys side the East London Royals despatched reining champions, Manchester Magic in the semi final of the under 18 boys. They faced Reading Rockets in the final but pushed them aside, claiming the Royals second championship of the afternoon. Head Coach Chris Morgan said, “Our boys learned a lot from last year’s loss, but we played a really good game to win”.



Andre Alleyne

The Winner Is.......

So Luol Deng and his Bulls are now done for the season, courtesy of a 96-113 loss to the Miami Heat in game 6. The Bulls pushed the Heat to the edge but didn’t quite have enough strength to get them over the cliff. Luol had a very inconsistent series on offense, but more than made up for it on the defensive end. It was a solid defensive performance by Deng in his first ever play-off appearance. Last year he was unable to play due to wrist surgery. No doubt he and the Bulls will learn from this experience and lose the tag of ‘Baby Bulls’, now they are older and wiser.

Over on the West Coast game 6 between the Suns and Lakers will be decided on Sunday, as the scores are now even 3-3. Game 6 went into overtime but the Suns made sure this time they did not make any errors in the finals seconds; as they won game 6 and head back to the desert for the decider. It will be interesting to see what the Zen Master Phil Jackson, conjures up this time - as the Lakers try to deal with the ‘run n gun’ Phoenix Suns.

Back in sunny England the kids got next, the annual RAF Final 4’s returns to RAF Cosford. This is a solid tournament that has been running since 2000. It features some of the best girls and boys from under 14 to under 18’s – they too will be slugging it out to find an eventual champion at each age group. This should be a thrilling weekend of basketball, unlike my previous road trip!!

Andre Alleyne

Play-Off Disaster

So Newcastle retains the BBL Play-Off Trophy and took the broom out, sweeping all 4 titles. Great job by the Eagles and Coach Fab, bad job by the BBL; as their production of this year’s final was pretty poor!”

Just a few minor points - current MK Lions coach, Nigel Lloyd and I sat in the stands but we were unable to follow the scores of any of the semi-finals due to a defective scoreboard at one end of the floor. This was frustrating and slightly embarrassing as this pretty much summed up our “professional” league. The inability to provide the most basic of equipment needed to stage a game. Martin Gottfried of the Guildford Heat shouted, “They could have at least given us a flip chart!”

In particular I felt sorry for a family of 5 who came to witness the semi-finals. The mother of the children said they had really enjoyed their day, however felt cheated as they bought tickets in the front row but were unable to keep up with the score of the games. Saying, “I will be calling the league to complain first thing Monday!!” My next point would then be why is it that the league still has no sponsor? Is the product that bad?!

In my humble opinion:
Get the local communities involved.
Find a way to encourage British talent to return home to play.
Limit the amount of US “low budget” players participating in the league.
Do away with the amount of useless games each team has to play. There is no need for a “BBL Trophy”. Heck, it was only invented to satisfy the sponsors. Hey people...... that problem no longer exists!

Meanwhile across the pond our boy Luol Deng (South London’s finest), and the Bulls are enjoying a terrific first round battle with the Miami Heat. Yes, they all (media and experts), said this series would be done in 4! Well, 2-2 and some internal problems with the Heat (as witnessed in game 4). All of a sudden the Bulls find themselves in a position to send shockwaves thru the NBA. Remember the Heat are expected to get to the Eastern Conference Finals at the very least!

Bring on Tuesday!!!!

Andre Alleyne