Opals vs China game 2 report
Sunday 20 June 2004
A much more competitive game today but our beloved point guard got injured in a rather messy incident.
The Chinese looked much better today right from the start. They were putting more effort into their defence and rebounding and were looking to go inside more. After a tight first quarter (21-19 Australia), China put on an 11-2 run in which they stepped up their D and Australia fell into their second quarter rut (which also made a cameo in the first game). Fortunately, the Opals woke up their own run (9-2) in the last three minutes of the quarter and the score was 38-all in the half. The half ended with China having 0.1 second left on the clock to inbound from the side, catch and shoot. Ye Li managed to bank home an impressive three pointer but obviously it was waved off (0.1 secs to catch and shoot - of course it's impossible). And the Chinese fans booing was irritiating - homerism is ok but come on people, use your brains...
The third quarter saw the Opals start to draw away. However the major talking point of the quarter came with 9.2 seconds to go in the form of two incidents. The first one was a possibly questionable out of bounds call (I wasn't in a good position to see the quest)
that went the way of the Opals. The Chinese head coach was so infuriated, he left the bench and confronted the ref face-to-face (though I'm not sure how he intend to communicate his point, considering he can't speak a word of English). The ref waved him off even though the action may have warranted a technical foul. On the resulting inbounds play, there was a bit of jostling and the result was Ye Li elbowing Kristi Harrower right in the nose which led to her nose being knocked flat and left under her eye. Ouch. Kristi was taken off for treatment and a few seconds later, the quarter ended with the Opals up 8, 59-51.
China came out with a sense of urgency in the fourth quarter and slowly pegged back their lead, led by Chen Nan. The Chinese got to within 4 late in the quarter but couldn't execute in the crunch while the Opals nailed free throws to put the game away.
While China did look much better today, I felt they let the Opals off a bit. They missed key shots and layups when they had the chance to blow the Opals away in the second quarter and when they did come back, it was a bit too late. Also their defence is soft - they're foul prone and can't really stop good dribble penetration or post play. Still, this game was their snappiest out of the three. The Opals didn't play as well as they did yesterday: Their defensive rotations were slower and asides from Brondello, their perimeter game was still non-existent. I would love to see more dribble penetration in the offense - the offense looks really stagnant without it as the Opals don't have an organised offensive system (involving a lot of screens) like the Chinese do to free up players. On the plus side, Suzy did see more ball in the paint and scored 16 points off 6/9 shooting and the frontine in general continued their good work. The Opals may not be as cohesive as China but they definitely seem more hungry for the win.
Odd Jan coaching moment of the day - the "midget lineup". In the third quarter, a lineup of Alicia Poto (5'5"), Sandy Brondello (5'7"), Michelle Musselwhite (5'9"), Penny Taylor (6'1"), Jacinta Hamilton (a lean 6'2") was seen for some period of time. And then 5'4" Kristi Harrower was subbed in for Brondello! Exactly what value does such an undersized lineup have and what were they doing on court?
Oh yeah, Musselwhite played most of her minutes at the 3.
Runner-up - Snell inbounding and Taylor taking a 20-25 feet buzzerbeater attempt at the end of the third quarter. Shouldn't it be the other way around?
Players analysis
Laura Summerton: Another great game for Laura and I'd say she has played her way to a spot on the Athens team. She has the knack of being in the right place at the right time on the offensive end.
Suzy Batkovic: Yes Jan - Suzy will produce when given the ball in the paint...
Sandy Brondello: Sandy was almost flawless from the perimeter tonight. Played a bit of point after Kristi was injured and I guess we'll see her there again tomorrow.
Penny Taylor: The Chinese played her physical in the first half and Penny was a bit frustrated. However she found her rhythm in the second half and spun her way around the Chinese defence. Penny is just so smooth when she attacks off the dribble - it's a joy to watch.
Kristi Harrower: Usual, intelligent play. Her penetration is just so important in the Opals offence especially when Jan doesn't do much for the team in that regard.
Belinda Snell: A game to forget but she did have two nice drives at a time when the Opals really needed the points.
The rest of them: I think Shelley Hammonds is almost certainly out of the running for Athens. She only played a couple of minutes in the second quarter and made some bad decisions with the ball in that time. Alicia Poto played better today but I'm still not sure about her. Tomorrow should be a good test for her as she will be handling point duties a majority of the time with Kristi out.
The Chinese: Chen Nan looked great - aggressive and willing to get a bit more physical than seen yesterday. The offence should go through her more often. Miao Lijie had another solid outing from the perimeter. Point guard Song Xiaoyun is very vocal but I've noticed the offence tends to run a bit better when she's not barking out so many orders.
The officiating was ok. The game was definitely more physical today and the foul disparity was warranted - the Chinese probably got away with quite a bit! I guess they subscribe to the L.A Sparks theory of "if you can't play defence, then dirty play will have to suffice".
Other notes:
* Official attendance was 1262. Chinese fans were definitely louder than the Australian ones.
* In between quarters entertainment was an uninspiring dance group. I guess they didn't stretch the budget.
* Nat Porter was out with an ankle injury.
* As a final note, it's fortunate that Kristi's injury won't impact too much on pre-Olympics preparation. The injury only kept her out of the third game in the series. The elbow was probably not malicious but was totally un-necessary.
Comments
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Posted by: ANDREI | Wednesday 14 February 2007