Sydney/Adelaide thoughts

Sunday 16 January 2005

* It was a game of runs - Adelaide would take a 7 to 9 point lead, Sydney would claw their way back to 2-3 points behind and then Adelaide would blow it out again to 7-9 points. This cycle was seemingly broken in the third quarter with a huge Musselwhite three point buzzer beater, which tied the game at 68-all.

* The 4th quarter was a bit of a stinker... if you're a Flames fan. They didn't score for 5 minutes and didn't nail a field goal till 6 minutes into the final quarter. In the meantime, Adelaide cantered away with the game. The cause of this? Adelaide's D did a good job and Sydney could never rise to the challenge. They were stuck in first gear for most of the match.

* Sydney's D was ATROCIOUS throughout the game. Lost their player a lot of the time and because of this, Adelaide had a horribly high amount of open jumpers which to their credit, they hit.

* I thought Adelaide outrebounded Sydney by a huge margin but it turns out the margin was only one. Adelaide rebounded when it counted though and converted their second chance opportunities.

* Sydney just looked really flat throughout the game. They grabbed boards but couldn't hold onto them, slow on D and the offence looked stagnant at times.

* Erin Phillips is Opals material. Future starting point guard? You bet. Drop the flopping from your repetoire though!

* I'll reiterate my stance on Laura Summerton - great WNBL player but has iffy international prospects. She moves well and finishes well but she's got tweener stamped all over her. Still, could make her mark in the foreign leagues if she polishes off her perimeter skills.

* Snelly sat out most of the first quarter for some reason. She didn't seem to be injured so I speculated she was feeling ill. She came back in the second quarter after Afeaki and Fitzgerald got into foul trouble. Scored 10 second quarter points but was quiet for the rest of the game.

* Eva - stop the silly fouls!

* Muss - more penetration and less outside shots please.

* Gilbert - keep up the aggressive penetration. The Flames should also set up Kelly Wilson more because she can score bigtime. I wonder why she can't create off the dribble more often.

* We've blown our chance for second. We could even end up fourth if we lose to Adelaide and Townsville (both on their homecourts) and Adelaide beats Dandenong but I find that unlikely. I'm sure coach Dalton will give the team hell during practice this week and they'll pick up their intensity again.

* Let's not play at the SEC again. More comfy seats but no real homecourt advantage because it's a foreign court.

* The refs sucked big time but what's new? I thought they were biased against Sydney at first (missed some really obvious holding calls against Adelaide and Snelly got hacked a few times with no call) but the crappy officiating eventually spread to all calls later in the game.