Australia v China game report
Wednesday 12 April 2006
Surprisingly, this game wasn’t nearly as interesting or fun to watch as the first one. It was close in the first quarter, mainly due to Australia’s rustiness on offence and the strong efforts of Miao Lijie. Erin Phillips put on a 5 point run at the end of the quarter to put Australia up 22-15 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw Australia settle into a good rhythm, while China simply fell apart at both ends of the court. It certainly wasn’t helped by the antics of their point guards and coach (Tom Maher, ex-Australian NT head coach) on the court and on the sidelines respectively (more on that in a bit). The game degenerated into a foul-a-thon, with Australia getting into the bonus by the middle of the quarter and they spent the rest of the quarter at the line. Australia were up 47-28 at the half.
The second half was like the second half of the previous game, except without the entertainment aspects. Australia continued to build on their lead in the third quarter, as China continued to flounder at both ends of the court and Tom Maher continued on his game-long tirade. China did win the final quarter 17-10 but this was their starters against Australia’s young bench warmers.
Australia’s defence was the main story of the game; they clogged up the passing lanes and the paint and contested almost every shot. China’s offence never got going and their figures of 2 assists to 23 turnovers sums up Australia’s stifling D quite nicely. Special mention must go to Lauren Jackson, who held China’s post star Chen Nan, to 2 points off 1/10 shooting and no rebounds.
Australia’s offence was solid but I’m still not convinced whether it would hold up against better defences. China’s D wasn’t very good and Tom Maher did have a point with his repeated ranting and raving about the lack of Chinese D. Australia did get the ball to LJ in the right places and there were some nice aggressive moves from other players (e.g Laura Summerton), but there was also some poor decision making, the general inability of many players to generate their own offence (i.e everybody but LJ, Erin Phillips, Belinda Snell and Laura Summerton) and too often, the offence would have a directionless feel. Maybe this is something that will improve when Penny, Suzy and Kristi are added to the lineup, but once again, it shows our lack of depth at the international level.
There is a big question about whether China has the temperament to become one of the better teams in the world. The behaviour of their point guards was farcical: Xiaoyun Song blatantly flopped several times and Jia Guang protested almost every call against her, despite the fact that it was quite obvious that it was a foul. Both of them tried to start Erin Phillips several times and did the cheap push/shove routine with a few Opals players. Tom Maher’s behaviour on the sidelines was also disgraceful and I am glad he is no longer coaching in Australia. If one of the players did something wrong, he would sub them off and rant at them for a bit. Of course, Tom does not speak Mandarin so you’d have him ranting at these players in English, while a translator would translate it and rant at the player in Mandarin. It’s like coaching/abuse by correspondence. The killer is that China didn’t really seem to improve over the game, despite his tirades.
Australian player reviews
The good
Lauren Jackson: Brilliant performance from LJ last night. She displayed her full offensive repertoire – turn-around jumpers, sealing the opponent for the easy layup, three point bombs, taking Chen Nan off the dribble from the three point line for the two and even a breakaway layup (a couple of us screamed out “Dunk It” and were disappointed when she went up for the half-arsed layup). She still doesn’t look fully match fit though and was puffing noticeably after five minutes on the court. The real test will come tomorrow and hopefully she’ll bring it and not psych herself out of the game like she has in the past.
Belinda Snell: her perimeter jumper was off but played her usual, smart brand of basketball. She and LJ are the on-court leaders of the team.
Jenny Whittle: Played well, especially on the defensive end, but she’s still not going to be of much use against the US.
Laura Summerton: I continue to be impressed at her newfound aggression. Coach Thibault is going to be a happy man if Laura brings this to the WNBA.
The bad
Erin Phillips: Erin had a decent game scoring wise but she was one of the bad decision makers throughout the game. As a point guard, she’s just not there yet. I am puzzled why Jan refuses to play her at the 2 because Erin shines at creating her own offence and I think she’s currently being stifled at the 1. Here’s hoping the WNBA stint does Erina lot of good.
Carly Wilson: missed all her shots and was invisible for most of the game (nice block on a fast break though).
Emily McInerny: embarrassing performance on the offensive end. She passed up an open three, did a half-drive (drove the lane, then pulled backed out), travelled when trying to do a layup and then dribbled the ball off her foot when trying to do a post move. That’s just unacceptable and her D isn’t anything special at the international level. You can compensate for defensive liabilities with zones and matchups but you can’t hide the fact that somebody cannot score.
Katrina Hibbert: she didn’t have a bad game (still cold from outside though), but why is she even on the Opals roster? She’s slow, unathletic, not particularly strong and is just another one-dimensional shooter at the international level, which is the last thing the Opals need.
The meh
Hollie Grima: Solid performance from Hollie but most of it was in garbage time. I’d like to see her get good minutes against the US over Jenny Whittle. It would be a great learning experience for Hollie and she’d be just as effective as Whittle.
Other notes
- I find it amusing how Jenni Screen views opposing players slapping at the ball when she has it as some huge personal affront. Then she does it herself on the other end!
- Once again, line violation issues with the Chinese team.
- When Laura Summerton fouled out, she didn’t seem to realise she had fouled out and thought she only had a couple. Did nobody look up at the scoreboard and keep track of fouls?
- Jacinta Hamilton sat out last night’s game for reasons unknown. I hope it’s a rotational thing, as opposed to an injury.


Comments
bring Jodie datson back, she'll bring the spark back to the opals and this time give her a go, let her be jodie let her play with those leg breaking behind the back crossovers and the dinamic speed and get deffensive rebounding power for a guard.
Posted by: aimee | Friday 04 August 2006
Awesome Baby!
Maybe the shooting skills we worked on last year in canberra helped. I hope to think so. Only two of the bigs shot under 90% from the FT line while I was there. And I have always said Girls are better students than the boys.Congrats for a superb effort.
ed palubinskas
shooting surgeon and inventor of www.thesmartball.com
see ya on Nov 1,2 in Canberra
Posted by: ed palubinskas | Thursday 26 October 2006
Here wow gold of 1000 gold at $68.99-$80.99 ,World Of Warcraft Gold,buy wow gold,sell world of warcraft gold(wow gold),buy euro gold wow Cheap wow gold,cheapest wow gold store ... buy euro gold wow wow gold--buy cheap wow gold,sell wow gold.welcome to buy cheap wow gold--cheap, easy, wow gold purchasing.World of Warcraft,wow gold Super
Posted by: wowglds | Tuesday 24 April 2007
Aimee allen paul
Posted by: allen mp3 Aimee | Sunday 18 May 2008
Aimee allen paul
Posted by: allen mp3 Aimee | Sunday 18 May 2008
Aimee allen paul
Posted by: allen mp3 Aimee | Sunday 18 May 2008
Aimee allen paul
Posted by: allen mp3 Aimee | Sunday 18 May 2008
Nice fnx
Posted by: cheap kamagra | Saturday 04 July 2009
LOL, you're a fag boy!!!
Posted by: Diana Taurasi | Friday 17 July 2009
thanks for article
Posted by: Business Directory | Wednesday 26 August 2009
Very nice article..
Posted by: Kamagrarx | Monday 07 September 2009
Girls are better students than the boys.Congrats for a superb effort.
Posted by: Buy kamagra | Saturday 26 September 2009
Thanks for article. Keep up sharing.
Posted by: 电磁铁 | Wednesday 11 November 2009
I wanted to thank you for this excellent read!! I definitely loved every little bit of it. I have you bookmarked your site to check out the latest stuff you post.
Posted by: Free Article Directory | Tuesday 08 December 2009
Admiring the time and effort you put into your blog and detailed information you offer! I will bookmark your blog and have my children check up here often. Thumbs up!
Posted by: wow quest tips | Friday 11 December 2009
Nice information, many thanks to the author. It is incomprehensible to me now, but in general, the usefulness and significance is overwhelming. Thanks again and good luck!
Posted by: WoW Quest Helper | Wednesday 16 December 2009
The beauty of these blogging engines and CMS platforms is the lack of limitations and ease of manipulation that allows developers to implement rich content and 'skin' the site in such a way that with very little effort one would never notice what it is making the site tick all without limiting content and effectiveness.
Posted by: wow quest helper kid | Thursday 17 December 2009
Gee what theme is this? i definitely love it :D
Posted by: Herb Aharonof | Saturday 26 December 2009
if yu loved dis article, copy and paste this roflcopter to show you care!!
.......................__ ............
......-ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL-.
........................| |...........
................... __\||/____......
.\\...............|'-|--| .\\....\.....
..\ \_...........|--|---|..\\ ....\....
../ L \____,/-------\___\___\
.|LOL|-------------O----- ----,\..
..\ L /______,---''-----------, /...
../ /.............\_________ ,/....
.//.............____//___ __\\__/.
Nice post!!
Posted by: Australian TV Online | Wednesday 06 January 2010
Yo sweet blog there. keep it going.I honestly love to browse your blog.Last of all have great day
Posted by: Thruighkel | Sunday 10 January 2010
You made some Good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree.
Posted by: Backlinks | Monday 11 January 2010
I had to refresh the page 2 times to view this page for some reason, however, the information here was work the wait.
Posted by: how to make money | Tuesday 12 January 2010
Thanks so very much for publishing this.
Posted by: freeware spyware | Saturday 16 January 2010
I love WOW. I found an awesome WoW guide filled with useful information and tips. I have already made over 30g playing only a few hours. Now, if you only there was a guide on how not to get ganked while questing on a pvp server I would have the ultimate guide!
Posted by: Rodrigo Coyan | Sunday 17 January 2010
A few days ago I discovered your website and have been reading along slowly. I decided I would write my opening comment. Im not sure exactly what to write but that I have really enjoyed reading it. Nice blog. I will carry on visiting this site now and again. I have also taken your rss feed to get any updates.
Posted by: Collectible Fountain Pens from S.T. Dupont | Monday 18 January 2010
This blog is very educative,the posts are also educative too.
thanks very much
Posted by: Best Electronic Cigarette Reviews | Thursday 21 January 2010
Gee what theme is this? i definitely love it :D
Posted by: Anfänger muskelaufbau | Saturday 23 January 2010
Thank you for the game report.
Mike
Sample Wedding Speech
Posted by: SAP Tutorial | Saturday 23 January 2010
I am happy to find so many useful information here in the post, we need develop more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Tom Ford Sunglasses | Sunday 24 January 2010
Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
Posted by: World of warcraft guide | Tuesday 26 January 2010
Hello.. I want to subscribe to your blog but I cannot find your rss link, please help. Thanks.
Posted by: live life to the fullest | Friday 29 January 2010
I really impressed by your post. Thank you for this great information, you write very well which i like very much.
Postcard Printing
Posted by: Postcard Printing | Saturday 30 January 2010
Good post as always. Thanks for sharing. I really envy your writing skills.
Posted by: live life to the fullest | Tuesday 02 February 2010
Great post. My friend Lilly told me about this blog a few weeks ago however this is the first time I'm visting. I will positively be back.
Posted by: Evan Sword | Friday 05 February 2010
Nice fnx
Posted by: figure competition | Saturday 06 February 2010
Affiliate Marketing is a performance based sales technique used by companies to expand their reach into the internet at low costs. This commission based program allows affiliate marketers to place ads on their websites or other advertising efforts such as email distribution in exchange for payment of a small commission when a sale results.
www.onlineuniversalwork. com
Posted by: coetsee | Saturday 06 February 2010
interesting article. Where did you got all the selective information from... :)
Posted by: Island Vacations | Tuesday 09 February 2010
Hi, great post. I look forward to your next article. Thank you, Jane
Posted by: antique silver | Wednesday 10 February 2010
I was just chatting with my friend about this the other day at dinner . Don't remember how we got on the subject really, they brought it up. I do recall having a excellent fruit salad with sunflower seeds on it. I digress...
Posted by: new proxies | Wednesday 10 February 2010
I 100% admired this blog. Please continue this spectacular blog. Thank You!
Posted by: half dollar coin | Wednesday 10 February 2010
{I'm|I am going to try this out for sure. Thanks|Thank you for the Information.
Posted by: Brad Langlands | Thursday 11 February 2010
Thank you for this blog-post, I't aided me a lot in World of Warcraft. At this moment I'm using some botsoftware to help me but this blogpost was really helpful for when I am playing. Also, for the people interested, I have added the bots main website in my name. I also hope you will continue making blogposts like this because i've added your blogrss to my RSS plugin.
Posted by: Jessica Fenley | Friday 12 February 2010
Hey. Great blog. I've been searching around for blogs like this for a while, and I finally found the info I've been looking for!
Posted by: World of Warcraft PvP | Thursday 18 February 2010
Great post. My friend Sal told me about this blog a few weeks ago but this is the first time I am visting. I'll positively be back.
Posted by: Casey Huttle | Friday 19 February 2010
Very impressive website, as well as some good ideas in your post. I'll be back her for sure. Thanks for the good content.
Posted by: The Best Spinner | Sunday 21 February 2010
Love the blog. Thanks so much for the information. I'll be back to check out some more for sure.
Posted by: World of Wow | Sunday 21 February 2010
I love watching TV episodes online. Whoever came up with this idea is a genius!
Posted by: Mirella Berlin | Monday 22 February 2010
Finally it came down to I’ve lost faith in your company and unless you do something you will be losing a customer. This meant nothing to him. I will not use or encourage anyone to use their product.
Posted by: E Smoke | Tuesday 23 February 2010
Wow, how wonderful to just run into this on FB – really inspiring and a lot to think about while just getting things done today Thanks for putting this out there !
Posted by: Demarcus Lindstedt | Tuesday 23 February 2010
How do I add this to my RSS reader? Sorry I'm a newbie :(
Posted by: backlink strategy | Wednesday 24 February 2010
Enjoy your blog...found it via yahoo. Subscribed!
Thanks,
Free Printing Samples
Posted by: Loriann Winsky | Saturday 27 February 2010
Hello everyone. Hey, i want also sign me in your guestbook, because i am a new internet user. Help me! There is an urgent need for sites: Zoloft zovirax zyrtec. I found only this - zovirax during pregnancy. The oldest genital wrinkles for day is danger, zovirax. Zovirax, a latent information sores on the urate. THX :rolleyes:, Winthrop from Arab.
Posted by: Winthrop | Friday 05 March 2010
Hi guys. There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher. Help me! I find sites on the topic: Klonopin anxiety. I found only this - klonopin prescription. Klonopin, they are encouraged to be thus $900,000 in participating christian timing and music cabinet. He needs not if he is prescribing to lose, klonopin. THX :-(, Patamon from Micronesia.
Posted by: Patamon | Friday 05 March 2010
hello excellent website yea nice work our website review newspaper will soon be adding reviews on blogs and add them to our as the top best 1000 websites to visit we also do reviews on Customer Reviews all types of product reviews click here
Posted by: Burton Haynes | Friday 05 March 2010
Good post, I can't say that I agree with everything that was said, but very good information overall. Thanks...
Posted by: Article Rewriter | Monday 08 March 2010
Thank you for sharing such an informative article with all of us. I’ve bookmarked your blog will come back for a re-read again. Keep up the great work.
Posted by: Sid Barrientes | Tuesday 09 March 2010
You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog.
Posted by: Antone Cwiek | Tuesday 09 March 2010
Well done Australia!
Posted by: Letterheads | Wednesday 10 March 2010