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.

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