MANCHESTER GIANTS 77 - 83 GLASGOW ROCKS
Manchester Giants were coming into this game on a 5 Game Winless Streak and was hoping that the Wright Robinson Sports College would be "Home sweet home"and avenge the loss up in the Emirates Arena in Glasgow back in October,But yet again it was a case of same old, same old.
Glasgow started off the better of the 2 teams after going on a run 10-0 after a couple of minutes. The Sleeping Giants so to speak awoke from their slumber and with a couple players down, missing the influential David Aliu from the lineup. The Giants relied on the the team pulling together and trying to get themselves back in the game.
Donald Robinson and Andrew Wedemire were proving to hot to handle for the Giants as they scored basket upon basket. The Rocks looked to be running away with the game as they were the most dangerous of the 2 sides on show. There was then a bit of a delay due to Equipment Malfunction when the foam protection under the basket came loose, so with the Courtside team and officials sorting it out for about 5 mins. There was an unofficial Time out with both teams to regroup and talk things over.
Manchester came back onto the court after hearing what coach Jeff Jones wanted by his men and they did everything but put the ball in the basket as on 3 occasions they shot and missed hitting the target altogether not even reaching the back board either. Glasgow continued to dominate on offense and restrict the home side to shots from the 3pts line. Giants were really missing some one to go to the paint and drive at the Visitors net.
Time ticking down and 1:21 left in the 1st QUARTER the Home side produced some of the best basketball seen by them all season as they went from being 13-17 down to 25-17 up as the last 4 baskets were 3pointers! Eaves shot a 3! Stefan Gill then got in on the act too, Giants D held and fantastically stopped the Rocks threat, James Jones then shot a 3pointer from the Arc and then with seconds to spare Devan Bailey launched one and went straight in to a standing ovation by the Manchester Crowd at the job they did. Even the coach was in shock with the play.
Manchester coach Jeff Jones would probably have liked his men to have carried on the good play like how they finished in the 1st. But After they built up a 10 pts lead ,it quickly disintegrated with Wedemire and Robinson throwing down 3`s and McNally scoring much to the joy of their travelling support who made the long drive down from Bonnie Scotland and into Foggy Gorton.
Mike Bernard for me this season has been a very frustrating player, as he seems to play a lazy game on both ends of the Court. And one occasion tonight he shielded the ball from their player who tried to get a foul against him, flopped to the foor and Bernard who had no one near him. Proceeded to lay up the ball and miss the basket compeltely when someone that is 6"9 should be making easy plays like that 100% of the time.
Rocks started to get going again and the G-Men were looking lost as they struggled to contain the Men from Glasgow. So after they built up a handy lead of 12-15 points themselves, Jones brought back in the fold Devan Bailey and Ben Eaves back into the attack and taking Bernard and Watts out. And this paid dividends as the Giants clawed the 12 pt margin and with one last play in the 1st half. The home side passed it round looking a for good shot to get, Eaves was passed the ball and he netted the 2pts and time ran down as both teams headed to the changing rooms for Half time with Rocks up by 2.
HALF TIME: GIANTS 38 - 40 ROCKS
3rd Quarter the Scottish visitors started to pull to away but found the Giants trying to drag themselves back into the game. As 3pts and foul trouble started to go against the Giants now as they were finding it hard to keep up the tempo and and block their Offensive pressure as they started to at times Double team players leaving an area open for the Rocks players to drill the 3pointers from most of the time.
Jeff Jones looked so frustrated as his team many a few defensive errors and more players leaving or not picking up players and leaving gaps open to exploit for the Away side to take advantage of and they wer only to happy. A lead of 14 came and Giants brought Bailey and Gill in to the game hoping to ignite the crowd and lift the team too. Bailey and Gill nearly combined to bring the Giant right back into the ball game. With some Jordan-esque play by Bailey he danced around the Rocks defense and threw one up and got the basket and drawn the foul to which the momentum seemed to be swinging towards the Giants again.
A couple of the Manchester players will be nursing a few injures picked up as David Watts picked up a stray elbow from a Glasgow player when blocking a shot, resulting in him spitting blood on court as he may have lost a tooth in the process. And Stefan Gill who was a thorn in the side of the Rocks team, went to lay up a shot and for his efforts drawn a foul but also ended up Giving Blood as he has cut his head open and Claret dripped on the Wright Robinson Court.
After a delay of them cleaning up the blood and getting the court ready for play again, Gill sat on the bench and got treatment and the Giants put their faith in Bailey who was Man of th Match for me with some scintillating plays that would make many Highlight reels. His partner in crime Gill came back head with gel on the cut to stop the bleeding. And with in 1 min he got a body check off Harrison in the Rocks uniform and he went sliding across the floor and luckily didn`t hit his head on the hard floor either.
2 mins to go Giants Trailing by 8pts Bernard drawn a foul and he made sure he got both free throws, this was now the Giants in control as Glasgow were missing or turning over the ball abit too much now. The score was now 75-78 with 1:51 to play in the game and the Home side in the ascendency. Rocks who looked to have been confident in their shooting all night had now questioned their shooting much to the Giants joy. Giants had a chance to go for the 3pts to take a 1 point lead or do they take a normal basket and pressure them. The Giants looked to be aggressive now, but a slack pass by Jones led to the Rocks picking the ball up and drawing a foul and so went to the line.
Manchester couldn`t find a way to comeback and Glasgow just scored the baskets as the Giants intentional fouls gave them the chance to flatter the scoreline abit in the end. So the Giants now head to the Surrey Sports Park Saturday night at one of the title favourites Surrey Heat. And the elusive win looks bleak there tomorrow night.
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