Boomers v Tall blacks
A couple of weeks have gone by since JB and I headed to the Boomers v Tallblacks played here in Hobart.
Here are our thoughts and comments.
JB: So we went out and before we even get to the game let’s talk about the seats. I didn’t mind the seats, we were sitting about 10 metres behind the base line and could see the court and that is about all you need. But the people around us weren’t to happy. What were your thoughts??
Geeva: The seats for mine were fine, we were behind the basket had a view of the court, was close enough to hear the baa baa sheepie boy comments from the aussie boys.
Nasty wife next to me was cutting up rough though wasn’t she?
Could have been worse could have been stuck in one of those cramped box's with waiters annoying you constantly for free food and drink.
Tough times walking on the court to get to your set though JB, how did the crutches go on the slippery surface?
JB: Yeah it was ok, the court looked in good nick. Apparently the Aussies had a problem with it in the 1st quarter though because they played terribly. Trailing by 17 at quarter time. Anything stand out to you in the 1st quarter mate??
Geeva: nothing stood out to me other than Boomer getting his nipple pinched by my brother sitting in the first row. Boomer seemed to like it because he hung about. (Boomer is the Aus mascot, he’s a big kangaroo of course)
The Aussies seemed to look very rushed in offence and lets face it the kiwis didn’t miss. Jones was the stand out early . Bogut and Anstey never got in the game in the first quarter and the Aussie young guys looked like they would be more at home playing on a Wednesday night in the AYC.
Thought the refereeing was a little questionable what seemed to be some heavy defence from the kiwis was going unpunished. The game evened out in the 2nd quarter although the Aussies didn’t really make use of their possession on the scoreboard, how did you see it big fella?
JB: Firstly I’m glad you brought up Boomer. Do you remember the guy running around with Boomer?? Captain “Lemon and Lime” Cruiser, what a fruit cake. Funniest thing about him (just coming in front of his hair cut and the shirt he was wearing that was 5 sizes to small for him) was that he speaks with quiet a high voice but he was trying to fire the crowd up with a “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie – Oi, Oi, Oi” chant he finished with “Go You Boomers” in the deepest voice he could but still sounded like a 8 year old putting on a “Big Boy” voice, hilarious.
The 2nd quarter I remember as when the Boomers first started to look like they remembered they were playing basketball and not tiddlywinks. But still the younger players were making some big mistakes and your right some of them looked totally out of their depth at times. Lowlight of the half had to be Halliwell missing a wide open dunk midway through the 2nd quarter
I think the NZ lead got down to 10 at one point then quickly blown out to 18, before the Aussies got it back to 14 at half time.
Did you give us any chance at half time??
Geeva: At half time heading for the door was not out of the question. I do believe you are referring to sea fm's captain Bacardi Breezer?? What a goose, I think the human relations officer at Sea FM must have had a gripe and was about to quit when he hired this bloke.
At halftime I was hoping for the Boomers to challenge at least, maybe a spectacular dunk (Bogie and Newelly didn’t let me down) but not in my wildest dreams did I think the Boomers could pull it off. The crowd seemed pretty flat at half time and there was a few calls of “We want out money back” as the second quarter drew to an end.
Call of the night came late in the second quarter as Bogut missed some three throws "Give the bloody kangaroo a shot" sent a ripple of laughter threw the fans sitting behind the basket. Although an obvious call I couldnt let it go unheard. That’s when it all changed.
The Boomers got on a run and would have only been 11 down at the half but for another Jones bomb close to the buzzer.
As the fans slowly made there way back to there seats the second half began, the Boomers came alive as did the crowd, biting finger nails on defence and rising out of there seats as Smithy lit up the DEC on offence. How were you feeling in the 3rd when it got back to 1 point? I had goosebumps.
JB: It was great, the crowd really started to get behind the Boomers and they started to get on a roll which was great. As I said at the time "any time an Australian team is playing a New Zealand team and there is time on the clock we are half a chance".
The 2nd half saw the Boomers play their older players a lot more then the first half and Jason Smith decided to take over and started hitting shots from all over the floor.
When the scores were tied and Brad Newley drove down the baseline and got up for that huge 2 hand dunk the crowd went up as one and I don’t think we trailed for the rest of the night.
The last couple of minutes were close but that little kiwi missed 3 free throws that would have got them even again with about 20 seconds to go. But then again New Zealand were terrible from the free throw line all night just 9 from 22 for the game is not really good enough in international basketball.
Overall it was a good game, not the best game I’ve ever seen but the last quarter was probably the best of the game, both teams had a chance to win but the Aussies held on.
Geeva: Your right it wasn’t the classiest game of basketball I’ve ever seen but I don’t think I’ve ever been as captivated by a game as I was in the last half.
The boomers did the right thing by the crowd and played the big guns in the last half Smith was on fire, Anstey and Bogut were both solid. Without the late withdrawal of Sam Mckinnen I’m sure the scores would have been a little tighter throughout the match.
Newley’s dunk right in front of us was huge, he seemed to hang onto the basket for an hour, Boguts alley-oop was priceless, the timing was great, the crowd was already whipped into a frenzy and the roof nearly blew off the DEC as he hammered it home.
I was pretty disappointed to see that the series was decided on aggregate and NZ were awarded the Ramsey Shield although they drew the series at 2-2 after getting a victory in Melbourne. Funny thing was not even the coaches realised how it was decided, until they presented the shield to NZ everybody thought that Australia had retained it.
All in all the match in Hobart was worth the admission price despite the seating scandal (as nasty wife will atest to) but the series was a shocker for the Boomers, there is a lot of work that needs to be done before the upcoming world cup and although there are some players to come back into the team I don’t see them breaking into the top 5.
How do you like Australia’s chances JB?
JB: It is hard to see the Boomers getting into the top half dozen, but not impossible. You only have to have a couple results go your way and you’re laughing. CJ Burton coming back will help give them some leadership but I think not having Matt Nielson will cost them in the end.
Tassie Needs more international events
Here are our thoughts and comments.
JB: So we went out and before we even get to the game let’s talk about the seats. I didn’t mind the seats, we were sitting about 10 metres behind the base line and could see the court and that is about all you need. But the people around us weren’t to happy. What were your thoughts??
Geeva: The seats for mine were fine, we were behind the basket had a view of the court, was close enough to hear the baa baa sheepie boy comments from the aussie boys.
Nasty wife next to me was cutting up rough though wasn’t she?
Could have been worse could have been stuck in one of those cramped box's with waiters annoying you constantly for free food and drink.
Tough times walking on the court to get to your set though JB, how did the crutches go on the slippery surface?
JB: Yeah it was ok, the court looked in good nick. Apparently the Aussies had a problem with it in the 1st quarter though because they played terribly. Trailing by 17 at quarter time. Anything stand out to you in the 1st quarter mate??
Geeva: nothing stood out to me other than Boomer getting his nipple pinched by my brother sitting in the first row. Boomer seemed to like it because he hung about. (Boomer is the Aus mascot, he’s a big kangaroo of course)
The Aussies seemed to look very rushed in offence and lets face it the kiwis didn’t miss. Jones was the stand out early . Bogut and Anstey never got in the game in the first quarter and the Aussie young guys looked like they would be more at home playing on a Wednesday night in the AYC.
Thought the refereeing was a little questionable what seemed to be some heavy defence from the kiwis was going unpunished. The game evened out in the 2nd quarter although the Aussies didn’t really make use of their possession on the scoreboard, how did you see it big fella?
JB: Firstly I’m glad you brought up Boomer. Do you remember the guy running around with Boomer?? Captain “Lemon and Lime” Cruiser, what a fruit cake. Funniest thing about him (just coming in front of his hair cut and the shirt he was wearing that was 5 sizes to small for him) was that he speaks with quiet a high voice but he was trying to fire the crowd up with a “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie – Oi, Oi, Oi” chant he finished with “Go You Boomers” in the deepest voice he could but still sounded like a 8 year old putting on a “Big Boy” voice, hilarious.
The 2nd quarter I remember as when the Boomers first started to look like they remembered they were playing basketball and not tiddlywinks. But still the younger players were making some big mistakes and your right some of them looked totally out of their depth at times. Lowlight of the half had to be Halliwell missing a wide open dunk midway through the 2nd quarter
I think the NZ lead got down to 10 at one point then quickly blown out to 18, before the Aussies got it back to 14 at half time.
Did you give us any chance at half time??
Geeva: At half time heading for the door was not out of the question. I do believe you are referring to sea fm's captain Bacardi Breezer?? What a goose, I think the human relations officer at Sea FM must have had a gripe and was about to quit when he hired this bloke.
At halftime I was hoping for the Boomers to challenge at least, maybe a spectacular dunk (Bogie and Newelly didn’t let me down) but not in my wildest dreams did I think the Boomers could pull it off. The crowd seemed pretty flat at half time and there was a few calls of “We want out money back” as the second quarter drew to an end.
Call of the night came late in the second quarter as Bogut missed some three throws "Give the bloody kangaroo a shot" sent a ripple of laughter threw the fans sitting behind the basket. Although an obvious call I couldnt let it go unheard. That’s when it all changed.
The Boomers got on a run and would have only been 11 down at the half but for another Jones bomb close to the buzzer.
As the fans slowly made there way back to there seats the second half began, the Boomers came alive as did the crowd, biting finger nails on defence and rising out of there seats as Smithy lit up the DEC on offence. How were you feeling in the 3rd when it got back to 1 point? I had goosebumps.
JB: It was great, the crowd really started to get behind the Boomers and they started to get on a roll which was great. As I said at the time "any time an Australian team is playing a New Zealand team and there is time on the clock we are half a chance".
The 2nd half saw the Boomers play their older players a lot more then the first half and Jason Smith decided to take over and started hitting shots from all over the floor.
When the scores were tied and Brad Newley drove down the baseline and got up for that huge 2 hand dunk the crowd went up as one and I don’t think we trailed for the rest of the night.
The last couple of minutes were close but that little kiwi missed 3 free throws that would have got them even again with about 20 seconds to go. But then again New Zealand were terrible from the free throw line all night just 9 from 22 for the game is not really good enough in international basketball.
Overall it was a good game, not the best game I’ve ever seen but the last quarter was probably the best of the game, both teams had a chance to win but the Aussies held on.
Geeva: Your right it wasn’t the classiest game of basketball I’ve ever seen but I don’t think I’ve ever been as captivated by a game as I was in the last half.
The boomers did the right thing by the crowd and played the big guns in the last half Smith was on fire, Anstey and Bogut were both solid. Without the late withdrawal of Sam Mckinnen I’m sure the scores would have been a little tighter throughout the match.
Newley’s dunk right in front of us was huge, he seemed to hang onto the basket for an hour, Boguts alley-oop was priceless, the timing was great, the crowd was already whipped into a frenzy and the roof nearly blew off the DEC as he hammered it home.
I was pretty disappointed to see that the series was decided on aggregate and NZ were awarded the Ramsey Shield although they drew the series at 2-2 after getting a victory in Melbourne. Funny thing was not even the coaches realised how it was decided, until they presented the shield to NZ everybody thought that Australia had retained it.
All in all the match in Hobart was worth the admission price despite the seating scandal (as nasty wife will atest to) but the series was a shocker for the Boomers, there is a lot of work that needs to be done before the upcoming world cup and although there are some players to come back into the team I don’t see them breaking into the top 5.
How do you like Australia’s chances JB?
JB: It is hard to see the Boomers getting into the top half dozen, but not impossible. You only have to have a couple results go your way and you’re laughing. CJ Burton coming back will help give them some leadership but I think not having Matt Nielson will cost them in the end.
Tassie Needs more international events
posted by geeva at 8/06/2006 10:16:00 pm
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