Game reviews - 2006/7 season - the BEST BITS

Sunday 19th November 2006 - home to Brightlingsea Sledgehammers 2 - Essex 129-51 WIN

Stealers smashed their previous points best by miles as they nailed the Hammers to the wall.

AND with key players Clay and Weston out with injury to boot! Not since the days of Heavers, Rickard and Dewy have the Stealers hit quite so high, with a previous best of 115 points (if we recall correctly).

Stealers started with a trusty 3-2 defence, but whilst playing well offensively could not stop the opposition from driving down the centre or shooting long from the sides, points were shared fairly evenly. A change to 1-3-1 defence was introduced and the fate of the short, young opposition sealed - they just couldn't get through. By the mid-point of the second quarter the game was already won with Stealers up 49-26. The match turned into a training session for stealers with the coach taking the opportunity to practice various press plays using either a Guard based 2-2-1 trap, or a Big-man 1-3-1 full court press. Both presses were formidable with Rim, Brian and Joe all snatching turnovers for easy buckets to boost their personal scores. At times the Hammers couldn't get out of their own half managing only 8 pts in the second quarter and 4 in the last!

Stealers hit a consistant 30 points or more in each and every quarter with no let up.

Special praise goes to Dextar, looking far more like the titanic force he was last season and notching up a cool 14 points, - amazing the dividends he reaps when he feeds the ball back out to the guards and looks for the deep return; Alex Sullivan for the mature approach to captaincy in the absence of Clay and Weston -he commanded the plays superbly, and to Rim and Brian for their impecable team work that continues to pull teams apart week by week - wow what a duo!

Coaches man-of-the-match so very nearly goes to Di'Lieto for all round brilliance, drives, steals, rebounds - he has it all, but the award this week goes to Alex Purcell, who took complete command of the key at both ends throughout, - his awareness of space and time is not something that can be taught, it's a natural gift, and when coupled with a consistant short range jump shot is formidable, he uses his strength superbly - well played mate.

It's not usual for us to publish individual scores, after all, this is a team game and the assists are as important if not more so than the scores themselves. But on a record breaking evening such as this we think it might be appropriate to publish a break down of stats for those who are interested. Please refer to the left hand column

Friday 10th November 2006 - away to Basildon Heat - Essex League 88-58 WIN

Stealers showed signs of their true potential in this 30 point drumming of the Basildon side.

Stealers fielded a strong sqad to put right the disappointment of their previous essex fixture and truely demonstrated their division 1 capabilities. Basildon Heat were left for smolder as the Uttlesford team blazed through them at every opportunity. Whether playing a 3-big man zone or a 4-guard press Stealers played with focus and determination that Heat found just too hot to handle.

Great to see Mount-Dextar returning to form and The-Rock-of-Purcel settling into the central / linking roll that he plays so well with Weston during training. A team event, with all the squad participating in the destruction process. Stealers need to build on this victory, if they are to compete with some of the bigger boys. Coaches man-of-the-match? - team work was key to this victory - and capt Clay lead the way in style.

Sunday 5th November 2006 - home to Colchester Hornets - Essex League 71-76 LOSS

Another disappointing Essex League result. Stealers were expecting to put right their cup defeat to this opposition with a full strength side and home advantage. But not to be. Stealers opening gambit of fielding a predominently young five left themselves trailing by 8 points mid-way throught he first quarter. Not a massive deficit and Coach Haselton remained confident that experience and athleticism available from the bench would overpower the opposition. Despite regaining the lead in the second quarter, Stealers seemed unable to press home any significant advantage and found themselves trailing by just a few points to the final buzzer. Stealers need to sherk off their panic mod that seems to prevail in these circumstances, and develop a calm and controled mentality that makes full use of the quality at their disposal. The team members need to realise that collectively they are no doubt the best team in the league, but that the results they crave will come from simple collective team play and not individual ability. Decipline from the bench is also an issue - but for points lost to sideline indescressions to game could have been closer or won! Twelve players on the team sheet is another problem - too many players getting too little time on court does nothing for a calm approach with everyone desperate to impress during the little time available. Coach H & Captain C to investigate ways of reducing home squads to a maximun of 10 or less.

Coaches man-of-the-match. Once again a difficult call, with no one playing particularly poorly, but no one on particularly good form. Perhaps best left to concentrate on team work! None the less, De'lieto continues to show a growing confidence game by game with long range shots mixed in with stunning drives. Great rewards are inevitable if this confidence continues to flourish.

Monday 30th October 2006 - Vets away to Cats - Cambs League 91-63 WIN

A fitting reprise to defeat at the pre-season tournament. Stealers set out to put the young Cambidge team in their place, and well and truely slaughtered they were too. Trio Weston, Rim & Predzius put on their wizards hats and left the oppositon spellbound. No answer could be found to combat the speed and agility of Rim within the key - and when they did finally cut him out from the key, he simply stood back and dropped 3-pointers instead - devistating corporal punishment for the school boys! Bar the fightback from Cats No. 8 the final score could easily have been more. Remaining team-mates were happy to feed in the trio and stand back to watch the sparks fly or slip into space for a sneaky score. Young McAllister continued his pursuit for a 3-pointer per game, and even coach Shuttlewood popped one in at the half time buzzer. Thanks goes from the whole team for a fantastic display of support from the Youth team who remained vocal throughout - taking delight in the antics of Rim - the 360 two handed dunk during the warm up being one of the many highlights of the evening. Man-of-the-match you ask? ......Well Rim of course...an unforgetable evening.

Sunday 22nd October 2006 - home to Southened Scorpions - Essex League  84-83 WIN

Wow - what a game! A real nail biter down to the very last second.

Stealers made a solid start with Cook and Weston taking control of the boards, Di'lieto and 'Captain' Clay controling the offencive plays and Predzius sprinting off on the fast breaks. A 10 point lead was soon notched up - a lead that was maintain on and off throughout the match. The scorpions 'gutsy' approach never left them out of contention mind, and in the fourth quarter they steadily fought their way back achieving a three point lead with 30 seconds left to play. A frantic, edge of the seat half minute persued, with the lead swapping hands on numerous occations. With just 8 seconds left to play, Stealers trailed by a point and launched into another overwhelming full court press. The prize - a poor inbound, and a loose ball retrieved by Weston right under the hoop. Stealers were now a point up themselves, needing only to defend out the remaining few seconds. Weston, caught out of position committed his fifth and final foul - putting himself out of the game and the Scorpions at the line. Four seconds left to play, Scorpions netted both free-shots and were back in the lead, but a sharp inbound from Cook and an exquisite full court pass from 'Captain' Clay saw Predzius off on another fast break. Scorpions had no option but to foul, and take him out they did - 'Unsportsmanlike' declared the ref. - shots and possession. So with 2 seconds left to play, Predzius took to the line requiring both to secure the game. What pressure!, what excitment!, what blood pressure!, .......what an amazing couple of 'swoosh shots'. Predzius had nailed the game. The jubilation that followed - well you'd of thought that Stealers had just won the cup.

Coaches special praise goes to Sullivan and Clay who took the necessary command from the point, feeding in their team mates superbly, Di'lieto for his impressive contributions that took the squad into a early lead, Cook for his powerfull low-post play, and Rim for his relentless circus skills that never failed to entertain. Coaches man-of-the-match honours are shared by Predzius and Weston for shear persistance. Predzius sumed it all up nicely himself ...... ''never give up boys!........''

Wow -What a win.

How the scores added up in Stealers record breaking win over Hammers2 .....................

R. Sasnauskas 27

A. Purcell 26

J. De'Lieto 25

B. Predzius 14

J. Dextar 14

P. Cook 12

M.Clay 4

'T' Spark 4

B Cook 2

Capt A Sullivan 1

Team total 129

supersmashinlovelygreat!

Great distribution of points and valuable assists from Mark, 'T', Barry & Alex S alike.

-oh, & 'T' managed to use up all his five fouls in as many minutes - great entertainment whilst he blazed sparks all over his opponent - but right under the refferees nose! ...................help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!