The Red Dragon Rolls On

By Ryan Mobilia

China was too strong for the Bulleen Boomers WNBL team in their match up last night, winning 78-60 in front of a packed Veneto Club crowd.

Above: Bulleen and Opals star Elyse Penaluna

In what was a physical and spirited encounter, the Boomers were unable to overcome the size and scoring power of the Chinese Women’s National Team.

It was the first game at the helm for Head Coach Tom Maher, coaching against the team he led to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Bulleen were playing without Captain Desi Glaubitz and star recruit Liz Cambage, so it was left to young Opal Elyse Penaluna to step up and lead the way for the home side.

“I think we still have a lot of learning to do.” Said Penaluna - of the Boomers preparation thus far for the upcoming season.

“We haven’t actually had a practice together, so… once we’ve trained together and got a few of our sets down, I think we’ll be a pretty tough team.”

Playing against such a professional outfit in China, Penaluna said she believed it could only benefit the younger Boomers to have experienced this game leading into the new season.

“Playing in an international game is so much harder - a lot more physical.” She said.

“Just having this practice match is going to make them see how much farther we have to go, and how we are going to have to play in the WNBL next season.”

The game program warned us of the deadly outside shooting of Chinese guard, Bian Lan, who had hit 21 points against the Opals only two nights previous.

Once more she ended with a game high 21 points, hitting five of nine from long range, one an off balance NBA range shot on the halftime buzzer.

Above: Chinese star guard Bian Lan

Lui Dan, one of six centre’s listed on the Chinese roster, was also impressive all game, scoring on numerous strong post moves on her way to 15 points and 11 rebounds.

But it was her battle with Bulleen and Australia Opals star Elyse Penaluna that was the highlight of the night, the two fighting on both ends of the floor throughout the second half.

Asked if she enjoyed the physicality, Penaluna was not backwards in declaring her love for a scrap.

“Yeah, absolutely. The Chinese love to dish out a few cheap shots, but we just take that on, you know and keep playing.

“Oh, and give it back a bit.”

In what was her third encounter with the travelling Chinese in a week, Penaluna could feel the benefits to her game personally.

“I think it’s really helped playing them once up in Canberra and then again down in Geelong on Monday.

“It’s definitely helped me to show the girls that I can lead a bit on the court.”

And things look good for Boomers off the court too, the stands of their home floor filled with young and old alike watching their heroes.

“It was awesome to see everyone get out and support us against China, so hopefully we get that [level of support] for the season, and have a great year.”

China's Wei Wei, at 207cm (closest to Camera) made a brief appearance late in the game

Match Report

Elyse Penaluna hit the Boomers first five points of the game, before both sides defensive pressure got on top. A scoring barrage by China gave them 16-7 lead, thanks to back to back triples from Bian Lan and a sweet assist from her on the basket after that. Sharin Milner (13 points) settled after an early spell on the bench, finding Lisa Pardon with a great pass for three points, bringing the Chinese lead back to 18-14 at quarter time.

The second term started with Lisa Pardon (12 points) hitting another long range basket, off a steal by Elyse Penaluna. Three straight baskets by Bulleen helped them take a 21-20 lead, before the Boomers had a few shots roll out, and the Chinese capitalised with three consecutive baskets of their own.

A three point play by Chinese centre, Lui Dan gave the visitors a 34-26 lead, followed by a terrific tip in by Lisa Pardon, sparking the crowd. But Bulleen’s momentum was halted after a jump ball with only three seconds left in the half gave possession to the Chinese. This led to yet another Bian Lan basket, as she scrambled to collect, shoot and hit a long range three ball on the buzzer. 40-28 China.

Both sides came out to start the second half with tough defence, including a terrific Elyse Penaluna block and takeaway. It was the great battle between the Boomers centre and the Chinese Centre Lui Dan that highlighted the third term. Both were going back and forth against each other, ripping down rebounds, clearing space for team mates in the paint, and making some body crunching post moves. At the end of three China held the same advantage as halftime, 57-45.

In the final term the Chinese lead grew. In what became a scrappy affair, the Bulleen side couldn’t get the deficit back under the 12 point margin. The final term saw the Chinese side hit with an offensive foul call that sent their head coach Sun Fengwu storming onto the court in protest, before his players were also hit with both a technical and unsportsmanlike foul in two separate incidents to finish of the game.

Kylie Reid continued her battle for rebounding inches in the paint, while Sharin Milner hit a couple of baskets, including a very nice drive off a hesitation dribble. The tallest player on the Chinese roster, Wei Wei (207cm) also made an appearance in the final term, but the lead was never really in doubt, as a Lauren Pearce Bulleen basket on the final buzzer saw the visiting team China take out the game 78-60.

Happy Birthday Patty

Happy Birthday to Patty Mills who turned 21 years old on Tuesday!


He was caught in the stands watching his two formers teams

The AIS and St Marys go head to head, and was interviewed on the sidelines about all things Patty...

Houston, we have a solution.

It was a sad day when I heard that one of my favourite players in the world of Basketball, Yao Ming, would be missing the entire 2009/10 season, and potentially the rest of his career due to continuous injury.

First things first, I love Yao and I now know (much like I suspect the Rockets do) that his body is just not made to carry the beatings he puts it through, all with the weight of a billion plus Chinese on his shoulders.

I’ll never forget seeing him play just metres in front of my eyes, something I’ll cherish even more now that his road back to playing again will be as long as his family tree.


My final word on Yao –

Who is just the biggest person I have ever, ever seen? Yao Ming, hands down... Funny moment prior to the China v Italy game (pictured above) as he was announced and ran out, an Italian fan screamed out an almighty, "Mamma Mia!"... Couldn’t have said it better myself.

The last thing I expected was to hear that his replacement of sorts at the Houston Rockets was to be Victorian, Australian Boomer and former Wollongong Hawk, David Andersen.

After such a crappy run of luck for Aussies in the league, it seems we have reached the tipping point as it were, and Andersen is set to live his dream of playing significant minutes in the NBA for a definite Western Conference contender.

The struggles of Boomers Andrew Bogut, Mills, Ingles, Jawai, Newley and co have dampened the prospects of consistent Australian NBA recognition and visibility in the best league in the world.

But with the news of David Andersen, finally being recognised for his winning legacy in Europe, things are once again looking up.


The big news is documented here…

Andersen Arrives in Houston to Sign Contract
By MARK BERMAN

and here...

Rockets eye new import at center
By JONATHAN FEIGEN

Rockets GM, Daryl Morey explained the acquisition of Andersen to the Houston Media, in this statement below.

What does new addition, David Andersen, bring to your team? Are you concerned with his age and the fact he’s never played in the NBA?

“We feel like he’s at a good age actually. People are focusing I think on how old he is, but he’s 29, we’re gonna sign him to probably a 3-year deal with some options for the Rockets at the end of it. We feel like he’s just a good player, he’s a good player at a good price; we’re gonna have to win with $40 million sitting on the sidelines for much of the year this year. So, we’re having to be value players and we think David can give us a lot of quality minutes this year, and then Yao Ming comes back next year, we think of him as a very good backup at the five and at the four. And, I think he’s gonna be another guy the fans love - he plays hard, he’s a winner, he’s won seven straight championships with his seven straight teams in Europe. We scouted the globe, we didn’t like our options at a center among the US free agents, so that’s why we were pretty aggressive with Atlanta to get his rights.”

Millions Miles from Mills

Damn.

Things were looking so good.


"You never want to see a player get injured, but it is especially heart-wrenching to see a young man go down on his first day of camp," Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard said.

"We'll do everything we can to help Patty get back on track to realise his NBA future."

After first hearing of his injury in the very first training session for his new team, nothing else was said.

He would miss the entire Summer League and his opportunity to prove all of the teams that passed on him wrong.

I have waited to comment on the tough situation for such a likable guy, until some more facts came through… and I knew they wouldn’t be pretty.

Since then, the silence has been DEAFENING. And now we know why.

It has been reported today…

Patty Mills to miss 4-6 months of action.

Damn.

Reported today in a number of places. This excerpt comes courtesy of SLAMONLINE.COM

The Aussie PG will have his work cut out for him this season if he’s to have any hopes of making an NBA roster:

“Pritchard said doctors inserted a screw to repair the foot and Mills is expected to miss four to six months. That eliminates any chance at a training camp invitation for Mills, but Pritchard refused to address his future with the team. The Blazers selected Mills with their last pick of last month’s draft, No.55 overall. ‘Feel really bad for the kid,’ Pritchard said. ‘He’s a great kid and a high-energy guy who came in looking to really make an impression on us. It was just an unfortunate accident.’”

How quickly things change.

Less than a year ago he was almost the biggest basketball story to come out of the Olympics, heaped with praise from Kobe Bryant and LeBron James to Coach K.

First he missed a chance put his team in the NCAA tournament barely recovering from a broken hand to play out his College career.


Then, last time I wrote it was about his obvious frustration and disappointment at being overlooked by so many teams in the NBA Draft.

That would seem like nothing now, compared with the uphill battle the young man has now to even make the League.

Coincidently his first Summer League game was to be played against the Toronto Raptors and his best friend Nathan Jawai (who was traded to the Dallas Mavericks that very day). He was all set, he was to wear number #8, but of course that never happened.



Back when I first heard about the injury I scribbled down some notes.

- Hopefully not stuck in Europe ala Brad Newley. Was Newley a higher pick even?
- The Curse of Sam Bowie… he’s no Greg Oden, but a blazer struck down with injury nonetheless.

I also pictured the current Poll on my Blog, which I had not updated and was asking ‘where would you like to see Mills play next season’.

The Melbourne Tigers was an option, a joke option, but even before his injury there were rumours that Mills wouldn’t make the Trailblazers roster and would end up over in Europe or playing back Down Under for someone.

Unfortunately, that even seems a long way off at this stage.

As a basketball fan, pinning the hopes of the sport in this nation on his shoulders it’s a big blow.

Perhaps we placed too much pressure on the guy too early. We didn’t cause his injury, but it definitely raised our expectations for him and the almost saviour like aura, that many (including myself) projected onto him.

I knew that the NBA draft is extremely unpredictable. Watching Aussie after Aussie attempt to break into the league, I knew things are never as smooth as you think.

Patty Mills was always going to be borderline first round, but Alpha Magazine obviously didn’t quite understand the situation and in an attempt to sell mags, was asking questions like the one below.


As I sat down to read my first ever purchased copy, I wondered if they understood how far ahead of themselves they were getting when they asked…

Have you considered what you will do with an NBA pay packet?

Patty’s response was a fair one, but I hasten to add that it was probably edited a bit too. I believe he would have been even more humble in his full response, but that isn’t very sexy.

He Said:

"That's a bit too far ahead for me to think. I have no idea what I'll do with it. I won't know until I actually have it in my hands."

We all hope you do someday Patty, we all hope you do!

Success and Motivation for 2009

Occasionally I'll look in on what eccentric Dallas Mavericks owner and Billionaire Businessman Mark Cuban is writing about in his extremely popular blog site "Blog Maverick".

Most of the time it is 80 per cent business related, 20 per cent sport related, and very often his posts contained elements of both.

Recently he wrote an interesting account regarding his thoughts on "Success and Motivation" which I found very interesting, and have pasted below for you to check out, as I think you may also enjoy it!



This is the year of WTF. Yep, What the F&&&.

It doesn’t matter what got you to the point of saying it. Maybe you got fired/layed off. Maybe your company went out of business. Maybe you quit because you couldn’t take it any longer. Maybe you are just graduating from school and the prospects of living at home are far worse than cramming in with 12 roommates in a beater house or apartment you call “The Hotel”. Whatever the reason, the question is how do you turn this time into the start of something good ?

I’m here to give you your WTF To Do List.

1. Recognize that its ok to live like a student.

It doesn’t matter where you live. It doesn’t matter how you live. It doesn’t matter what kind of car you drive. It doesn’t matter what kind of clothes you wear. It doesn’t matter. Your biggest enemies are your bills. The more you owe, the more you stress. The more you stress over bills, the more difficult it is to focus on your goals. More importantly, if you set your monthly income requirements too high, you eliminate a significant number of opportunities. The cheaper you can live, the greater your options. Remember that.

2. Take Lots of Chances

If you are living cheap, and ready to find out where your future lies, now is the time to try anything. WTF time means fighting through your fears to take a job in a new industry. It means trying different things to find out what it is you love to do. There will be no such thing as too many jobs. In this type of economy getting a job is tough if not often impossible. So you are going to have bust ass to create opportunities for yourself.

Creating opportunities means looking where others are not. Look outside where all your friends are looking. Make a list of jobs and businesses that are outside the norm. I know you want to follow your passions and get a job in sports, movies, tv, shooting video for Girls Gone Wild, and other things your friends would love. Why fight the crowds ? Go where people are not. Just like you never thought you would ever fall in love with someone else, you will find another industry or job that you will love as much as your first love. Move down your list to other things. Then get ready to work

In this kind of economy, it really is a numbers game. You are going to have to keep on applying for everything and anything that opens a door you want to walk through. You can never slow down. Its hard work finding a job. If you have bills you have to pay, and it means taking a night job in order to keep looking for the day job or to keep a job you want, do it. Be a waiter, a night janitor, wash clothes, sell vacuum cleaners door to door, whatever you need to do, all the while reminding yourself that it opens the door for your future.

Then when you do find a job, remind yourself again that you are winging it. Everyone always sees the bright side of the job they just took. You have to. The new job you just took that you thought would be amazing, will be amazing. Most probably it will be amazing for about 3 months. Then you will realize its not so amazing and you will need to find something else that is amazing. Thats ok. You don’t have to be right everytime. You just have to be right one time. Finding the right job is a lot like dating. Its hard until you start, then when you start, its great till its not. Then its frustrating as hell until you get it right. But when you do, it all comes together.

3. Figuring out if you are in the right job

Its really easy to know if you are in the right job. If it matters how much you get paid, you are not in a job you really really love. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t want to make more money. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t bust your ass to make as much money as possible. Thats not the issue. The issue is whether or not you truly love your job. If you love what you do so much that you are willing to continue to live like a student in order to be able to stay in the job, you have found your calling.

4. Figure out how to be the best

Once you have found out what you love to do, there is only one goal. How can you be the best in the world at it. It doesn’t matter if you are a filing clerk, an athlete, an accountant or a bartender. All that matters is that you do whatever you can to be the best. Of course “the best” is all relative. The one person who you should never believe when it comes to evaluating your abilities is you. The very worst judge of your abilities is you. Self Evaluation is never successful. When you are the best at something, the demand for your services will grow. People want to hire the best. They want to be associated with the best. In 2009, in this economy so many people switch jobs and industries and its so much easier to stay connected via social networks and other digital means, people who need you can and will find you. So rather than trying to convince people you are the best, let the quality of your work do your talking.

5. Start the day motivated with a positive attitude.

You are going to screw up. We all do. I cant tell you how many times I did and do. It happens too often. No matter what happens, every morning, the minute after you wipe away the crust from your eyes, remind yourself that you are going to enjoy every minute of the day. You are going to enjoy the 20 interviews you have. You are going to enjoy waiting in the heat for your roommate to pick you up afterwards. You are going to enjoy realizing how frayed your collar is becoming and how sick you are of your one tie. You are going to enjoy all the bullshit you have to deal with as you chase your goals and dreams because you want to remember them all. Each and every experience will serve as motivation and provide great memories when you finally make it all happen.

Its your choice. What are you going to do ?

-End-

Get moving! (haha I added this picture to motivate you, not Cuban!) - Mobs