Refereeing decisions overshadow North West ball derby
Manchester Giants avoided slipping on the banana skin of Mersey Tigers in the BBL Championship on Friday night after grinding down the home side with a devastating fourth quarter, but the 93-67 victory for Jeff Jones’ side will be remembered for a night of highly debatable refereeing decisions.
The courtside announcer for Mersey Tigers was also given a warning in the first quarter from the referees about his conduct on the microphone, regarding a decision against Gael Hulsen, which also resulted in a technical foul for the Belgian.
The aforementioned incident allowed a comparison to be drawn between the football and basketball sides of Manchester over the PA system before one of the officials took action.
Ahead of the game tipping off, it was announced that Mersey’s Philip Wait was ruled out due to a bout of mumps, which, post-game, was revealed by head coach Tony Walsh to have scuppered somewhat their plans worked upon during the week.
The majority of the game, played out in front of a packed out Knowsley Leisure and Culture Park, saw a tighter affair than what the score would lead those not in attendance to believe.
Admittedly, Mersey Tigers ran the Giants exceedingly close throughout the first thirty minutes and are no doubt an improved side from the start of the season as they kept the scores well in touch, midway through the third quarter were only two points down, and was looking like it could have been a tight end to the game. That was until they allowed their North West rivals to go on a 12 point run early in the final period on their way to rubber stamping what had been one of those nights where perhaps the rub of the green was against Mersey, and a lapse of concentration blew even the slightest whiff of an opportunity out of the window.
James Jones was key in that final quarter, bagging ten points of his game high 24, and James Griffiths another old face to return against Mersey, posterized
On one hand, Tigers can point to a number of dubious decisions, but in the face of adversity (which is not self-inflicted by completing folding at the drop of a hat at the most random of points of a game) they still do not have the ability, nor the experience at this level, to dig in deep to find that extra half a foot of room or calmness just when needed in possession; something which the Tigers themselves admit is still a thorn in their side.
It was a ground out game, and one Giants could have easily lost if truth be told, but with refereeing decisions overshadowing events to such a degree, it was the main talking point of the night when speaking to players, coaches and supporters once the final buzzer had sounded.
Chris Bigley was highly aggrieved of the result and certain decisions, but looked on the game as a whole and knew where he, and his team-mates let the game slip: “First and foremost, we lost by 20-odd points, at the end of the day the game was tight and we just played a lot of dumb basketball – silly turnovers and needing to recognise how many seconds are left on the clock and use it. I thought we were more of a team and in the game. We got to within two points and we were there, it started to get a little physical, and they aren’t going to come here and lie down, plus we’re scrapping for our lives, but that’s when they [the referees] are supposed to put the clamps on it.”
Jeff Jones, head coach of Manchester Giants, knew his men had a lot of work to do in the last quarter, but eight strong minutes to close the game meant they could travel back to Manchester with a substantial scoreline: “I was pleased with how my guys stepped up to the physical nature, which I thought was borderline, and I thought the referees lost a little bit of a handle on what was going on.”
For Tony Walsh, at the helm of the Tigers, it was another notch on the L column, but he was well aware of certain pressures that Giants would bring to the game in order to win: “It shows inexperience, the team we’ve played work the ball well, they look, they are capable of knowing when the time is going, out of 24 seconds they work 26 seconds. My team is still a little naive, but we’re talking about keeping going until the very last second of a play and it’s blown and sometimes we turn off and that’s when experience, like Aliu, Griffiths, who are all known to us, shows, but we’d done a good a job but player experience counted when it mattered most.”
Play of the game
James Griffiths’s dunk – you can see it in the image above – it need not say anything more but POSTERIZED!
Game MVP
James Jones had a huge fourth quarter, 10 points of his 24 point tally, and killed it off completely against his former side, to give Daddy Jones half a foot in terms of being able to secure 8th spot in their first year back in the BBL.
