Manchester’s Giant quarter condemns Tigers to defeat
Manchester Giants decimated Mersey Tigers, 65-96, after an abysmal start to the BBL Championship game at Knowsley Leisure and Culture Park.
If ever there was a game of two halves, it could not sum up this showing any better, as Jeff Jones’ Giants put Tigers to the sword turning around 24 points in the third quarter.
The bleachers were packed thanks to a Christmas coaching session set up for local youngsters, a huge part of what is trying to be built at Mersey, to develop quality local future talent, before the evening’s main event, and for many it may have been the first time, or even returning Tigers supporters. Add in the travelling Giants fans and it was one of the best atmospheres for a long while.
So seeing the way Mersey came out to began with, and take charge would have made many believe it unthinkable that they were on the end of such a losing streak.
Their busy, consistent hustling was paying off with aplomb, and the speed and intensity of the offence from Mersey was without doubt a huge stride forward, together with the shocking efforts by the visitors, and the 16/1 shots before the game were looking to upset the odds, as five late points in the quarter from Mersey captain, Josh McGinn, held a comfortable 20-13 lead.
Although an improvement for Manchester in the second quarter, it still was extremely below par in the eyes of Jeff Jones, but signs of life showed coming into the final few minutes, signalled by a statement-making jam by David Watts tying the quarter up, but not the lead, 39-32.
The ever-important third quarter, without question, changed the whole complexion of the game. Over the end of the first half and into the beginning of this period, a 19-2 run was put together that wrenched complete control away from the home side.
The decision as to when a time out was called by Tigers to halt the charge Manchester made early on could be seen as the key to this defeat. Unfortunately, by the time it was made, the visitors were in front, had tightened up its defence, and were finding the basket and making it count for the mistakes and near misses from the start.
A 13-37 stanza said it all, and heads began to drop somewhat, but one thing that remained was the determination to carry on – it really could have been worse.
A superb run from Stefan Gill in the first few minutes of the final quarter (a 12-0 run by himself – three from the line and three successive buckets from outside the arc) pushed the lead out further, before the game drew to its natural conclusion.
Despite the loss, Mersey can take plenty from the early efforts, and focus on making it last when they next face Thunder in the BBL Trophy, and will be hoping it can go from a 20 minute display to a full 40 minutes victory.
McGinn is confident in that approach, but feels the mental hurdle must be cleared first: “There was plenty of positivity in the locker room at halftime, for the first time in a long time! You do have to draw the line though, and it is 0-0, and we never came out with the same intensity, which hurts.
“Basketball is like a game of chess – we went in front, they changed and we needed to go to plan B and we never picked it up quick enough, and we needed some variety, but hey, you have to take some positives out of the first half, we could have kept it going in the second half if it wasn’t for our mindset. You could see our ability in the first half, but it’s just staying focused and keeping that mindset.”
Pleased with the first half performance, coach Walsh knew that there was more to come from Giants: “We worked really hard in the first two quarters, and we had to be realistic coming into the third, knowing they had a big bench, highly rated with experience. They came at us hard, and showed the depth in their bench; Stefan Gill started popping up from everywhere, every one of their team started playing tough defence, we had gotten tired, maybe if we’d had this in a couple of weeks after the break, a few more training sessions, we could have won.
He seemed in two minds about the time-out decision, but felt his side could cope with what Manchester had to throw at them, before having to make the call and stop play: “It’s one of those situations where you think ‘Should I use it now?’ I could have, looking back, maybe I should have, but I thought we could play through it like we did in the first two quarters. I put it down to the fact it’s the players’ first season, they are getting used to it, but we are making steps forward and look to Worthing next weekend.
For Manchester though, a rude awakening was needed to get the game back on track, and when asked about the conversation in the break, Stefan Gill had a rye smile about what coach Jones had to say: “The halftime talk! There was a lot said about intensity and the way to change it, and Jeff got that through to us. We knew we weren’t playing as a team, Christmas excuses isn’t really acceptable, everyone’s got that, so it was a case of digging in and keeping some momentum going. Once we got on those runs, we were more relaxed, and made our shots easier, passes easier and broke them down.”
Looking back on his side’s topsy-turvy game, coach Jones accepted the bad mistakes made, but also praised how Tigers came out from the start: “We shot the ball terribly in the first half, playing 25%, we lost a lot of focus, but we showed a lot of character. Mersey play hard, I know they haven’t won a game, but they got on a little bit of a roll, they have a couple of guys who can play, and we were lucky we were only down seven at half-time.
Perhaps a hairdryer approach like another leading Manchester-based sporting leader was just what it needed, but Jones also believed there were other surrounding factors that were getting to both him and his side: “It was needed, but I was mad at myself, concentrating on things we couldn’t control, such as the referees, what they [Mersey] were doing, we just wanted to play our kind of basketball.
“Sometimes as coaches we spend too much time worrying about the opposition, or who you’re playing, where you’re playing, and not enough time on saying “Let’s go”; if we do what we can do, we can play with anybody. Unfortunately, we haven’t been consistent enough, and tonight was a good example – 20 minutes of horrible basketball, but credit to Mersey, they did a good job, but then 20 minutes of decent running basketball, more aggressive defensively, and we got out and played a bit. We’ve only really had one practice, but we’ve got a tough schedule.”
Play of the game:
Stefan Gill turning on the charm and shooting back-to-back threes. Incredible, and great for the youngsters in the crowd to see, whatever side they were supporting.
Game MVP: Stefan Gill
Full game stats: www.fibalivestats.com
Next up:
Mersey Tigers at Worthing Thunder, Sunday 6th January (BBL Trophy)
Manchester Giants at Sheffield Sharks, Sunday 30th December (BBL Championship)
