GB Men Have The Weapons

The drive down to the 02 was quite uneventful as I have got to know the M1 quite well over the years but actually getting to the 02 was quite different. I can remember back in the day going to see the Leopards at the old London Arena and that was always fun. It was a bit more difficult getting to the 02 but boy was it worth getting there.

After taking ages to find the right car park I eventually arrived in the venue at about 11:30. It is awesome. The place is fairly quiet except for people putting the final touches to the venue. The dancers are going through their rehearsals and there is definitely an air of anticipation in the arena.

I am impressed with the whole surroundings but the best is yet to come.

After about half an hour I am introduced to the Arenamation (I hope I’ve got this right) operator who proceeds to give us a taste of what this amazing piece of equipment can do. If you were not there, Arenamation is an awesome display system that circles almost 100% of the arena bowl.

Any amount of information can be displayed, and perhaps more important than that, he had spent hours working on special displays for this basketball event.

Each Great Britain player had their own display, there were adverts for the upcoming GB games, there was the make some noise page, etc etc etc. To put it mildly it was awe-inspiring! One of my favourite pages was the one to be used for the introduction of the Czech Republic. I can’t help but wonder if the Great Britain team would be shown such respect on their away trips.

As the afternoon moves on more and more people begin to arrive – members of the press, photographers arrive and secure their places and try our their internet connections and their lenses. Then the players take the court for their informal warm-ups.

Unlike last year when the GB team played two warm-up games in Crawley, there had been no games open to the public in the UK this time and I was surprised how few of the GB team I actually recognised. There were a number who I had never seen play in the flesh in the senior game. Today was going to be a steep learning curve. Not only that, I knew very little about the Czech Republic so in every way it was going to be interesting.

The crowd begins to drift in and it is a joy to see so many faces from the past, many of whom just don’t go to basketball anymore. But they are here today.

Suddenly it is time to begin the entertainment. I’m told that there will be over 8000 people in the house…I sense that this is going to be one of the truly great basketball events.

As is usual at these games I inform the crowd that there would be no running commentary as this is not allowed under FIBA rules. I would be only allowed to make factual comments about scorers, fouls etc. Some people are delighted by the news! Others are not so happy.

I have said it before and I will say it again I do not think this is good for basketball in a country where it is just developing. I do not know why the rule exists and I think it might be time for the folks at FIBA to look again at this situation. No music can be played during play and the wonderful Arenamation also cannot be used. All of these extras, there to enhance the occasion cannot be used during play. I will return to this in a moment.

I am told that we have a new clock in use today and that this will be the new standard. Looking at it, it is most impressive. Every player is named, there is a foul count and a points count as well. Little did we know just how many problems we were going to have with the clock.

I don’t blame the table officials and I can’t help but wonder if any of them had used this clock on a previous occasion. In my opinion, the biggest basketball event in this country is not the time to be trialling new things.

We line up for the introductions and the anthems and as we hear the Czech Republic anthem I am almost in tears. The display I previously mentioned is awesome. There is total silence as the anthem is played and again I get the feeling that I am at a very special event.

The Great Britain national anthem is played and again great respect is shown by everyone. The players exchange gifts and it is time to PLAY BALL!

Having fallen foul of a FIBA Commissioner is the past I am careful not to do anything which might upset him. There is a first delay for the clock and this does not really look good.

Great Britain make a great start and Pops Mensah Bonsu had a sensational opening to the game. He is unstoppable unless you foul him and he makes them pay from the line. My old mate Nate Reinking also makes a sensational start and Joel Freeland chips in well late in the first. At the end of the first Pops had 8 points including 6 for 6 from the free-throw line. Nate had 7 points including 1 three and Joel had 5 also including a tre. The Czechs had no answer and only Jeri Welsch was making any kind of impact with 6 points. At the end of the first the score is 24-10 to Great Britain.

The fans are not quite sure how to react…is this a great performance? Are the Czech Republic not that good? The atmosphere in the arena is very muted!

I kinda knew that there was a problem when out of the corner of my eye I saw that the clock had been reset to 5 minutes at the end of the first. Normally it would be set to 10 minutes in readiness for the second. Because of the problem it is decided that the easiest thing to do would be to play 2×5 minute periods to make up the 10 minutes of the second quarter. The Head Coach of the Czech Republic , Michael Jezdik doesn’t like it. He likes it even less when his final posession of the first 5 minutes is cut short by the buzzer going off.

It is more of the same from Great Britain although the player that most fans had come to see, Luol Deng was struggling to get going. Nick George stepped up with 6 points in the quarter but to be honest the offence was not flowing. For the Czechs Jeri Welsch would continue to star with 7 in the quarter assisted by Ladislav Sokolovsky and Benda.

The score at the half was 37 to GB and 23 to the Czech Republic.

Again a muted atmosphere and I cannot help but wonder what the FIBA officials in the house were making of it all. I remember reading a report from an American reporter of the Olympic Basketball tournament in Beijing and he was amazed at how quiet the venues were during the game and was astonished by the total lack of atmosphere when compared to an NBA game.

The second half gets on the way and now Loul Deng finally begins to find his range Nate Reinking continues to stroke it and we see the first sight of Richard Midgley. He has a quiet start, but having said that, injury had kept him from playing any part in the road trip to Israel, so it was good to see him actually on the floor.

It was also getting a little tetchy on the floor as GB began to stroll and the Czech Republic got more and more fustrated. At the end of the 3rd GB led 55 – 37. There would be no way back for the Czech Republic from that deficit.

The final quarter saw Deng really come alive and he would finish as second highest scorer with 21 points including 3x3s, 1 point behind Nate Reinking’s 22 which included 4x3s. There was also good support from Pops Mensah Bonsu with 13 and Nick George with 11. Pops also ripped down 16 rebounds for the game and added 3 blocked shots. He was simply sensational.

Defensively GB were awesome with 10 blocked shots and they out rebounded the Czechs 42 to 35.

The final score was 87 to GB and 68 to the Czech Republic.

So was this the great Basketball event that it promised to be?

In Wales the GB Women will be looking to do the double as they take on the women of Germany.

Later

Mike S